Damascus - Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebary arrived in Damascus on Tuesday in the first visit by an Iraqi official since the US cross-border attack on the Syrian village of Abu Kamal in late October.

The visit comes as "a good will gesture" from the Iraqi government to show its concern to maintain brotherly relations with Syria, Ahmad al-Saad, the press attache of the Iraqi embassy in Damascus told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Damascus  - Syria hopes that the new US president would change the US foreign policy, said Syrian Minister of Information said on Wednesday.

"We hope that the US drop its policies of wars and boycott and would adopt diplomacy and dialogue," reported the Syrian news agency SANA quoting Hohsen Belal.

Belal added that he would wish for more peace in the Middle East.

The US has raided a Syrian village a couple of weeks ago killing eight civilians, according to Syria. The event has escalated tensions between the two countries.

Damascus  - The US embassy in Damascus announced that for security reasons it would be closed for the day Thursday as thousands of protesters in the Syrian capital demonstrated against the recent US commando raid on a Syrian village near the Iraqi border.

Carrying pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, protestors denounced US President George W Bush, with signs bearing slogans such as: "Bush: The supporter of terrorism around the world."

Dozens of students from the Syrian region of Bokmal, the location of Sunday's raid, protested near the embassy, which was surrounded by Syrian riot police.

Damascus - A Syrian court reduced the sentences for twelve political activists on Wednesday who had been handed six-year jail terms for "publishing false news and threatening Syria's national morale."

Syria last December arrested the activists for their association with an organization called "Damascus Declaration group."

Established in 2005, the group includes Syrian intellectuals and calls for democratic reform in Syria and the recognition of Lebanon as an independent state.

The Syrian court reduced the original prison sentence from six years to two and a half years.

Damascus, Cairo - Officials across the Arab World reacted with shock and outrage Monday at a US military raid that reportedly killed eight people - allegedly including children - in a small Syrian town Sunday.

The United States made no immediate official comment. A helicopter-borne commando raid was reported to have attacked the Syrian town of Abu Kamal, eight kilometres from the Iraqi border.

The US silence was met with increasing outrage from regional leaders, with the strongest statements coming from Syria.

Damascus - The Syrian government Thursday hailed a visit from the European Union's chief diplomat as a sign that its foreign policy is reaping successes.

"With the visit of (EU foreign policy chief Javier) Solana, Europe has truly and officially announced that it wants to open up to Syria," said Buthaina Shaaban, spokeswoman for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after the meeting between the two men.

Shaaban went on to say that the EU's position was "only natural, given the positive and stable role that Syria is playing in the region."