Carter held talks with Assad before preparing to defy US and Israeli opposition by meeting with the Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.

Details on the meeting with Assad were not immediately available, but Carter's spokesman Rick Jafculca told AFP that the two were to discuss the peace process.

"The meeting between Carter and Meshaal will mainly focus on the Palestinian cause and means to deal with the Israeli occupation and its sanctions on the Palestinian people," senior Hamas official Mohammed Nasr told AFP.

Nasr said the two men would also discuss the fate of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants in June 2006.

"In my opinion, the two are expected to discuss the Israeli soldier Shalit. I think it is natural to talk about this," Nasr said.

Carter is on a nine-day regional tour to promote the Middle East peace process which has already seen him visit Israel, the West Bank and Egypt, where on Thursday he met with top Gaza-based Hamas leaders Mahmud Zahar and Said Siam.

That meeting took place in Cairo after Israel barred the former president from visiting the Palestinian territory, which the Islamists have ruled since seizing power there in June.

"We had common points of view and the talks will continue today during the meeting with the political leadership of Hamas in Damascus," Zahar said in a telephone interview with AFP from Gaza, which the Isalmists have ruled since June.

"President Carter talked of humanitarian proposals linked to the truce," he said in reference to attempts to halt the bloodshed in Gaza, where 18 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers were killed in the latest explosion of violence on Wednesday.

Israel has snubbed Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace prize, over his plans to talk with Hamas, considered a terrorist organisation by the Jewish state, the United States and European Union.

However, Israeli minister Eli Yishai says he is ready to also meet Meshaal to negotiate the release of prisoners held by the Islamist movement, according to Friday's Haaretz daily.

"I am ready to meet with all necessary Hamas members," the newspaper quoted the deputy prime minister as telling former Carter during a meeting this week.

During the Israeli leg of his visit, Carter met the Shalit's parents and pledged to take up calls for his release with Meshaal.

Washington has said the former president, seen as the architect of the historic 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, is acting in a personal capacity.

In Beirut, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch said Carter's conversations with Hamas leaders risked being "misrepresented".

"We are concerned to advance peace here. We see no intention on the part of Hamas in doing so and there is some risk that these conversations will be misrepresented by Hamas," the US official said.

But the veteran politician insists he is not acting as a mediator and has been urging talks with Hamas and Syria, saying a Middle East peace accord cannot be reached without them.

"I think it's absolutely crucial that in a final dreamed-about and prayed-for peace agreement for this region that Hamas be involved and that Syria be involved," he said in Israel on Monday.

Carter's tour will also include US allies Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

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