Obama envoy says Syria integral to Mideast peace

US envoy George Mitchell said yesterday that Damascus had an integral role to play in Washington's efforts to secure Middle East peace, after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Mitchell, the highest-ranking US official to visit Syria since President Barack Obama took office in January, met Assad on the last leg of a regional tour to push Obama's agenda of stepped-up peace efforts.

"The president and secretary of state have made clear that we seek peace between the Palestinians and Israelis, between Syria and Israel, between Lebanon and Israel and full normalisation between Israel and its Arab neighbours," Mitchell said in a statement after the meeting.

"The peace we seek is truly comprehensive."

The United States wants to move without delay, he said, echoing remarks made earlier this week in Jerusalem.

"We are well aware of the many difficulties that lie ahead. Yet we share an obligation to create conditions for negotiations to begin promptly and end successfully.

"It is in the interests of all who seek peace - Americans, Europeans, Arabs, Israelis and others - to support this effort through tangible steps," Mitchell said.

For his part, Assad said dialogue "must be serious and constructive and based on respect and mutual interests," the official SANA news agency reported.

And he reiterated Syria's constant demand that the price of peace must include a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed.

The new Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled that out.

Washington is hoping, however, that Syria will resume peace talks with Israel, after four rounds of indirect Turkish-brokered contacts last year.

"Syria has an integral role to play in reaching comprehensive peace," Mitchell said after what he described as "substantive discussions" with Assad.

"We seek to build on this effort to establish a relationship based on mutual respect and mutual interest. The United States looks forward to this continued dialogue."

On Tuesday, Syria expressed readiness to resume preliminary contacts with Israel on relaunching peace talks that have faltered in the past over the fate of the Golan Heights.

Mitchell, on his first visit to Damascus, is accompanied by Jeffrey Feltman, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, who visited Damascus twice since January.