Syrian President Bashar Assad said he would begin peace talks with Israel only after Netanyahu "guarantees the full return of land and rights," the Syrian News Service reported.

Assad met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris where they spoke about the future of peace talks between Israel and Syria, reported the Syrian News Service.

Sarkozy told Assad that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to start talks with Syria with no preconditions.

The US massacre at Al-Sukkariya, Syria in 2008 was a clear violation of international law

People no longer trust Congress, the President, the courts, the media, corporations, political parties, and other institutions of society. People even doubt science and medicine.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem urges Israel to yield to the demands pressed by the UN nuclear watchdog and open its nuclear sites to inspection.

The Syrian diplomat said on Monday that the Israeli regime must place all its nuclear installations under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, and adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Hopefully they will stick to their guns and not be coerced by zionist bullies on the Web. It was a victory for groups such as Honest Reporting. Com to get Israel as an option for those living in the ‘Heights’…. but the question remains, how long will Syria remain as the other option? An earlier ‘victory’ for the zionists was to allow the illegal settlers in the Occupied West Bank to identify Israel as their country, rather than Palestine where they actually live.

Syria charges Israel with dumping nuclear waste near the Syrian border, in territories occupied by the regime during the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel seems determined to provoke its enemies hook or by crook in order to get a war going against Iran. If they’re not continually directly accusing Iran of having a nuclear weapons program – despite the total lack of any evidence to even suggest Iran has any nuclear weapons program – then Israel is accusing Hezbollah of wanting to attack Israelis and Israeli interests outside of Israel warning that, if any Israeli is harmed, Hezbollah will be held responsible. Just to help the provocation along, Israel is also still sending their military jets into sovereign Lebanese airspace. In their latest piece of warmongering chutzpah, Israel is accusing Hezbollah of stockpiling rockets in order to strike Israel.

The Russian Navy will expand and modernize its Soviet-era naval maintenance site near Tartus in Syria to support anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast, a high-ranking navy source said on Monday.

The Navy maintenance site near Tartus is the only Russian foothold in the Mediterranean. Russian navy commanders have long been calling for the expansion and modernization of the Tartus base.

Unlike Iraq, there is no “weapons of mass destruction threat” to facilitate toppling the Syrian regime. This time, a United Nations Tribunal could provide the means, deploying Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's murder as the weapon. But like the US show trial to convict Saddam Hussein, the show trial to convict Syria for Hariri's murder, built by the United Nation's International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC), has a history of problems.

Allegations that a Syrian envoy admitted during a United Nations meeting Oct. 17 that an Israeli air strike hit a nuclear facility in September are inaccurate and have raised the ire of some in the US intelligence community, who see the Vice President’s hand as allegedly being behind the disinformation.

The U.S. media is indulging in war mongering "yellow journalism" by repeating baseless allegations that Syria is behind the "car bombing" of a popular Lebanese nationalist, while the evidence suggests that the assassination was carried out using a guided missile launched from a plane - a precision penetration bomb - a "targeted killing" technique perfected by Israel.

Israeli Ambassador Israel Michaeli publicly chastised International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Muhamed ElBaradei today for what he called “political bias” in his investigation of Israeli accusations of Syrian activity. Michaeli added that if ElBaradei wanted Israeli cooperation he should “refrain from publicly lashing at Israel.”

ElBaradei angrily denied the accusation of bias, adding that international law applies to every nation and that the 2007 Israeli attack on the alleged Syrian facility was “not only making it almost impossible for us to establish the facts, but it was a clear violation of international law.”

In a sign of improving relations between Washington and Damascus, the United States is sending a military delegation to Syria in the coming weeks to discuss Iraq, U.S. and Syrian officials said on Wednesday.

Separately, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy George Mitchell will go to Damascus, possibly next week, to assess whether the time is right to revive talks between Israel and Syria, a U.S. official said.

Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad was only interested in conducting a peace process with Israel, instead of actually reaching a peace accord.

"The Syrian President fully realizes that the price of peace would be opening up to the West, which is a threat to the stability of his regime," said Ayalon during a lecture in Be'er Sheva.

