WASHINGTON — In a step that could be perceived as a challenge to Republican members of Congress, U.S. President Barack Obama has appointed Robert Ford as the new US ambassador to Syria after congressional hearings on the matter were frozen in February 2010.

Ford, who will be the first US ambassador to Damascus in six years, was welcomed in Syrian official circles, which expected the appointment to “assist in raising the level of contacts between the governments of the two countries.”

Syria’s media described the appointment as “a challenge” to the US Republican Party and a way of “circumventing the unprecedented obstruction” that Obama’s political opponents were imposing on certain appointments.

The appointment was referred to Congress last February, but the latter refused to confirm Ford’s appointment and instead renewed economic sanctions against Syria.