Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations    

    DAMASCUS, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday held talks with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on a series of Palestinians issues, according to the official SANA news agency.

    The two leaders held the meeting shortly after Abbas arrived here in the Syrian capital of Damascus.

    Abbas stressed upon arrival that his talks with Assad aimed at discussing issue of mutual interest, including political issues, the negotiations and the pacification in the Gaza Strip as well as the Palestinian initiative for national unity.

    "All these issues require consultations with the Syrian brothers," he told reporters.

    Earlier in the day, Abbas' spokesman said the Palestinian president would not meet any Hamas official during his ongoing visit in Syria. Hamas politburo and its chief Khaled Mashaal are based in Damascus.

    "President Abbas' program has no appointments except meeting with President Bashar al-Assad," said Nabil Abu Rdineh, adding that Abbas would not meet with leaders of other Palestinian factions as well.

    In his talks with al-Assad, Abbas would discuss the faltering Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the indirect peace negotiations between Syria and Israel among others, according to Abu Rdineh.

    The talks between the two leaders would not include the efforts to make reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement, he added.

    The two movements fought against each other in the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and the fighting ended with Hamas taking over the territory.