The minister of higher education has said that women in Syria are barred from wearing the niqab full-face veil while attending university.

Syrian media has revealed that the decree follows a pronouncement by his counterpart, the minister of education, that disallowed fully veiled schoolteachers in lower and infant schools. Last month, around 1,200 schoolteachers wearing the face veil were dismissed from their jobs.

The Minister of Higher Education Ghiath Barakat said that the ban in universities was done to promote moderation within society.

Damascus, Jan 6 : Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's youngest son arrived in Damascus last month after spending eight years in Iran, the regional daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Wednesday.

Omar bin Laden told the London-based daily that his 16-year-old brother, Bakr, arrived in Damascus on Christmas Eve.

"It was a joyful moment for the family ... but the joy will not be complete until all my siblings arrive safely from the Iranian capital," Omar was quoted as saying.

Damascus - Syria has opened a new oil and gas processing station to help boost the country's production capacity, local media reported Sunday.

The Hayyan station opened Saturday near the city of Palmyra, some 200 kilometres north-east of Damascus. It has the capacity to process 600 barrels of oil per day and 650,000 cubic meters of gas.

Oil Minister Sufyan al-Allawi said the cost of the project was about 450 million dollars.

Another new station with a production capacity of 3.7 million cubic metres of natural gas is scheduled to open in 2011, officials said.

Paris - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has criticized US President Barack Obama in an interview Friday for what he termed his passivity in relaunching the Mideast peace process.

"The weak point (of the peace process) is the American sponsor," Assad said in an interview published Friday in the daily Le Figaro. "A sponsor must elaborate a plan of action. He must be proactive and take the initiative, not remain passive and wait for others to act."

Beirut - Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman headed Thursday to Damscus for talks with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al Assad, three days after the formation of a Lebanese national unity cabinet.

According to a source at the presidential Palace, Suleiman and Assad will hold a summit that will focus on the future Lebanese-Syrian ties.

According to the Lebanese daily As-Safir, the summit will produce Syrian support for the new Lebanon government.

Baghdad - Iraq has formally requested an international probe into what role, if any, its neighbours played in two devastating bombings attacks in Baghdad, the daily al-Sabah reported Wednesday.

Shiite politician Muwaffaq al-Rubaie told the daily that Iraq had requested submitted "thousands of pages of documents" he claimed proved regional countries' role in August 19 and October 25 bombings that together killed 255 people, injured hundreds more and badly damaged the ministries of finance, foreign affairs, and justice.

Damascus - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem will visit Tehran on Tuesday, a Syrian diplomat told the German Press Agency dpa.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Moallem would likely act as an intermediary between Saudi Arabia and Iran on regional issues.

Al-Moallem is expected to discuss developments in Iraq, Lebanon, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and increasing three-way cooperation among Turkey, Syria and Iran, the diplomat said.

Washington/Beirut  - The United States Saturday called for the immediate release by Syria of a human rights lawyer, saying it joined Britain, France and other countries in expressing "deep concern" about the arrest.

Earlier Saturday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner cancelled his planned Saturday visit to Syria after Damascus detained Haitham al-Maleh, a 78-year-old Syrian human rights activist.

In a statement, the White House charged that Maleh was detained by Syrian security services on October 14 as part of a "two-year crackdown on lawyers and civil society activists."

Damascus - A Syrian boy was killed when he fell into a manhole that had been covered only with cardboard, the Damascus daily al-Watan reported Wednesday.

Rescue workers combed the city's sewer system for hours before locating Ayash's body 15 kilometres away, near a sewage-treatment plant.

Mohammed Ayash and his mother had just visited the boy's grandparents when the two stopped to run some errands on the way home, the paper reported.

When his mother turned her back on the child for a moment to pick up her shopping bags, Ayash had disappeared. Unknown to the mother, he had fallen into a manhole and drowned in the sewage pipe.

Damascus  - Two Syrians have been released after spending 25 years in Israeli prisons, the Syrian official news agency SANA reported Friday.

