Syria Today | British foreign secretary visits Syria

British foreign secretary visits Syria

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged Syria and Israel to forge ahead with peace talks during a visit to Syria on November 18.

Miliband, whose visit to Damascus is the first by a British foreign secretary since 2000, said he supported Syrian efforts to strike a peace deal with Israel. The two countries have held four rounds of indirect talks, brokered by Turkey, since May this year. The talks were suspended after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned over a corruption scandal.

“We welcome the four rounds of talks that have taken place... and we hope that they will be taken forward with new force,” Miliband said after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “This is a region of great conflict but also of great history. It is important that those with power in the region exercise it with great responsibility.”

Miliband criticised Syria’s support for Hamas, an organisation Britain considers a terrorist group but which Damascus holds to be a legitimate resistance movement. “I would argue that Palestinian disunity and Hamas violence hurts the cause of Syria which says it believes in comprehensive peace,” he said.

Asked whether Syria would change its relationship with Hezbollah and Hamas, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Mu’allem said: “This question could be answered when a just and comprehensive peace is achieved. We cannot jump to conclusions with the land still under occupation.”