The Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and President Assad of Syria are reported to have been exchanging messages.

Israeli television said that the the intermediary was a businessman, Ron Lauder, an old friend of the Israeli leader.

There was no indication what the messages were.

Israel and Syria broke off talks in 1996 over the issue of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the l967 war.

Syria maintains that there can be no formal relations between the two countries until the heights are returned.