March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Two top U.S. officials will go to Damascus for talks with the Syrian government on “a number of issues,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, announcing the first such discussions in four years.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman, who met with Syria’s ambassador in Washington last week, and White House adviser Dan Shapiro will travel to the Syrian capital from meetings with Clinton in Israel. The U.S. withdrew its ambassador to Syria after the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in neighboring Lebanon.

“There are a number of issues that we have between Syria and the United States as well as the larger regional concerns that Syria poses,” Clinton told reporters today after a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem. “I think it is a worthwhile effort to go and begin these preliminary conversations.”

Clinton told senators during her January confirmation hearing that engagement with Syria would depend on its compliance with “core demands,” including helping to stabilize Iraq. Syria also would have to end support for terrorist groups, stop the flow of weapons to Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon and acknowledge Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence.

Israel Talks

Israel and Syria were holding indirect negotiations brokered by Turkey since May until Israel began a 22-day military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in December, inflaming Arab sentiment. Syria also has ties with Iran, which the Obama administration is trying to lure into cooperation with the prospect of direct engagement.

“It looks like the U.S. wants to mend fences with Syria and take them out of the Iranian orbit after they were excommunicated by the Bush administration,” Moshe Maoz, a Hebrew University political scientist, said in a telephone interview from Jerusalem.

The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad has taken steps to disengage from Lebanon, where the Bush administration accused Syria of sponsoring Hezbollah militants.

United Nations investigators implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian intelligence officials in the Hariri bombing, which also killed 22 others. A special UN tribunal began work March 1 to investigate and prosecute suspects.

Syria has denied any involvement in Hariri’s death and other assassinations in Lebanon.

Iraq Issue

Another source of tension with Syria involves Iraq. The Bush administration accused Syria of allowing insurgents to flow into Iraq after the 2003 U.S. invasion and mount deadly attacks against American soldiers and Iraqis.

The decision to widen discussions with Syria follows visits to Damascus by U.S. lawmakers, including the chairmen of the foreign affairs committees in the House and Senate.

Representative Adam Smith, a Democrat from the state of Washington led a congressional delegation to Damascus in February, the first since President Barack Obama’s inauguration. He said he came away convinced that Syria wants to normalize ties with the U.S.

Clinton said she couldn’t predict whether or how the new discussions might change relations between the U.S. and Syria.

“We don’t engage in discussions for the sake of having a conversation,” she said. “There has to be a purpose to them; there has to be some perceived benefit accruing to the United States and allies and our shared values.”

Clinton said the Israeli-Syria negotiations will be on her agenda and that of special envoy for Mideast peace George Mitchell when the new Israeli government is formed based on last month’s elections.

The Syrian government, which had been accused of sponsoring Hezbollah, formally recognized Lebanon as a separate state in 2007 and established full diplomatic relations in October.

To contact the reporter on this story: Viola Gienger in Jerusalem at vgienger@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 3, 2009 10:52 EST