• Jailed Syria activists lose early release petition
• Hariri to pay another visit to Syria by end of month
• Israel calls off exercises near Lebanon, Syria after pressure from Obama
• Egypt criticizes growing Iranian influence on Syria
• Worsening year by year - Drought hits Syria badly
• Turkey says Syria-Israel talks may restart
• Israel and Syria announce nuclear energy ambitions
• Syria mulls renewed Turkish-brokered talks with Israel
• Syria Condemns Israeli "Incursion" of the Temple Mount
• Celebrating International Women's Day, Facebook Gives Rose to Fidaa al-Hourani Behind Bars

'Turkey offers to resume stalled Israel-Syria peace talks'

Reuters quotes Turkish FM as saying that "If the two countries agree to restart it, we can do it"; Assad: Israel must "declare frankly" it wants peace.

is ready to try again to broker a peace agreement between and if both countries agree to resume the stalled initiative, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted by Reuters as saying Friday.

Davutoglu said 's 2008 operation in scuttled a potential peace deal after mediated in indirect talks between and .

"Is it possible to restart it again? Yes, why not?" Davutoglu said in response to a question about the talks.

"If the two countries agree to restart it, we can do it. As , we are ready," Davutoglu said at the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank in .

"The Syrian side already declared they want to continue from where we left [off]. The Israeli side, they have different views. Some coalition members are against, some are in favor. We will see," he said.

"If we see a strong political will, both in and , we will continue to support [peace efforts]. We will support every attempt, step in the direction of peace."

and held four indirect rounds of peace talks with Turkish mediation in 2008, but they were suspended following the resignation of then-prime minister Ehud Olmert in September of that year.

said at the time of Operation Cast Lead that it ruled out a resumption of the indirect talks any time soon.

But more recently, Syrian President Bashar Assad has expressed interest in renewing negotiations with .

wants an Israeli commitment to withdraw from the whole of the Golan Heights, the Syrian plateau that conquered in the 1967 Six Day War.

has said it was willing to resume the talks without preconditions.

George Mitchell, President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, discussed reviving peace talks between and last week with Assad, who said had to "declare frankly" it wants peace.

Muslim but secular, has a history of military cooperation with and has acted as an intermediary for the Jewish state with the Arab world.

But relations have soured recently as repeatedly criticized Operation Cast.

has meanwhile improved its ties with , making Israeli officials wary of resuming a mediation role.

Davutoglu repeated that the Israel-Syria peace talks had been making progress when launched the offensive.

was "concerned with the policies of because of ," he said, adding: "Criticizing one policy of an Israeli government does not mean the end of Turkish-Israel relations."