The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Paris

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on the eve of a high-profile visit to Damascus that peace in the Middle East "passes through" Syria and France, according to an interview to be published on Wednesday.

"As I told President Bashar al-Assad when he came to Paris on July 12, the path of peace in this region passes through our countries," Sarkozy told Syria's al-Watan daily, which is close to government circles. "Syria can provide an irreplaceable contribution to solving Middle East issues. It is important that Syria plays a positive role in the region," he said in the interview, an advance copy of which was sent to AFP. A summit on indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel will be held Thursday in Damascus involving France, Syria, Turkey, and Qatar, the French presidency said Tuesday. Sarkozy's visit to Damascus is "political", the French presidency underlined, adding that the four-way talks were initiated by Syria.

The French leader's two-day trip, beginning Wednesday, is the latest step towards normalising relations that were frozen after the 2005 murder of Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri, a close friend of Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac.

The first visit by a Western head of state in five years, it is seen at home as a diplomatic victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, six weeks after he made a comeback on the world stage with a high-profile trip to Paris.