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and aides have applied for visas for a landmark visit to Syria, Al-Hurra television reported Friday, as the Obama administration steps up engagement with Damascus.

From Libya comes news of the death of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a former “ghost prisoner” of the United States, whose false confession about a connection between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein — extracted under torture in Egypt — was used to justify the invasion of Iraq. The news will only add to the woes of the senior Bush administration officials who conceived the program of “extraordinary rendition” and torture within days of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and then, in a netherworld of secret memoranda, sought legal justification for their actions.

U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement on May 8 calling for the renewal of sanctions on Syria, which were set to expire on Monday. The declaration came at the end of a busy week in which both high-level U.S. officials and the Iranian president visited the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The third Tunisian disappeared. The fourth was captured and, according to a senior U.S. military official, provided interrogators with this account of their travels.

US President Barack Obama, citing continuing concern about Syria's support for militants, has renewed for one year economic sanctions on Damascus imposed by his predecessor George W. Bush in 2004.

Syria gave no immediate reaction to the decision announced here Friday as the Obama administration pursues cautious steps to engage diplomatically with Damascus as part of efforts to promote Arab-Israeli peace.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi wrapped up a regional Middle East visit in Damascus Sunday saying Israel should return the Golan Heights to Syria.

“China supports Syria's efforts to recover the Golan,” which Israel seized during the 1967 war and annexed in 1981, Yang told reporters during a joint news conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 was created because of an Israeli false flag. It called on Syrian troops to be removed from Lebanon after a vicious car bombing which killed the former prime minister of Lebanon Rafik al-Hariri. This was blamed on Syria, later because of a lack of evidence the blame was shifted to a Palestinian however UN investigations cleared the suspect of being capable of the attack and later it was discovered that Israeli agents were responsible for the attacks. The result was a call by the UN to remove Syria's troops from Lebanon something Israel desperately wanted. Bush even goofed up admitting this accidentally while having lunch with Tony Blair and speaking into a mic he didn't know was still on.

In an interview with the al-Sharq newspaper on Thursday, Assad said there is enough evidence to assume that Tel Aviv will never seek peace.

"All Israeli governments are the same: Ariel Sharon carried out a massacre in Palestine, and [Ehud] Barak aided the war in Gaza in that there is no difference between the right and the left in Israel," he explained. "This enemy does not want peace."

Israel is preparing for all-out war on multiple fronts that include Iran, Syria and Lebanon, a senior military commander claims.

Israeli army Home Front Command Major General Yair Golan said Sunday that Tel Aviv is preparing for "all possible scenarios", indicating that one such scenario would be to fight a simultaneous war against Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

Russian warships have returned to the naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus, used by the Soviet Union since the late sixties, after more than a decade of absence.

Many see it as a sign that Russia could be seeking to revive its naval influence in the region.

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said Thursday that he believes that should Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu become Israel's next prime minister, he "will try to deflect American pressure by seeking a deal with Syrians"

Mohamed ElBaradei, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Saturday that Israel "violated the rules of international law" by bombing an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor in September 2007.

An exhibition has been held at the National Museum in Damascus, depicting the suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip caused by Israel.

The exhibition was called Remembering Gaza and was organized by the European-Arab center in Syria, Press TV correspondent in Damascus Samer Dadaa reported Wednesday.

A number of Palestinian, Arab and non-Arab artists from all over the world took part in the event.

Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, has urged all Arab nations to sever diplomatic ties with Israel because of the Gaza war.

Syrian foreign minister claims that reports of uranium traces found in site bombed by Israel last year politically motivated; says Israeli bombs were source of uranium.

The Israeli military filed a complaint to the United Nations force monitoring the usually calm border between Israel and Syria, he said.

Shots were fired at IDF troops on patrol along Israel's northern border with Syria on Sunday afternoon.

An estimated 2,500 Lebanese and Palestinians protested peacefully in downtown Beirut on Sunday against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, as hundreds of demonstrators in neighboring Syria shouted insults at the both the Jewish state and Arab leaders.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called on Tuesday for Israel's "massacres" in the Gaza Strip to stop, as he met visiting US Senator Arlen Specter, the official SANA news agency reported.

