Syria has backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas', bid to improve relations with Israel and hopes developments there may lead to peace in the Middle East.
However, Syria's ambassador to the United States, Mr Imad Moustapha, said relations between his country and the United States were much rockier than in the past and that he was "shocked" when President Bush called Syria an obstacle to peace in his state of the union address last week.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared a cease-fire yesterday at a summit in Egypt aimed at ending four years of bloodshed and reviving peace talks.
"We are very supportive of what he is trying to do," Moustapha said of Abbas in a seminar at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.
"We are hopeful that what is happening right now in the Middle East might evolve into a comprehensive and fair Middle East peace. So we are watchful and crossing our fingers," Moustapha said.
He said Syria was stunned when Bush singled the country out for criticism in his speech because Syria has tried without success to initiate peace talks with Israel during the past 18 months.