The Syrian president, Hafez al-Assad, has held talks in the capital, Damascus, with a United States congressional delegation, led by Senator Joseph Lieberman.

Mr Lieberman arrived in Syria from Israel: he'd held discussions with the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, on ways of reviving the peace talks between Israel and Syria, which broke down two years ago.

Before meeting President Assad, Mr Lieberman told reporters that there was genuine Israeli interest in resuming the process.

The US senator also said that Mr Netanyahu had indicated to him that Israel would be willing to discuss topics which the previous Labour-led administration had tackled with Syria.