Syria has expressed its hope that peace talks with Israel will resume in the near future.

But the Syrian president, Hafez al-Assad, said that negotiations must resume where they were broken off in 1996.

President Assad made his comments to the visiting French Foreign Minister, Hubert Vedrine, who is mediating to revive the talks.

The Syrian leader said that the late Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzak Rabin had pledged to withdraw totally from the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

Syria says that peace talks should resume on this basis.

Israel has said that the pledge was hypothetical, and that negotiations should restart without any conditions. Mr Vedrine said it was in the interest of both countries to overcome the preconditions and resume negotiations.