Phone calls between Mubarak and al-Assad

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad discussed the stumbled Middle East peace process in a phone conversation.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa met with his Syrian counterpart, Farouk al-Shara, today and they discussed the peace efforts in Middle East. Al-Shara carried a written message from the Syrian president to the president of Egypt, an official Egyptian statement said.

Jubran Koreyah, the Syrian presidential spokesman said that President Mubarak discussed with President al-Assad in a phone call-- the second in less than a week-- peace process developments and the Arab situation, as well as bilateral relations.

The spokesman did not mention whether there is to be a meeting soon between the two presidents to discuss the confusion confronting the peace process, the Egyptian role in breaking the impasse on the peace tracks-- especially after failure of Geneva summit-- and Israel's declaration to withdraw from south Lebanon in coming July, the statement said