posted July 14, 2006 03:55 PM              

By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press Writer

AP Photo/BASSEM TELLAWI

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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- The abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants close to Syria is highlighting the strained relations between Washington and Damascus.

The United States has been pushing Syria - which hosts leaders of the militant group Hamas - to exert pressure for the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas-linked militants on June 25.

But the Bush administration has had to send the message through third parties because political contacts between the two countries are almost nonexistent.

"We don't have a whole lot of communication with the Syrian government at this moment. We have an embassy there," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday. "But we have encouraged other states to tell the Syrian government to use whatever influence they may have."

John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., has called on President Bashar Assad to arrest Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal and close the militant group's office in Damascus.

"We are very concerned about what we see as Syrian interference and negative activity in a variety of fields - its interference in Lebanon which continues until today, its support for Hamas which hurts the Palestinian people and its continued interference in Iraq," said Alberto Fernandez, director for public diplomacy in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.

Relations between Washington and Damascus never have been warm, mainly because Syria views the United States as biased toward Israel, and Syria supports Islamic extremist groups.

Washington considers the factions terrorists, but Syria says they are freedom fighters.

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Until recently, mutual interests in the region had ensured a level of civility that kept ties from degenerating.

That changed after the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, when the Bush administration complained Syria was letting insurgents slip across the border to fight coalition soldiers. Later that year, Congress passed the Syria Accountability Act, which accused Damascus of sponsoring terrorists and seeking weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. also has been unhappy with Syria's refusal to expel the leaders of Hamas and the militant group Islamic Jihad.

Tensions came to a head in February 2005, when Washington recalled its ambassador to Syria after the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut. A U.N. investigation has implicated top Syrian officials. Assad has denied Syrian involvement.

Syrians insist the U.S. pressure on their country won't work.

"The Americans are making a grave mistake by neglecting the official side of the relationship," analyst Imad Shuaibi said.

"The Americans hope that by pressuring Syria, they will get concessions," Shuaibi said.

But, "the Americans will find out that they need Syria in Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine," he said. "The Syrians know their regional weight."

Some Americans and Syrians are trying to bridge the growing gap between the two peoples by promoting personal contacts.

Syria's top Sunni cleric invited Marc Gopin, an American rabbi, to address 3,000 worshippers at a mosque in the conservative city of Aleppo in May.

Gopin gave a talk about tolerance among religions to the crowd after Friday prayers.

Sheik Ahmed Hassoun introduced Gopin as "a man of religion from America," without mentioning he was a rabbi, to avoid "turning it into an emotional moment," Gopin said.