Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, has told Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, that Israel is ready for peace talks.

Pelosi passed on the message from Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, during talks with the Syrian leader in Damascus.

"[Our] meeting with the president enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister [Ehud] Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks," Pelosi said.

She added that al-Assad assured her that was ready to restart peace talks with Israel.

"He was ready to engage in negotiations [for] peace with Israel."

Pelosi spoke to journalists at the end of a two-day visit to Syria, which the White House had criticized as undermining US efforts to isolate Syria.

Syria's official news agency quoted al-Assad as telling Pelosi: "Syria has adopted the Arab initiative. It's strategic choice is peace."

'No response'

George Bush, the US president, has said Pelosi's trip signals that the al-Assad government is part of the international mainstream when it is not.

"A lot of people have gone to see President Assad ... and yet we haven't seen action. He hasn't responded," Bush said.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the White House national security council called the visit "counterproductive".

Pelosi said she and other members of her congressional delegation told al-Assad their concerns about fighters crossing from Syria into Iraq.

The house speaker also said she spoken to the president about Israeli soldiers captured by the Lebanese group Hezbollah and Palestinian groups.

Democrats have argued that the US should engage with its rivals in the region - Iran and Syria - to make headway in easing the problems in Iraq, Lebanon and the Israeli-Arab peace process.

Photo caption

Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president