DAMASCUS: Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara yesterday stressed the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples’ right to resistance, slamming what he called Washington’s pro-Israeli bias in the current conflict.

“Syria will continue to support the right of the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples to resist the Israeli occupation,” Shara was quoted as saying during talks with Palestinian militant leader Nayef Hawatmeh in Damascus.

The declaration came with more than 400 Lebanese killed in Israel’s offensive in Lebanon and more than 100 Palestinians killed in its assault on Gaza, both operations aimed at securing the release of captured Israeli troops.

At least 50 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, with Israel and the US accusing Syria and Iran of supplying Hezbollah’s armed wing, the Islamic Resistance, with weapons.

Shara also “condemned American partiality in favour of the aggressive policies of Israel,” said a statement issued by Hawatmeh’s Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

“The Israeli occupation of Arab territories is destabilising the region,” Shara was quoted as saying, calling for “Israel to apply UN resolutions dealing with the Israeli-Arab conflict”.

A Syrian official said earlier that Damascus was not surprised at “the failure of the Rome conference to agree on a ceasefire, nor by the fact that the US imposed its viewpoint that is the opposite of that adopted by other countries.”

The official, who requested anonymity, called for “declaring an immediate ceasefire, followed by an exchange of prisoners which would open the door to a political solution”, summing up the official Syrian position.

The 15-nation crisis talks failed to call for an immediate truce and lent support to the US position that there must first be a sustainable solution to the conflict. – AFP