A U.S. senior official said on condition of anonymity that President Barack Obama has decided to return the U.S. ambassador to Syria soon, pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV reported.
The Qatar-based TV channel added that Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric Boswell has visited Damascus earlier, after a series of visits by U.S. officials, to examine the efficiency of security measures there and review the possibility of building a new embassy, the TV channel said.
The U.S. official added that the motive behind returning the ambassador to Damascus was that the decision of withdrawal did not serve interests of the United States.
However, Syrian Ambassador in Washington Imad Mustafa did not confirm the news but told al-Jazeera that he had unofficially received some information in this regard from U.S. diplomats.
"In a way they seem to be true", the Syrian ambassador told Al- Jazeera in a broadcasted recording, noting that he heard U.S. media talking about the issue, and sources from the State Department unofficially told him about that.
The Bush Administration withdrew its ambassador in February 2005 to protest the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafeek Al-Hariri as some Syrian intelligence officers were accused of being behind the assassination, a claim that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad rejected.
Currently, the U.S. diplomatic representation in Damascus is represented by Charge d'Affaires Maura Connelly and the embassy cast.