As Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem arrived in Baghdad for a landmark visit to Iraq on Sunday, Damascus was reportedly set to demand that Washington press Israel over the issue of return of the Golan Heights,as the price of its cooperation with the Bush administration on Iraq,

Moallem is the highest ranking Syrian official to visit Iraq since the U.S.-ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and a major step toward restoring diplomatic relations, Kurdish legislator Mahmoud Othman said.

Media reports have said that former U.S. secretary of state James Baker's report on Iraq policy will recommend that the Bush administration engage Syria and Iran in discussions over Iraq.

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The Sunday Times of London quoted Ayman Abdel Nour, an official of the ruling Syrian Ba'ath party, as saying that Assad's "top demand" of the United States and Britain will be that the allies use their influence with Israel to raise the return of the Golan.

"The Syrian leadership is fed up with the Americans and does not trust their word when it comes to future aid for Syria," Abdel Nour was quoted as saying.

"Syria will not do anything unless it has secured guarantees from Washington and London that every action Damascus takes to help them will be reciprocated. It will be a step by step scenario: these actions for those actions," he added.

The report said that Assad also insists that any help must be dependent on a timetable for US troop withdrawals, a move resisted by President George W. Bush.

Moallem to visit Iraq
Moallem arrived in the early evening and will meet Hoshyar Zebari, his Iraqi counterpart, Othman said. Syria's top diplomat also was to meet with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during his two-day visit.

Both the Iraqi government and its U.S. sponsors have repeatedly accused Syria of allowing foreign fighters to cross into Iraq. Syria denies the charge, saying it is impossible to control the long desert border.

Damascus broke relations with Baghdad in 1982, accusing Iraq of inciting riots by the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. Damascus also sided with Iran in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Syria and Iraq, both then ruled by rival factions of the Baath Party, resumed trade relations in 1997. Ties began to improve with the turn of the century, when former Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa Miro visited Iraq in 2001.