Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told a French newspaper his country is unlikely to make peace with Israel while U.S. President George W. Bush remains in office. However, in the interview published on the website of Le Figaro daily on Monday, the Syian leader said he was betting that the next American president would get more involved in the peace process.
Assad stressed Syria and Israel were looking for common ground to start face-to-face negotiations, adding that it was vital to find the right country to broker such talks. "The most important thing in direct negotiations is who sponsors them," Assad told Le Figaro, saying that the United States had an essential role to play.
"Frankly, we do not think that the current American administration is capable of making peace. It doesn't have either the will or the vision and it only has a few months left," he said.
"When we have established a common foundation (for negotiations) at indirect talks with Israel, perhaps we could give some trump cards to the new administration to make it get more involved," he added.
"We are betting on the next president and his administration. We hope that it will be rather an advantage to have a change of president in the United States," he said.
Assad also backed Iran in its stand-off with Western powers over its nuclear works, saying he did not think Tehran wanted to build an atomic bomb. "We are convinced Iran does not have a military nuclear project. We are against the acquisition of nuclear weapons, be it by Iran or any other country in the region, especially Israel," he conveyed. "It is unacceptable for Israel to have 200 nuclear warheads," Assad said.
