Paris (Reuters) Syrian President Bashar Al Assad said that US President Barack Obama should come up with a firm plan of action to renew peace talks between Syria and Israel.
In an interview with French daily Le Figaro published on Friday, Al Assad said the dialogue initiated by Obama' s administration had not gone "beyond an exchange of views".
"There has not been an executive plan," he said.
Al Assad met French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday, hot on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Paris visit earlier this week.
Sarkozy tried to breathe life into the Middle East peace process Friday, hosting his Syrian counterpart just two days after talks with the Israeli prime minister.
Al Assad arrived at the Elysee Palace in Paris boasting of a new "climate of trust" in relations with France, but without having directly responded to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of new talks.
Relations between France and Syria have been warming since Al Assad paid a landmark visit to Paris last year for Bastille Day celebrations and Sarkozy visited Damascus two months later in September 2008.
While Netanyahu said he was ready to start peace negotiations with Al Assad immediately, the Syrian leader accused Israel of not truly wanting to relaunch talks.
"But the weak point is the American sponsor [of peace talks]," Al Assad told Le Figaro. "What Obama said about peace was a good thing. We agree with him on the principles, but as I said, what's the action plan? The sponsor has to draw up an action plan."
Al Assad said that while relations with the United States had improved, issues such as continued US sanctions against Syria were hindering any joint work towards peace in the Middle East.
Peace talks between Israel and Syria faltered in 2000 over the demand by Damascus for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
