Syrian president snubs Israel's Barak

Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad declined to receive a message from Ehud Barak, the Israeli Labor Party leader, Israeli radio said yesterday.

Israeli Knesset member Ali Masalha, who was supposed to submit a message from Barak to President Assad on August 13, had to deliver the contents of the message in a speech in Damascus after Assad had declined to take it.

Masalha is visiting Syria as part of an Israeli Arab delegation.