British officials welcome al-Assad's visit to Britain

British officials have commended the key strategic role played by Syria in the Middle East and stressed the care of the British prime minister Tony Blair to continue dialogue with President Bashar al-Assad.

London- based al-Hayat daily on Thursday quoted officials at the US Department of State as saying that the British prime minister is careful to invest good and constructive dialogue with President Bashar al-Assad. They also stressed that the British government will seek during the visit to be held by al-Assad to Britain in mid December to use points of agreements agreed upon by the British and Syrian sides.

Sources at the US foreign office did not rule a joint media efforts by the two Syrian and British sides to clarify their view points.