Syria has expressed its readiness to attend a U.S.-sponsored regional peace summit later this month following confirmation from Russia and the Palestinian Authority that it would receive a direct invitation, the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Thursday.
So far, Damascus has insisted it would not attend the summit unless it received an official invitation. It has also said that it would attend the summit only if discussions included the return of the occupied Golan Heights.
However, in comments published Thursday by the official Sana news agency it seems that there is no change in the Syrian approach to the summit. According to the news agency, President Bashar al-Assad met Thursday morning with Arab League Secretary General, Amr Mousa "who briefed him on the current deliberations among the Arab countries with regard to Annapolis meeting."
Sana said "President al-Assad stressed that any peace initiative that doesn't include Syrian Golan can not be serious and will not achieve just and comprehensive peace in the region."
