Israeli and Syrian officials have taken part in a forum in the United States aimed at finding ways of relaunching stalled peace talks.

The meeting took place at the James Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston, Texas, and is believed to have been attended, among others, by the Syrian ambassador to Washington, Walid al-Mualem, and the Israeli prime minister's foreign policy adviser, Uzi Arad.

It's believed to be the first high-level contact between the two sides in two years.

But American officials denied an Israeli television report that they'd had direct talks.

They said it was purely an academic conference in which a variety of views were presented and analysed.

Peace talks between Israel and Syria broke off two years ago, mainly because of disagreement about the future of the Golan Heights.