DUBAI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A Syrian cabinet minister on Wednesday welcomed recommendations made to the U.S. administration by the Iraq Study Group reviewing America's policy in Iraq. "We welcome this report and regard it as a very important step," Expatriates Minister Buthaina Shabaan told Al Jazeera television. "It means, God willing, the end of this era of American intervention in the region and the American occupation of Iraq which brought catastrophic ramifications on the whole region." The high-level panel said U.S. troops should accelerate training of Iraqi forces so that U.S. forces can gradually move into a supporting role and withdraw from the daily fighting. The study group, led by former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, proposed abandoning President George W. Bush's policy of trying to isolate Syria and Iran and resuming attempts to end the Arab-Israeli conflict, which Bush has given low priority. Syria's ties with the United States have been badly strained over Syria's backing to anti-Israel radical Palestinian groups and Lebanon's Hezbollah group. Iraqi and U.S. officials have often complained that Syria, which opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, was not doing enough to prevent Islamist fighters from crossing its border into Iraq to fight U.S.-led and Iraqi forces.
