1:48pm UK, Wednesday May 21, 2008

Hopes for peace in the Middle East have been given a double boost, with old foes Syria and Israel announcing that they have begun talks while warring factions in Lebanon struck a peace deal.

Opposition supporters dismantle a protest camp in the Lebanese capital

State media in Syria said that Turkey was mediating the talks with Israel, a report that was then backed up by government officials on both sides.

"Both sides have expressed their desire to conduct the talks in goodwill and decided to continue dialogue with seriousness to achieve comprehensive peace," Syria's foreign ministry said.

Despite a 1974 armistice, the two countries remain technically in a state of war.

In 2000, talks between the two countries disintegrated after they failed to agree on the fate of the Golan Heights - Syrian territory that was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. 

Last September, Israel launched an air strike against a site in northeastern Syria.

Syria says the site was a military facility under construction but the US says it was a nuclear plant being built with the help of North Korea.

Elsewhere, warring political sides in Lebanon signed a truce to end a dispute which had seen blood shed on the streets of the capital, Beirut.

The US-backed ruling coalition and the Hizbollah-backed opposition agreed to end their 18-month conflict.

The agreement paves the way for the election of a new president and ended a long-running political stand-off that began when six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet in November 2006.

"Today, we are opening a new page in Lebanon's history," said Saad al Hariri, a Sunni politician who leads the ruling coalition.

Hizbollah's representative Mohammed Raad said the deal would help "towards strengthening coexistence and building the state".

Opposition parties removed a barrier in downtown Beirut following orders from their leaders in Qatar, where the agreement was reached.

The encampment of dozens of tents has blocked two squares for 18 months, turning the area into a ghost town and forcing shops and restaurants to shut down.

It was set up to block the streets leading to Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's offices to try to force him to step down.