The
Obama administration promised to send an ambassador to Syria in June after a
four-year absence, but as of yet no nominee has surfaced.
The
Cable
brought you some
informed speculation about the choice earlier this month, but now a new
name is being reported.
According
to Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper, Joseph Adam Ereli
is now the administration's top choice for the post.
Ereli
is U.S. ambassador to Bahrain and served as the public affairs counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad before that. According to his official State
Department bio, he served once as a program officer in Damascus in addition
to postings around the region including Egypt, Ethiopia, and Yemen.
A
White House spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
There
are also ongoing
rumors that when the United States announces its choice, the Syrians will
simultaneously announce they are replacing their ambassador in Washington, Imad Moustapha,
whose blog can be found here.
A
spokesman for the Syrian embassy told The Cable that those rumors are
baseless.
"The ambassador is still on top of his work and there will be no
new Syrian ambassador to the U.S. in the near future," the spokesman said.
Read More
(1)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE