U.S.: Ambassador to Syria will 'help change Syrian attitude in region'

The new U.S. ambassador to Syria "will help change Syria's attitude in the region in order to ensure stability and security," an official in the U.S. embassy in Damascus said Saturday.

"Washington hopes that Syria will play an essential role in eliminating U.S. concerns regarding its attitude in the region," the U.S. official told the German Press Agency dpa.

The official refused to reveal the name of the new ambassador.

International media reports speculated that President Barack Obama has put forward Robert Ford to be the new U.S. ambassador in Damascus.

Ford, who speaks Arabic fluently, served as the U.S. envoy to Algeria from 2006 to 2008, and is considered to be an expert in Mideast affairs.

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell named the United States' new ambassador to Syria in a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Lebanese daily An-Nahar quoted American sources as saying on Saturday.

The U.S. had not had an ambassador to Syria since Washington since the Bush administration called back its envoy to Damascus as a response to the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February of 2005.

On Wednesday Mitchell said that Syria and Lebanon were key to achieving peace in the Middle East.

"Syria certainly has an important role to play in all these efforts, as do the U.S. and international community," Mitchell added in a brief statement to reporters after his meeting with Assad.

Mitchell's visit to Syria is the third since he was appointed as U.S. Mideast peace envoy.