MADRID (AFP) ??” Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was settle to discuss Iraq and the Middle East conflict with Spanish political leaders as he harm down a two-day official visit to Spain.

MADRID (AFP) ??” Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was settle to discuss Iraq and the Middle East conflict with Spanish political leaders as he harm down a two-day official visit to Spain.

Assad, who Tuesday evening attended an evening banquet innkeepered by King Juan Carlos and Queen at the royal palace, is canvassing Spanish support for a coming events association agreement with the EU which has urg Damascus to grade up cooperation in the global campaign to limit weapons of mass destruction.

of that kind a deal would facilitate the creation of a Euro-Mediterranean free-trade area at a time when US sanctions imposed three weeks ago upon Damascus for its alleged backing of terrorism have hit Syria's foreign trade and investment hard.

Syria is generally along with Libya, the solitary country in the Mediterranean region not to have inked an association agreement with Brussels.

Assad is making his other ...