DAMASCUS, Dec 26: Syrian President Bashar Assad wants to resume peace negotiations with Israel, US Senator Arlen Specter said on Tuesday.

“President Assad stated an interest in negotiating with Israel to try to bring a peaceful settlement to the Syrian-Israeli dispute under the UN doctrine of land-for-peace,” the Republican senator said at a press conference at the Damascus airport before leaving the country after talks with the president and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

The senator did not say what conditions President Assad gave for restarting talks with the Israelis. Syrian officials were not available for comment.

Peace negotiations between the neighbours broke down in 2000. Syria has said it would resume negotiations but only within the framework of a comprehensive peace process.

Damascus wants the return of the entire Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday he would like to renew peace talks with Syria, but insisted that Damascus first end its support of anti-Israel groups like the Palestinian Hamas and Hezbollah.

Mr Specter said he discussed with Mr Assad how Syria could use its influence with Hamas to urge the Hamas to give up its refusal to recognise Israel.

Syria’s official news agency, Sana, reported that the Assad-Specter talks focussed on the current situation in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and the issue of terrorism and ways of combating it.

President Assad told the US senator that all the region’s problems should be solved, stressing that the solution to them was a political, rather than a security one, Sana said.

It added that Mr Specter stressed the importance of reactivating the dialogue between the United States and Syria to achieve security and stability in the Middle East.—AP