Syria 'working for a ceasefire'

Syria, one of Hezbollah’s main backers, said in remarks published today that it will press for a ceasefire to end the fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group but only in the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative, signalling it was ready to help defuse the Lebanese crisis.

Damascus warned, however, that it would not stand by if the Israelis stepped up their offensive in Lebanon.

“Syria and Spain are working to achieve a ceasefire, a prisoners’ swap and to start a peace process as one package,” Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal was quoted as saying by Spanish daily newspaper ABC.

Bilal said Damascus would cooperate only within the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative that would include a return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967.

“Syria is working on achieving real, comprehensive, fair peace based on the withdrawal from all the occupied territories, including the Golan,” Bilal said.

It was unlikely Israel would agree to such a deal, but the remarks were the first indication of Syria’s willingness to be involved in international efforts to defuse the Lebanese crisis.

The interview with the Syrian information minister was also carried on the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, a tacit confirmation of the remarks.

“If Israel invades Lebanon and enters it by land, then it will be only about 20 kilometres from Damascus, then we will not stand with our hands tied,” Bilal said.

Bilal gave the interview in Madrid after he held talks with the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, according to the Syrian agency. It did not say when they met.

Syria and Iran are considered the major backers of the Hezbollah, which captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12, sparking the latest round of Middle East violence.

The US administration has rejected calls for a quick ceasefire, saying its diplomatic efforts would focus on finding a strategy for confronting Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers.

US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton dismissed the idea that Washington should engage Syria directly to help resolved the conflict.

Syria “doesn’t need dialogue to know what they need to do. They need to lean on Hezbollah to get them to release the two captured Israeli soldiers and stop the launch of rockets against innocent Israeli civilians,” he said.

“Syria, along with Iran, is really part of the problem because of their long-time support for Hezbollah and other armed groups inside Lebanon,” he added.

In Jordan, King Abdullah II said Arabs needed a “unified position, which calls for an immediate ceasefire”, a statement from his press office said.

Abdullah was speaking to Egypt President Hosni Mubarak by phone today, the statement said.

Both leaders agreed to find a “peaceful solution to the current crisis and end its serious repercussions”. The statement did not elaborate.

Middle East stability depended on a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Abdullah said today in an interview on Jordan television.

The Israeli attacks on Lebanon proved that the “whole region will not taste stability and security until there is a just settlement for the Palestinians and other occupied Arab lands because this is the core issue in the Middle East”, Abdullah said.

Abdullah met EU ambassadors in Amman. The king said he would continue pressing unnamed players in Mideast politics to “put an end to this (Israeli) assault as soon as possible”.