NEW YORK (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed on Saturday she met her Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem, to discuss Middle East peace efforts despite renewed criticism from Washington over Syria's policies.
Muallem told the Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya that the meeting in New York on Friday was "positive and marked the start of an upcoming dialogue."
He said the US secretary of state had "voiced optimism about regional developments," particularly the resolution of the longstanding deadlock between pro- and anti-Damascus factions in Syria's smaller neighbor Lebanon.
Syrian and US diplomats said the talks touched on Iraq, Lebanon and Middle East peace negotiations.
Rice said she held a brief meeting with Muallem at the Iftar evening meal breaking the daily Ramadan fast.
"I did on the margins of the Iftar last night have an opportunity to speak with my Syrian colleague for about, I think, 10 minutes, just to talk a little bit about the regional situation and some of the emerging efforts there," she said.
Rice, speaking before a meeting with Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, said the United States remained ready to assist in securing a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The United States has always said that at the time when it would be helpful, the US would of course be willing to play a role," Rice said.
"We recognize that a comprehensive peace has to have moving along all tracks, but of course, our focus is on the Israeli-Palestinian track. We believe that it is the one that is the most mature."
Muallem said Rice had expressed hope that indirect contacts between Syria and Israel on resuming peace talks would continue and said Washington was "prepared to have an input" in them.
Syria has held four rounds of preliminary contacts with Israel through Turkish mediators since May. A fifth round was postponed at Israeli request earlier this month.
Muallem reiterated Syria's longstanding position that "a US role will be required" if and when the two sides eventually relaunch direct negotiations broken off eight years ago.
In Damascus, the official SANA news agency said that the meeting with Rice had been held at her request.
It was her second with Muallem since November 2007 when they held talks on the sidelines of a conference on Iraq. The two first met in May last year during another gathering on Iraq.
Their latest talks came after US President George W. Bush slammed Syria in his farewell address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
"A few nations -- regimes like Syria and Iran -- continue to sponsor terror," Bush charged.
Washington has also accused Damascus of failing to give adequate cooperation to the International Atomic Energy Agency in its investigation into a mystery facility bombed by Israel in September last year that US officials have charged was a nuclear plant.
Chilly relations between Syria and the United States grew more tense after the United States accused Damascus of being behind the assassination of Syrian Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and recalled its ambassador from Syria.
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