MOSCOW, Dec 19: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday he was ready for dialogue with the United States but warned Washington against giving Damascus orders.
Assad, wrapping up a visit to key ally Russia, was asked by reporters about proposals by a special US panel that the United States should open talks with Iran and Syria.
“We want to make a dialogue but you have to differentiate between dialogue and giving instructions. We are open for dialogue but we will not take instructions,” Mr Assad told a news conference after meeting President Vladimir Putin.
The Syrian president denied Israeli media reports that Syria had sent secret proposals to Israel, proposing talks on the disputed Golan Heights and offering help on releasing an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas.
“There is no such proposal -- nothing,” he said.
Mr Assad described his meeting with Putin as “successful and constructive” but gave few concrete details beyond praising Moscow's role in the region and saying it could be a sponsor of a peace settlement.
The Syrian leader declined to comment on Russian arms sales to Syria and rejected as a “fabrication” suggestions that Russian weapons had been provided by Syria to Lebanon.
A recent resumption of high-level contacts between Syrian and European officials and calls for talks with Damascus by the Washington panel have opened the way for a possible rapprochement between the West and Syria.
But US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected the bipartisan panel's recommendations, saying the price of engaging Syria and Iran was likely to be too high, the Washington Post reported last week.
Washington imposed sanctions on Syria in 2004, mainly for backing the Palestinian Hamas movement and the Shia Hezbollah group in Lebanon.
Mr Assad, however, said he was always ready to talk to the United States provided the subject matter was appropriate.
“Any dialogue is useful providing you are discussing common interests of two countries but not to discuss other interests and ignore your interests,” he said. —Reuters
