Assad and French President Nicolas Sarkozy had held bilateral talks on Wednesday before the arrival of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is facilitating peace talks between Syria and Israel, and Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Qatar’s ruler, who brokered an internal peace deal in Lebanon in May.

Focus on Lebanon

Their talks also included measures for stabilising Lebanon ahead of next spring’s parliamentary elections.

Ahead of the four-way summit, Assad handed proposals for a deal with Israel to Turkish mediators. Although the Syrian and Israeli teams were scheduled to meet on Wednesday in Istanbul, this encounter, said by Assad to be the “defining round,” was postponed due to the resignation of the chief Israeli negotiator.

While Assad says he is waiting for Israel’s response before agreeing to hold direct negotiations, he does not believe there can be serious progress before there are new governments in Israel and the US.

Rules out Bush

Assad argues that Israel’s incumbent Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is on his way out due to corruption allegations and that United States president George W Bush, who opposes contacts between Israel and Syria, cannot take part in the negotiating process.

As the price of peace with Syria, Assad demands Israeli withdrawal from the entire Golan Heights occupied in 1967 and annexed by Israel in 1981.

Sarkozy, current European Union president, hopes that France and the European Union can become mediators alongside the United States in negotiations between Syria and Israel.

‘Warn Iran’

Sarkozy asked Syria to warn Iran against developing nuclear weaponry, thereby risking economic sanctions or military action by the United States or Israel.

The French president, Sarkozy, the first European leader to visit Damascus since 2005, helped to end Syria’s isolation by inviting Assad to take part in the Mediterranean Union  summit and celebrations marking France’s national day in July. 

France, the United States and other Western countries suspended relations with Damascus following the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri.

Damascus has been accused by the West of organising the killing which the former denies.