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Last update - 16:53 24/08/2008
Assad: Next round of Syria-Israel talks will be 'decisive'
By Yoav Stern and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: Syria, Bashar Assad, Israel 

The next round of indirect negotiations between Damacus and Jerusalem will be "decisive," Syrian President Bashar Assad told reporters over the weekend.

Responding to a query as to whether progress had been made during the talks, Assad told reporters: "As of now, we have not reached anything tangible."

The Turkish-mediated negotiations, which were meant to resume this week in Istanbul, have been postponed till next week.
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Assad told an Arabic-language television station based in Russia that Syria was not sure Israel was even interested in peace. "I can't say at all that we have confidence [in Israel]."

Syria and Israel have kept secret the details of the indirect talks, which have until now seen several rounds.

While Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had said he sees a chance for direct negotiations in the near future, Damascus has played down these estimations as "too early," given the conditions at hand.

Syria seeks full return of the Golan Heights and Israel has linked a peace agreement to Syria distancing itself from Iran and severing ties with Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas.

Meanwhile, Syria denied on Friday that it was considering hosting an advanced Russian missile system, a day after President Bashar Assad held talks with Russian officials about upgrading his country's military.

Syria's state news agency said deployment of Iskander missiles, which Moscow says are capable of defying any missile defense, was not on the agenda of talks between Assad and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a Black Sea resort on Thursday.

Russian media had quoted Assad as saying that Syria was ready to negotiate deployment of the surface-to-surface mid-range missiles, which can also reach Israel.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that Russia was prepared to sell Syria "defensive weapons which are not breaking the regional balance of power."

Syria is interested in Russia's Pantsyr-S1 air defense missile system, the BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system and aircraft, Russian agency Interfax quoted a diplomat as saying.

Commentators say they believe the rapprochement between Syria and Russia was aimed mainly at pressuring Israel vis-a-vis its indirect talks with Syria.

In an article posted Saturday on the Asia Times Web site, Syrian political analyst Sami Moubayed, wrote that the concern in Jerusalem is "playing nicely into the hands of Syria, which is using it to strengthen its ties with an old and resurrected friend, send messages to a traditional foe [Israel], and pressure the United States into changing course over Damascus."

U.S. Syria expert Joshua Landis wrote in his blog Syriacomment.com that "Syria's bad negotiating position is leading it to look for more weapons and to try to grow more teeth before returning to the table with Israel," adding, "Both Assad and Hezbollah are hoping to get new weapons systems from Russia and greater diplomatic backing." But despite the preoccupation with weapons, he asserts that all eyes are on the peace process.

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