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US Ready to Discuss Peace Process with New Syrian Leader
Washington said Wednesday that it was ready to discuss a possible resumption of peace talks between Israel and Syria after Bashar Assad is inaugurated as president this week.
"We look forward to discussing the status of the peace process once he has been inaugurated as president," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
Referring to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's meeting with Bashar at his father Hafez Assad's funeral in Damascus last month, Boucher said "she was impressed with his commitment to the peace process and she observed that he seems poised and ready to assume his duties."
The 34-year-old Bashar won an overwhelming 97.29 percent of the vote in a presidential election held Monday.
Hafez Assad died of a heart attack on June 10 after he ruled Syria for 30 years.
The Israeli-Syrian peace process broke down in January over differences on the return of the Golan Heights seized by Israel in the war in 1967.
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