Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held talks on the situation in Gaza Strip with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy who arrived here on Tuesday morning.
Assad and Sarkozy reviewed "the serious situation of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip due to the ongoing Israeli aggression," the official SANA news agency said.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU envoy on the Middle East peace process Marc Otte also arrived here with Sarkozy and attended the meeting.
Sarkozy is currently on a two-day Middle East tour which has taken him to Egypt, Israel and the Israeli occupied West Bank. He will head to Beirut after Damascus.
Israel launched airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Dec. 27 and a ground operation on Jan. 3 in retaliation of Hamas militants' rocket attacks into Israel, which has killed at least 540 Palestinians and wounded some 2,500 others.