Syria Confirms Release Is Imminent, U.S. Officials Say : Hostages: Washington is sending a team to West Germany for possible debriefing.

The Bush Administration said Wednesday it has received confirmation from the Syrian government that a hostage release appears imminent and is mobilizing a team of counterterrorism and intelligence specialists to debrief any American freed.

The U.S. team is prepared to leave today for a U.S. air base in Wiesbaden, West Germany, where arrangements are being made for medical tests and debriefing sessions. A medical plane was also put on alert for a possible trip to the Middle East.

To emphasize its determination not to negotiate with the Lebanese hostage-takers, however, the Administration decided against sending Assistant Secretary of State John Kelly to Damascus to discuss the final arrangements for the release.

Kelly’s presence was demanded in the message relayed to Western news agencies in Beirut by Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, the group that holds American hostages Jesse Turner, Alann Steen and Robert Polhill. Although the organization did not indicate which hostage it planned to release, it included a photo of Turner with its message.

“We cannot afford to be seen to concede to terrorist demands or to be negotiating,” said a ranking Administration official who requested anonymity. “If we give in on this, it might only be the first of many.”

Kelly, who served as ambassador to Lebanon during several hostage abductions as well as during the final stages of the Ronald Reagan Administration’s arms-for-hostage dealings with Iran, was in West Germany on Wednesday leading a conference of U.S. ambassadors to the Middle East.

White House sources indicated, however, that the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Edward P. Djerejian, is expected to return to Damascus from the conference to oversee a possible hostage release.

In an official statement, the Administration said it “welcomed” the release of any American held captive in Lebanon.

“We’ve seen reports like this before, and of course we’re always hopeful,” added Secretary of State James A. Baker III. “I’m not going to comment any further with respect to this specific report. I don’t want to say anything that might adversely affect any chances there are for release of any hostages.”

In light of the confirmation from the government of Syria, however, U.S. officials acknowledged privately that the prospects of a hostage release appeared particularly promising after years of dashed hopes and botched overtures.

Even so, senior Administration officials expressed concern that freeing a lone hostage might signal a new ploy by the hostage keepers to win concessions from the United States in exchange for further releases.

White House and State Department officials denied that any hostage release deal had been struck with Iran or its Shiite Muslim Lebanese allies. Several officials expressed surprise at the announcement in Beirut.

“This one came out of the blue,” said one U.S. counterterrorism official.

U.S. officials were mixed in their assessments of the prospects for the release of other hostages.

“We have seen a shift in a positive direction since mid-February on the hostage issue,” said an official who has been involved in the hostage situation. “At the same time, the release of one or two was what we most feared--a breakdown into diplomatic volleyball in which the captors or their sponsors would demand action by the United States before any further releases.”

Senior U.S. officials said there would be no reciprocal goodwill gestures by the Bush Administration, as suggested by Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine in its message.

U.S. analysts believe any hostage release would be attributable, in part, to intervention by Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has been trying to better relations with the West in exchange for technology.

Relatives of the three hostages held by the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine waited anxiously Wednesday for news of the possible release.

Estelle Ronneburg, Turner’s mother, talked with the State Department early Wednesday, but officials could offer her no further confirmation or details, she said.

Staff writers Karen Tumulty in New York and Ron Harris in Los Angeles also contributed to this story.