JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday he does not expect conflict with the Jewish state's neighbours in the coming months, pouring cold water on a recent flurry of speculations of an impending war with Syria.

"I truly believe that the coming summer and the following autumn will not be too hot. There is no room for exaggerating and creating an atmosphere that we are on the eve of war," Olmert said in a speech at the graduation ceremony of the national security college at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

The premier also reiterated his readiness to renew peace talks with Israel's neighbours, mainly Syria, with which negotiations broke down seven years ago over the fate of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

"Our neighbours know very well that we would rather sit down and discuss peace, and not prove to them that we are stronger than them," he said.

The Israeli press has been filled over the past year with speculation that war could break out in 2007 following several Israeli intelligence reports warning that Damascus was preparing for a conflict.

The Israeli army, shaken following last year's war in Lebanon, has also conducted a series of war games on the Golan plateau over the past year, further heightening tensions along the Jewish state's northern border.

But Olmert has previously warned of "miscalculation" that could spark hostilities between the two neighbours. -AFP