Syria denies secret report of meetings with Israel

Monte Carlo radio said on Sunday that an official Syrian source denied on Sunday news published by the Israeli daily Maariv concerning a secret meeting held in a European capital between an Israeli intelligence official, a representative of the Syrian government and a Lebanese figure.

Earlier, the Israeli daily Maariv said that Israel had conveyed a secret message to Syria during the "alleged meeting" calling for resuming bilateral security talks between Syria and Israel in order to arrange for the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon, as an introduction to launching political negotiations between the two sides.

Also in its Sunday edition, the Israeli daily Maariv said that Israel has recently conveyed a message to both Syria and Lebanon during a meeting held in a European capital in which Israel stressed its intention to start negotiations on Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon.

Israeli radio quoted the paper as saying that the withdrawal will be carried out in the context of a security agreement which constitutes the first step towards resuming political negotiations to reach a comprehensive agreement between Israel and Syria and Lebanon.

The advisor of the Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for media affairs denied that such a meeting had been held.