U.S. envoy talks M.East peace with Syria's Assad

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - A U.S. envoy discussed Washington's Middle East peace efforts with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday but a State Department official said major disagreements still plagued relations with Damascus.

"We are well aware of the many difficulties ... yet we share an obligation to create conditions for negotiations to begin promptly and end successfully," said George Mitchell, President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy.

"Syria has an integral role to play in reaching comprehensive peace.".

Relations between Syria and the United States improved after Obama took office in January and U.S. officials said he was committed to seeking a peace deal between Syria and Israel as part of an overall Middle East peace deal.

The Syrian government, however, remains under U.S. sanctions, partly because of what the United States describes as a Syrian role in helping insurgents infiltrate Iraq.

Obama renewed the sanctions last month and said Syria still posed a threat to U.S. interests.

A senior U.S. State Department official made it clear that Mitchell, who has also been in Israel and Lebanon, was not mediating between Syria and Israel.

"At this point we are still talking to the parties, Syria and Israel, about how they see the best way to proceed. We are not in a position right now to recommend what is the best way to resume the Syria-Israel track," the official said.