Jeffrey Feltman, acting assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, meet with Imad Mustafa, Syria's ambassador to the United States, on Thursday.
The meeting was billed by the State Department as an opportunity for the United States to raise long-standing concerns about Syrian behavior
"We felt it was important to communicate our concerns directly and we shall see how the Syrians will respond to it, including the interference on Lebanese internal affairs and their support for terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah," a US, State Department spokesman Robert Wood Said.
"We wanted to hear from the Syrians as to whether or not Syria will take some steps to address our concerns," Wood added.
Moustapha hailed the meeting as a good first step in which he and Feltman discussed a "vision for the relations" between the United States and Syria.
The meeting, Moustapha told reporters, "was based on the United States of America's desire to engage with the rest of the world based on what President Obama has coined as 'dialogue with respect.'
"We believe that this meeting has explored possibilities for Syria and the United States to engage seriously on the diplomatic level and discuss all areas of concern."
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had described the meeting as routine, and said the administration was committed to engagement in the Middle East and promoting Arab-Israeli peace.
"It is too soon to say what the future holds," she said.