June 2000: Madeleine Albright attends the state funeral for Syrian President Hafez Assad on the last of four visits to Syria as Secretary of state.
February 2001: President George W. Bush’s Secretary of State, Colin Powell, meets with President Assad in Damascus.
April 2002: Powell meets with President Assad in Damascus.
May 2002: The U.S. and Syria hold a conference in Houston, TX. Walid al-Moallem, Deputy Foreign Minister, heads the Syrian delegation and William Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, leads the U.S. contingent.
May 2003: Secretary of State Colin Powell visits Damascus in the wake of Syrian opposition to the invasion of Iraq.
December 2003: The U.S. imposes sanctions on Syria under the Syria Accountability Act.
May 2004: President Bush authorizes the U.S. Treasury to freeze assets belonging to certain Syrian individuals and entities.
September 2004: William J. Burns, then-U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, meets with President Assad in Damascus.
January 2005: then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage meets with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. During the meeting, he commends Syria’s security cooperation with the US.
February 2005: Washington withdraws its ambassador to Syria.
April 2005: Syria’s ambassador to the US, Imad Moustapha, declares that Syria is severing all security cooperation with the US, after its refusal to change its rhetoric and policies towards Syria.
February 17, 2006: US State Department declares the initiation of the “Syria Democracy Program,” with a grant of $5million to “accelerate the work of reformers in Syria.” This was later dismantled.
March 2007: The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, holds talks with envoys from Syria and Iran about ending violence in Iraq. Days later, Ellen Sauerbrey, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration, visits Syria to discuss Iraqi refugees with Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal Miqdad.
April 3, 2007: Nanci Pelosi heads a congressional delegation, comprised of Henry Waxman, David Hobeson, Tom Lantos, Lewis Slaughter, Keith Elison and Nick Rahhal, on a visit to Damascus. She stressed the importance of engagement between both countries. She also stated that Olmert gave her a peace message to Syria –a fact that Olmert later denied.
May 3, 2007: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice holds a half-hour meeting in Egypt with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem on the sidelines of a regional conference on Iraq. Rice requested the resumption of security cooperation, and Moallem insisted that while Syria wants to resume such cooperation, it had to fall under the umbrella of a broader political engagement.
November 2007: Secretary Rice meets briefly with Foreign Minister Moallem on the sidelines of an international conference on Iraq in Istanbul.
November 2007: US invites Syria to attend the Annapolis Peace Conference after agreeing to include the occupied Golan on the agenda. Faysal Mekdad, Deputy Foreign Minister, heads the Syrian delegation to the conference.
December 2007: Republican Senator, Arlen Specter, and Democratic Congressman, Patrick Kennedy, visit Syria and hold talks with President Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moallem.
April 2008: The US falsely accuses Syria of building a nuclear reactor in the location that Israel had struck on September 2007.
June 2008: State Department coordinator for Iraqi refugees, James Foley, visits Damascus and meets with Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal Miqdad, to discuss Syria’s efforts in hosting 1.5 million Iraqi refugees. After the meeting, Mr. Foley recognized “the considerable burdens that are shouldered” by the Syrian people and government, and thanked them for their “generosity” in hosting Iraqis fleeing the war.
October 26, 2008: In an unprovoked criminal and terrorist act, four US helicopters enter Syrian territories and kill eight unarmed innocent civilians in the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal. Countries across the globe voice “condemnation” and “concern” for the loss of innocent Syrian life. Syria suspends all security cooperation with Baghdad until a formal explanation is delivered.
November 2008: At the request of the Iraqi government, and after assuring the Syrian government that it was unaware of the raid, security cooperation is resumed and an Iraq-neighbors security conference is held in Damascus with the participation of representatives from Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, United States, Britain, France, Russia, China, Japan, the United Nations, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the Arab League.
January 21st, 2009: President Bashar Assad sends a letter to President Barack Obama congratulating him on his inauguration as the 44th President of the United States of America.
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19th Century