The French president's trip to the Syrian capital, which starts Wednesday, would formalize the restoration of full bilateral ties. Talks planned with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad are intended to pave the way for the Syrian regime's transformation from -- in Western parlance -- a "rogue," to a "moderate" state.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, will also take part in a four-way summit with key regional leaders in Damascus on Thursday.

In addition to hosting the French president, Assad will host the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The meeting of these four key players in Damascus raises plenty of speculation and predictions on what sort of political deals are being made to remove Syria from the "axis of evil" list of the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush, and how far Assad is willing to go to end its technical state of war with Israel.

Turkey has, since May, been mediating indirect Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations after a seven-year hiatus.

And Qatar -- which holds the rotating presidency of the six-member Arab Gulf Cooperation Council -- brokered a Lebanese national reconciliation accord, also in May, that defused the most dangerous political crisis since the end of its 1975-1990 civil war. Doha also has diplomatic contacts and commercial ties with Israel, while it also maintains open relations with Iran.

Syria, the holder of the similarly rotating Arab League summit gavel, was rewarded with a French rapprochement for its "positive role" in persuading its allies in the Lebanese Hezbollah-led opposition to accept the Doha accord that led to the election of President Michel Suleiman, filling a seat that had been vacant for six months.

France severed diplomatic ties with Damascus after the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a close friend of Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac. Paris blamed Syria, Lebanon's powerbroker at the time, for the assassination in a massive explosion and for a wave of other bombings targeting anti-Syrian Lebanese figures, which Damascus denied; but nevertheless withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April 2005 under tremendous international pressure.

Sarkozy's visit to Damascus comes six weeks after Assad made a high-profile visit to Paris where he announced that Syria and Lebanon would establish diplomatic ties for the first time since their independence from French colonial rule in the 1940s.

Lebanon's Suleiman last week called on world leaders to follow Sarkozy's example to open up to Syria because it "plays a fundamental role at the regional level."

At face value, however, it appears that present official U.S. policy will remain that will keep Damascus ostracized until it gives up its strategic ties with Iran and its alleged "state sponsorship of terrorism," in reference to its support of Palestinian anti-Israeli factions and Hezbollah.

The Bush administration said it was not interested in following Sarkozy's model "until Syria plays a positive role in the region" to end its isolation.

However, many Middle East experts believe that Sarkozy -- who says that engaging Damascus is better than alienating it -- is not acting alone or without Washington's approval.

Otherwise, the exclusion of Washington in Syria's strong comeback and the involvement of powerful U.S.-allied countries -- such as France, Qatar, Turkey, and even Israel -- makes it appear as if the United States is being marginalized, not the Syrians.

They argue that the French president is a probable U.S. emissary tasked with exerting diplomatic pressure on Damascus by offering rewards to meet American conditions, amid Syrian indications that it is willing to abandon its open support of anti-Israeli groups, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

Assad has made it plain that he would like the United States to have a role in the peace negotiations with Israel, and Arab diplomats say that "unofficial" Syrian delegations have already began to hold meetings in Washington to strike a deal that would distance Damascus from Tehran, as Iran comes under growing strain over its nuclear standoff with the West.

Arab diplomats tell the Middle East Times that Syria has relayed its readiness to change its "strategic relations" with Iran to "ordinary relations," similar to the ties that Tehran has with other countries.

Damascus has also reportedly started to pressure some of the Palestinian factions it is hosting.

Kuwait's Al-Rai newspaper reported on Tuesday that Hamas politburo chief in exile Khaled Mishaal has moved his office from his home in Syria to Sudan. The daily quoted "well-informed Palestinian sources" as saying that "an undeclared agreement was reached between the Syrian authorities and Mishaal that he leaves the Syrian territories."

A Hamas leader in Gaza denied the report and reiterated that "ties between Hamas and Syria are still very strong."

The Middle East Times could not confirm the report at publication time, but there was is buzz in Amman that Hamas leaders in Damascus are coming under pressure to reduce their public appearances and statements.