BEIRUT, April 24: Syrian President Bashar Assad said in an interview published on Thursday that his country might hold direct talks with Israel but not until a new US administration that can broker such negotiations took office.

Assad said that Turkish mediation over the past year could lay the groundwork for direct talks and that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had passed a message to Syria through Turkish officials that he was prepared to hand over the Golan Heights in return for a peace deal with Damascus.

Olmert said last week that he had sent messages to Damascus on peace prospects but did not reveal the content. Olmert’s spokesman, Mark Regev, declined to comment on the reports of Turkish mediation or the reported offer of a Golan withdrawal.—AP