US complaints earlier this week about the “wholly inappropriate” IAEA aid scheduled to be provided to Syria have been rejected, and the agency has approved the $350,000 aid project to help the Syrian government select a site for a potential nuclear power plant.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem suggested Wednesday that Israeli bombs may be the source of uranium traces that diplomats at the UN nuclear agency said were found at a suspected nuclear site.

Moallem said the leaks by the diplomats about the traces found at the site that was reportedly targeted by Israeli warplanes in September 2007 were politically motivated and aimed at pressuring Syria.

The U.S. military has conducted nearly a dozen secret operations against al-Qaida and other terrorist groups in Syria, Pakistan and other countries since 2004, The New York Times reported Sunday night.

In a dangerous precedent that provides clear and explicit evidence of its eagerness to exploit the rights offered under the Security Agreement which is now under discussion, the American occupation has attacked one of Iraq's neighbors and violated sovereign Syrian airspace and land to conduct a military operation. Helicopters were used to ferry in troops to secure a civilian area, in the process of killing some civilians and wounding others in a contemptible attack that has yet to be explained.

Presidential-elect Barack Obama
has pledged to improve U.S. relations with Syria and Egypt.

US President George W. Bush suggested to Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights in exchange for a complete disbandment of the Syrian-Iranian alliance, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jarida reported Friday.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Friday expressed regret over the US aggression on Syrian lands, saying "there was no justification to such act that unsettles atmospheres in the Middle East."

Tens of thousands of Syrians turned out Thursday for a massive government-orchestrated protest against a deadly U.S. raid near the Iraqi border.

A mile away, hundreds of Syrian riot police formed a protective ring around the closed U.S. Embassy, but the flag-waving crowds dispersed peacefully after a couple of hours later, with students heading to schools and employees to work.

"Why now at the end of the Bush administration, with Washington trying to play nice with Damascus and tensions easing throughout the region, would US forces stage such a gambit?" echoed Borzou Daragahi on the Babylon and Beyond blog at the Los Angeles Times website.

The U.S. embassy in Syria said on Wednesday that it may close to the public for fearing retaliation following a Sunday deadly raid on Syrian border by U.S. troops in Iraq.

The U.S. embassy made the warning in a statement on its Website, calling on Americans in Syria to remain alert to review their personal security.

Unforeseen events may cause the U.S. embassy in Damascus to close to the public indefinitely following the Sunday raid on eastern Syria blamed by Damascus on Washington, said the statement.

Belittled domestically, President Bush is flexing his last working muscle: His control over the nation's military. And in so doing, he is adding one last addendum to the ever-changing Bush Doctrine, establishing yet another de facto U.S. policy on his way out the door, and leaving his successor with yet another controversial precedent to wrestle with.

While the White House has declined comment and other US officials defended the strike on a Syrian border town yesterday which killed eight, international condemnation rained down on the strike from a number of sources.

The US commando attack inside Syrian territory appears to amplify an emerging message to countries giving safe passage to terrorists: Take action, or America will.

In the name of protecting its forces in Afghanistan and now Iraq, the United States appears to have begun to step up a bold gamble: conducting raids in countries it believes are not doing enough to fight extremist militants.

Unnamed US officials said the attack had targeted and killed a “smuggler of foreign fighters into Iraq” and said they didn’t kill any of the women and children found at the attacked site. US officials say the attack is justified under an “expansive definition of self-defense” similar to the argument made by Israel when it attacked a site in Syria last year.

Syria has condemned an alleged US raid that killed at least eight people in the country's east, close to the border with Iraq, calling it an act of "serious aggression".

(And isn't it remarkable how every single person killed by American forces in the global War on Terror is somehow "linked to al-Qaeda"? Even the children. I guess American bullets and bombs have some kind of super-secret al-Qaeda sorting software embedded in them, guiding the munitions directly to the evil ones -- including the little evil ones: the doctrine of "pre-emption" in its purest form -- and sparing everyone else.)

