U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that she gave Syrian President Bashar Assad a message from Israel that the Jewish state was prepared for peace talks. "[Our] meeting with the president enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister [Ehud] Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks," Pelosi told reporters in Damascus after talks with Assad.
Pelosi said Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar Assad assured her of his willingness to engage in peace talks with Israel. According to Pelosi, she and other members of her congressional delegation raised with Assad their concern about fighters crossing from Syria into Iraq, as well the Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbullah and Hamas.
She spoke to reporters shortly after talks with Assad at the end of a two-day visit to Syria, which the White House has described as undermining American efforts to isolate Damascus.
