President Hafez Assad said publicly that Mr Barak was a man he could do business with.
Assad has ruled since 2000, taking over from his father Hafez, who seized power in a 1970 coup.
But the death of Hafez Assad, Syria's president for 30 years, has left Lebanon with a distracted backer at best.
The Clinton Administration now appears poised to make the same mistake with respect to an even more dangerous actor: Hafez Assad.
He was go-between for the Clinton administration when it was dealing with President Hafez Assad of Syria and the Palestinians' Yasser Arafat.
Yet Syria is simply not strong enough, any more, to play the spoiler the way his father, Hafez, did in the past.
ECONOMIST: Syria hates the war, but is too weak to play the spoiler
Government official Abdel-Rashid Abdel Hafez said Mr Mansour Hadi had contacted his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to demand Tehran stop smuggling in weapons.
Also, the Egyptian leader said he would meet with Syrian President Hafez Assad and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, although he gave no timetable.
CNN: Clinton, Mubarak optimistic Mideast peace talks will be revived
Through Mr Mubarak, Mr Demirel delivered to Syria's President Hafez Assad a menu of demands so unpalatable that the Arabs assumed Turkey wanted war.
Mr Abdel Hafez gave no more details about the correspondence.
Musicians like Mr Asar, whose influences range from Elton John to the 14th century mystic poet Hafez, have responded to the change in official attitudes with a creative upsurge.
Posters of Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez in 2000, are everywhere on Jabal Muhsin, while rebel Free Syrian Army flags outnumber Lebanese ones in the Sunni areas nearby.
Speaking of Syria, Secretary of State Warren Christopher announced on Sunday that he hoped Hafez Assad would come to the summit in Sharm el-Sheik since everybody involved in the "peace process" should be there.
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