We are closer than ever before to serious conversations between Israel and Syria, Syria has recognized an international border with Lebanon for the first time in modern history, and this is horrifying to neoconservatives who ran Washington for the last decade. They need to use force and force only to conquer Iraq, Iran and Syria. And they need to promote a conception of the American presidency that is focused on the use of military force. It is vital to their conception of American hegemony.

Nine people were killed on Sunday when US helicopters attacked a village inside Syria along its border with Iraq, the private television channel al-Dunia reported on Sunday.

US President George W. Bush suggested to Syrian President Bashar Assad that Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights in exchange for a complete disbandment of the Syrian-Iranian alliance, Kuwaiti newspaper al-Jarida reported Friday.

On September 20, Israel attacked Syria under mysterious
circumstances. Both Israeli and US governments maintained
silence on the nature of the attack and a compliant media
followed suit. But there were a few isolated reports in the media.

The attack occurred Saturday morning, near a major Syrian intelligence facility, although news reports in the West are focusing on the proximity of the Shi'ite shrine. Israeli media are emphasizing the possibility of an internal struggle within the Syrian regime itself, while the Iranians are saying the blast was the work of the Mossad and/or CIA.

Is it really necessary that we let Bush and Cheney destroy another innocent country before they pretend to leave the stage after Nov. 4? Does this Nation, which fancies itself as a great defender of freedom and democracy, intend to allow them do to our ally Pakistan what they have done to Iraq and Afghanistan? If we do not feel extreme shame for what is being done in our names there then perhaps it is true that we are something less than human, merely thinking cattle.

During a visit to Ramallah in Palestine on April 29, 2005, President Putin commented: "Expecting Mahmoud Abbas to fight terrorism effectively, we have to realize that a slingshot and a handful of stones won't do the job." Then Putin paused, before adding, "Which Israel clearly understands."

The UN atomic watchdog is still evaluating samples taken from an alleged nuclear site in Syria, but "so far we have no indication of any nuclear material," IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday.

Partial results of samples from a Syrian site bombed by Israel show nothing to back up US assertions that the target was a secret nuclear reactor, diplomats said Saturday.

The Russians are making clear their intentions of using the large Russian naval presence in Tartus as a deterrent to Israeli air strikes against Syria using the powerful anti-air missiles on-board the Russian naval warships. These missile systems can sweep the sky over most of Syria and knock down Israeli F-15 and F-16 fighters. This changes the balance of power in the air over Syria.

It is the largest Syrian force to invade Lebanon since Damascus was forced to end its occupation of the country in May 2005, three months after former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri was assassinated.

The Syrian government daily Teshreen marked the seventh anniversary of 9/11 this week in a unique fashion: by publishing an article by Syria's former information minister blaming US intelligence agencies for the attacks.

A senior diplomatic source close to the Turkish-mediated talks between Israel and Syria said the United States has been persuaded that it should take part in the talks, but that France has "pushed itself" into Syria; and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's participation in talks in Damascus have led the U.S. to cancel its decision for now.

Fears that Russia might sell advanced weaponry to Syria kicked up a mini-storm of concern in Israel on Thursday.

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, in Russia on a two-day visit, backed Moscow's military action against Georgia at talks with President Dmitry Medvedev that were expected to cover purchases of Russian arms.

The Russian aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov” is ready to head from Murmansk towards the Mediterranean and the Syrian port of Tartus. The mission comes after Syrian President Bashar Assad said he is open for a Russian base in the area.

Syria has recently test launched a series of surface to surface missiles and rockets, Channel 2 news reported Monday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the conflict in the Caucasus underlines the need for Russia and Syria to expand military ties.

Informed sources say Israeli agents are behind the assassination of Syrian president's security advisor and liaison officer to Hezbollah.

Syrian President Bashar Assad's top aide and adviser, General Mohammed Suleiman, was assassinated on Friday, according to Arab news sources.

Syrian authorities tried unsuccessfully to prevent publication of the news. The country's Albawaba newspaper, which reported the incident, speculated that Israel might have been behind the killing.