The Obama administration is sending two emissaries to Syria this weekend for preliminary talks with the Syrian government. The meeting would mark the highest-level US contact with Syria since the US withdrew its ambassador four years ago. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the announcement on a visit to Israel.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton: “We are going to be sending two officials to Syria. There are a number of issues that we have between Syria and the United States, as well as the larger regional concerns that Syria obviously poses.”