Visiting U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in Damascus on Wednesday that she has conveyed to the Syrian leaders the Israeli message that Israel was ready to resume peace talks.

Pelosi told a press conference after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, his deputy Farouk al-Shara and Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem.

The meeting with al-Assad "enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert that Israel was ready to engage in peace talks," Pelosi said.

The U.S. Democrat, a staunch critic of U.S. President George W. Bush's Iraq policy, headed a congressional delegation that grouped U.S. lawmakers from both Democratic and Republican parties.

She was also the highest U.S. official to visit Syria in years.

Source: Xinhua