AMERICA is intensifying pressure on Damascus to force the Syrians to crack down on foreign fighters crossing into Iraq.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated and Syria’s ambassador to the United States admitted last week that security and military co-operation had ceased “months ago”. Diplomatic contacts have been minimal since Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, was assassinated in Beirut in February.

Robert Zoellick, the American deputy secretary of state, gave a warning in his first interview in his new post that the US was determined to keep pressing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to stem the flow of insurgents. The Bush administration was growing tired of excuses.

“It’s your country, you should control your territory, so one way or another it is your problem. Stop it,” he said.

“The Iraqis feel they are getting stronger every day,” he added. “While Iraq is going through a time of trouble now, it’s not going to be weak for ever.

“If Syria wants to have a reasonable relationship with its neighbour, it should not be permitting access to people who are trying to harm the regime.”

Zoellick made his comments as the Syrian leader prepared for a Ba’ath party congress on June 6, where he is expected to discuss limited political reform. The beginnings of democracy in Iraq are leading to “impressive” changes of direction in the region to which Syria is not immune, Zoellick said.

He added that Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both proscribed by America as terrorist organisations, were also responding to the lure of democracy. Hamas’s recent success in municipal elections in Gaza had a potential upside: “It adds to the sense that there is a democratic option as opposed to an option to use violence.”

Zoellick, who became Condoleezza Rice’s deputy earlier this year, is beginning to make his presence felt. He is a shrewd analyst with a sound grasp of America’s strategic interests and wrote a prescient essay in 2000, warning that “there is still evil in the world — people who hate America and the ideas for which it stands”.

He can, however, be blunt. In March he quarrelled publicly with Peter Mandelson, the European Union trade commissioner, over European subsidies for Airbus. Both claimed the other had slammed the phone down after a heated exchange.

Zoellick had been widely tipped to be the next head of the World Bank but had to make way for Paul Wolfowitz, the darling of the neocons.

As Rice has made clear, progress in the Middle East remains the State Department’s top priority. Zoellick complains that Europeans are failing to appreciate the political courage of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, in proposing withdrawal from Gaza.

Inevitably, US officials revel in the discomfiture of President Jacques Chirac over today’s French referendum on the EU constitution. Another opponent of the Iraq war, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany suffered a stunning defeat in elections in North Rhine-Westphalia last week.

“Think what might be changing in Europe if the French referendum is unsuccessful. Think about what Schröder has done by calling for an early general election (this autumn),” Zoellick said.

“It’s interesting to see how a couple of events could change the dynamics of European politics and I don’t think it does any harm from Britain’s perspective. Tony Blair has come out as a victor in the election process — and principled.”

Zoellick was in Iraq earlier this month and returned in an upbeat mood, despite the intensity of the insurgency. “The big death tolls are because the insurgents are going after the civilian population,” he said. “Will this be a plus for them or will it turn Iraqis against them?” He acknowledged it would be difficult for the Iraqi national assembly to stick to an August 15 deadline for drafting a new constitution. “We know that’s going to be a challenging date but it’s important to keep up the momentum of building an Iraqi state.”

The Americans, however, are keenly aware of how little they can do to force democracy on the Arab world. “When you encourage these types of movements, you also have to recognise that ultimately it has to be done by them,” said Zoellick.

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