"Israeli occupation forces released Thursday the two Syrian captives Bishr Soleiman al-Makt and Asem al-Wali after 25 years during which they defied all forms of torture by the hands of Israeli jailers," SANA reported.

The released prisoners were quoted on Syrian television as saying they were confident of "the return of the Golan Heights to Syria and the freedom of all other captives."

Aleppo  - Ministers from Syria and Turkey on Tuesday signed an agreement to eliminate visa requirements between each others countries during a meeting in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

"This is a day for both nations to celebrate," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters following the meeting. "It is a historic and strategic event that lies in the interest of both the Syrians and the Turks."

Around 20 ministers from both sides - including foreign affairs, defence, the interior, economy, trade and health - attended the meeting.

Istanbul - Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu Tuesday travelled to Syria for the first meeting of a high-level strategic council the two countries recently established.

Davutoglu, who is being accompanied by 10 cabinet members, would also sign an agreement with his Syrian counterpart to abolish visa requirements between the two countries.

Damascus  - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has banned smoking in public places, including government offices, restaurants and cafes, reports said Monday.

Violations of the new law, which also applies to the smoking of water pipes, or nargillah, are to result in a fine of up to 5,000 Syrian pounds (100 dollars).

The sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products to people under 18, tobacco advertisements and the manufacture and import of all kinds of sweets or toys made in the shape of cigarettes has also been outlawed. (dpa)

Damascus - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz left Damascus Thursday ending his two day "historic" visit to Syria, in which he held political and economic talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Saudi Arabia has called on Syria to take part in efforts to solve inter-Palestinian problems, support Iraq and Lebanon as well as cooperating to fight terrorism and extremism in the region, sources in the Saudi delegation told the German Press Agency dpa.

London, Oct 3 Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have visited Iraqi refugees in Syria.

Jolie took her partner on the aid mission as part of her role as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, reported dailymail.co.uk

The two left their six children at home to meet the refugees.

"Most Iraqi refugees cannot return to Iraq in view of the severe trauma they experienced there, the uncertainty linked to the coming Iraqi elections, the security issues and the lack of basic services," Jolie was quoted as saying.

"They will, therefore, be in need of continued support from the international community," she added.

Manila  - The Philippines has pledged to deploy 336 peacekeepers to help a United Nations mission in the Golan Heights in Syria, the country's defence secretary said Monday.

Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro made the commitment during a visit to the United Nations in New York last week.

"It is a great honour for the Philippines to be given the opportunity to participate in UN peacekeeping operations," he said upon arriving in Manila from his trip.

Damascus  - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos in Damascus on Wednesday to discuss bilateral relations and regional peace prospects, media reports said.

Al-Assad and Moratinos discussed the growing relationship between Syria and the European Union (EU) as well as Spain's efforts to revive the peace process in the region, the official SANA news agency reported.

"The two sides stressed that the current stage demands genuine political will to make decisions and guarantee their implementation," SANA reported.

Damascus - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will start a two-day visit to Syria on Thursday during which he will hold talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Chavez, who was in Algeria on Wednesday, heads a delegation that includes Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicholas Maduro, the Secretariat of the Presidency and ministers of mining, energy, petroleum, and trade.

Damascus  - EU Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana arrived on Sunday in Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar al Assad and Foreign Minister Walid al Muallim to discuss means to resume the peace process in the region.

The visit is the first leg in a four-day tour of the region that will also take Solana to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Egypt.

Following his meetings in Damascus, Solana is expected to hold a joint conference before he departs later Sunday for Israel.  dpa

Vienna  - Syria is not fully cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency in clearing up questions about a possible secret nuclear reactor, the IAEA said in a report issued on Friday.

Last year, the Vienna-based agency has found traces of man-made uranium at the al-Kibar site in the Syrian desert which was bombed by Israel in 2007 before IAEA inspectors could visit it.

Damascus claims it cannot give the Vienna-based inspectors additional access because the al-Kibar site was a conventional military installation.