Syria denies having secret communications with Barak

Syria denounced Israeli reports which it said aimed at creating questions about Damascus's position toward the basis of resuming negotiations with Tel Aviv.

A Syrian official source denied in statements conveyed by the Lebanese newspaper al-Nahar yesterday that the Syrian leaders have secret communications with Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak.

The source said, "The Israeli rumors target weakening the Arab stance" and that what is launched by it regarding the readiness of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to show flexibility regarding terms of resuming negotiations has "nothing to do truth."

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted diplomatic sources as saying that al-Asad informed Barak recently through an Arab official described as "high-ranking" of his readiness to resume negotiations and that the Syrian president did not condition an Israeli pledge of a complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan.