Iranian and Syrian leaders meet for two hours at Damascus airport on Yom Kippur. "No room for Israel in the Middle East," Ahmadinajad says.

Following the meeting, Iran's English-language news agency reported that Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinajad repeated what he has said countless times in the past, that Israel has no place in a future Middle East. He also called the talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority a "failure."

The report of the meeting by the French news agency AFP did not include his threats against Israel, however.

"The front of resistance is increasing in the region," the Iranian president said, referring to the Syrian-Iranian alliance, and "the people of the region support [this] policy." He also that Iran-Syria relations were "solid and strategic with a unified view on all issues."

The meeting took place just two days after U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell visited Damascus, where he said that Washington is seeking a comprehensive resolution that would also include peace between Syria and Israel. "There are some who are determined to disrupt this process," Mitchell said, "but we are determined to see it through."

Iraq, Too
The SANA Syrian news agency reported that Ahmadinajad and Assad had discussed, among other things, the need to unite the various factions in Iraq in order that a new government be established there quickly.

Ahmadinajad continued from Damascus to Algeria, from where he will take off for New York and the UN General Assembly gathering later this week. President Shimon Peres will also take part in the UN conference.