DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday offered to help bolster security in Lebanon and voiced support for inter-Lebanese talks to solve a protracted political crisis.

Syria "stands ready to provide all possible help which the Lebanese could request, to guarantee security and stability in Lebanon," Assad said, according to the official SANA news agency.

Assad made the remarks during talks with Lebanese parliament speaker and opposition leader Nabih Berri.

The Syrian president also expressed support for "an internal Lebanese dialogue" saying such talks between Beirut's feuding politicians would help resolve the crisis that has plagued Lebanon for more than a year.

After the two-hour meeting, Berri told reporters that Syria was putting "no conditions" on the inter-Lebanese talks which he has been trying to organise.

Berri said the visit to Damascus had provided him "with a new boost to launch a dialogue in Lebanon aimed at electing... General Michel Sleiman to the Lebanese presidency" -- a reference to the Lebanese army chief.

Berri's spokesman Ali Hamdan had earlier said that the speaker intends to gather Lebanon's political leaders for talks before April 22 when parliament is due to convene for a fresh attempt to elect a president.

Lebanon's has been without a president for more than four months amid bickering between the ruling coalition, backed by the West and most Arab states, and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran.

Both sides have agreed on Sleiman as a consensus candidate for the post but continue to bicker about the make-up of a new cabinet.

Parliamentary sessions to vote for a new president have been postponed 17 times since last September.

On Sunday, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora accused Syria of holding his country hostage by blocking the election of a new president, following talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Last month, an Arab summit in Damascus failed to clinch a breakthrough on Lebanon, spotlighting instead the rift between host Syria and its pro-Western rivals Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who sent only low-level delegations. -AFP