Reuters:

The United States thanked Syria on Tuesday for going after gunmen who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Damascus but ruled out any immediate improvement in the frigid ties between the two nations.

Four men shouting Islamic slogans tried to blow up the embassy in Damascus, but their car bomb failed to go off. Syrian security guards killed three in a shootout and captured the fourth. The state news agency SANA said a Syrian guard was also killed.

"The U.S. government is grateful for the assistance the Syrians provided in going after the attackers," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. "We are hoping they will become an ally and make the choice of fighting against terrorists."

But a senior State Department official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of his comments, said relations between the two countries were unlikely to change much in the near future.

He said the Syrian response "was their duty. The alternative would have been bad for U.S.-Syrian relations." Read on...

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