DAMASCUS (AFP) — Former US president Jimmy Carter held talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Wednesday ahead of a first visit to Damascus by US Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell.
Carter was also due to meet President Bashar al-Assad.
The two men agreed on the "need to remove all obstacles to Syrian-US relations," the official Syrian Arab News Agency said.
Carter also discussed with Muallem Sunday's parliamentary election in Lebanon in which a Syrian-backed bloc led by Shiite militant group Hezbollah was defeated by a Western-backed coalition.
Muallem said he hoped to see a "spirit of entente" between the rival parties, SANA said.
Carter, who was one of some 250 international observers monitoring Lebanon's election, had expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the poll.
The two men also discussed the situation in the Palestinian territories where the Gaza Strip remains under a crippling Israeli blockade and the territory's Islamist rulers Hamas are still at loggerheads with Western-backed president Mahmud Abbas and his West Bank-based leadership.
Mitchell, who held talks with Abbas earlier on Wednesday, is due in Damascus on Friday and Saturday.
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