Damascus  - The Palestinian group Hamas will not accept any long-term truce with Israel if it does not include lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip, Khaled Meshaal, the group's exiled political leader said on Friday.

"Israel cannot dictate terms for a ceasefire after losing war in Gaza," he told a rally in the Syrian capital Damascus, where he is based.

"We will not accept a truce unless it was in return for lifting the blockade, opening all crossings and a rapid reconstruction of Gaza," Meshaal added.

Damascus - A delegation from the US Congress arrived in Damascus late Friday for talks with the Syrian officials, a US Embassy spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The congressional delegation, chaired by Democrat Representative Adam Smith, will discuss with Syrian officials US-Syrian relations and security cooperation.

This is the first US delegation to visit the Syrian capital after US president Barack Obama was sworn in on January 20.

Damascus  - Syria's first stock exchange, which is currently operating in pilot trading, will be officially launched on March 9, media reports said on Friday.

The official news agency SANA reported that interim operations of the Damascus Securities Exchange included five large Syrian companies - the International Bank for Trade and Finance, Bank of Syria and Overseas, Arab Bank-Syria, Banque Bemo Saudi-French, and Al-Ahliah Company for Transport.

Damascus - On the eve of EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana's visit to the region, Damascus-based Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday that Hamas is talking with European "parties" directly, but that it could not yet divulge details.

"There are contacts with European parties at this stage, but we are not announcing any details," Meshaal told reporters in Damascus.

Meshaal also refused to elaborate Hamas' position on talks in Cairo aimed at reaching a lasting truce between Hamas and Israel until it had concluded its negotiations with Egyptian officials.

Damascus  - An Egyptian proposal to halt fighting in the Gaza Strip would serve Israel rather than help Hamas, a statement by the Islamist Palestinian movement said Thursday.

"This initiative seeks limiting the Palestinian resistance while freeing the Israeli occupation and helping it achieve some of the goals it failed to achieve by its military attack," Hamas said.

"We also refuse to deploy international forces in the strip or international supervisors," the statement added.

Damascus - French President Nicolas Sarkozy again called for Mideast peace Tuesday, following a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the continuing conflict between Israel and the Islamist forces of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

"Every party should deploy and exercise pressure on Hamas so that weapons should be quiet and silent," said Sarkozy, who has faulted Hamas for prompting the Israeli attack with a week of missile attacks into Israel after a ceasefire expired December 19.