Syrian President Bashar Assad says his country won't not sever ties with Iran and militant group Hezbollah, despite Israel's demands to do so.

He called such a moved "irrelevant" to reviving peace talks, The Jerusalem Post reported Friday.

Syria was offering Israel peace in return for the Golan Heights captured from Syria initially in 1967, Assad said in an interview with the Italian magazine L'Espresso.

The leader also told the magazine it was possible to move the peace process forward when a new president is elected in the United States in November. (c) UPI