Syria sticks to Golan quest before Mideast talk

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria resisted international pressure and insisted on Tuesday it would only attend a U.S.-hosted Middle East peace conference next week if the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights are on the agenda.

"The Golan must be on the schedule for Syria to participate. We are very interested in peace but the process should be comprehensive," Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad said after meeting his Russian counterpart Alexander Sultanov.

Syria has come under pressure by Russia and pro-U.S. Arab governments to attend the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, even if the Golan is not explicitly on the agenda. Arab foreign ministers are due to meet in Cairo on Thursday to discuss a common strategy at the conference.

In Tehran, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told his Iranian counterpart that the Golan was Syria's condition to go to Annapolis, the same position announced by President Bashar al-Assad last month, Iran's officials news agency IRNA reported.

Sultanov said Annapolis, which will focus on reviving talks on Palestinian statehood, was an "important step", adding that Russia was working on convening another Middle East conference in Moscow to discuss the Golan more fully.

"Our Syrian friends are interested in making Annapolis a success. It is obvious that concentration will be on the Palestinian track. We are discussing with our partners holding a follow-up conference in Moscow," Sultanov said.

BRINKMANSHIP

Veteran Syrian journalist Thabet Salem said Syria, which hosts senior members of the Palestinian movement Hamas, could still attend the U.S.-talks if it received guarantees that the Golan would be discussed at a later stage.

"Syria has cards to play and it will not let go of them easily. It knows that Annapolis will be a failure to a certain extent without its support," Salem said.

An Arab diplomat expected Syria to attend at the last moment.

"Syria knows that Annapolis is vital to lessen its isolation and improve damaged ties with Arab counties that have strong ties with Washington," he said.

Official invitations for the November 26-27 conference are expected to be issued later on Tuesday. Syria will be among the Arab countries receiving an invitation, Western diplomats in Damascus said.

U.S. officials have said they plan to include key Arab States, including Syria and Saudi Arabia, which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

Israel and Syria last held peace talks in 2000 but failed to reach an agreement on the future of the Golan Heights, a fertile plateau which Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

(Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian in Tehran; Writing by Fredrik Dahl and Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Caroline Drees)