Syria is ready to hold talks with Israel and wants a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict, President Bashar al-Assad was quoted as saying on Monday.
In an interview with the BBC, the Syrian leader said his country and Israel could live side-by-side in peace accepting each other's existence. However, he said "we do not know whether this [Israeli] government is strong enough to move towards peace." According to him, support from Washington was integral to any peace deal.
The Syrian leader also condemned attacks in Iraq against "civilians and innocents" but said that "resistance is the right of the people". "The insurgency is against the law - we don't support it. Resistance we adopt as a concept, that does not mean we support it with money or armaments," President Assad said.
