Syrian President Assad holds talks with Iraq's Aziz

DAMASCUS, Syria (Reuters) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad held talks on Tuesday with visiting Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz.

Presidential spokesman Joubran Kourieh told Reuters that Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara was present.

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Aziz, the most senior Iraqi official to visit Syria since the new president took office in July following the death of his father, Hafez al-Assad, arrived by road on Monday.

Ties between Syria and Iraq, ruled by rival factions of the Baath Party, started to improve three years ago after nearly two decades of animosity marked by disagreements over Iraq's 1980-1988 war against Iran and Baghdad's invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Damascus has since reopened its borders and begun economic cooperation, joining Arab calls for the lifting of U.N. sanctions against Baghdad.

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