UNITED NATIONS – Israel yesterday dismissed as “nothing new” the latest Syrian offer to renew regional peace talks, describing the gesture as an attempt to deflect the increased international pressure on Damascus.

The offer, as reported yesterday by the London-based Al Hayat, was made by President Assad during a meeting in Damascus with an American delegation headed by Martin Indyk, an ambassador to Israel during the Clinton administration.

“I am ready to renew peace talks if Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is ready for this,” Al Hayat quoted Mr. Assad. He reportedly further conditioned the offer on “clear American guarantees regarding the seriousness of the negotiations.”

Mr. Sharon dismissed the offer immediately, telling the Jerusalem Post that for any negotiations to begin, Syria “must dismantle and expel terrorist organizations and stop funding terrorist groups.”

Mr. Sharon’s spokesman, Ra’anan Gissin, told The New York Sun that the offer was a result of last Thursday’s Security Council resolution that called on “all foreign forces” to leave Lebanon, including Syria’s 22,000 troops stationed there. “There is nothing new here,” Mr. Gissin said. “It’s the same old trick.”

Last May a similar offer made public by the U.N. special representative to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, was met with the same skepticism.

“I am sure there is an opportunity here and it must be seized,” Mr. Larsen nevertheless told Israel’s Army Radio yesterday. Mr. Larsen will be instrumental in preparing a report the council asked Secretary-General Annan to present within 30 days of last Thursday’s resolution to assess its implementation.

Mr. Annan indicated yesterday that Syria should refrain from interfering in Lebanon’s politics. Speaking to reporters after returning from a long leave, Mr. Annan said that constitutions, such as Lebanon’s, should not be changed “to suit the need of one individual.”

One day after the council’s resolution, the Lebanese Parliament, under Syrian pressure, defiantly changed the constitution Friday to allow for Damascus’ favorite President Lahud to serve an extra three years beyond his six-year term.

At the U.N., several diplomats yesterday said any further pressure on Syria would mostly depend on France and its president, Jacques Chirac. The French ambassador, Jean Marc de la Sabliere, told the Sun that no action was expected before Mr. Annan’s report.

The Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, a rival of Mr. Lahud, is a close ally of Mr. Chirac, and many here believe that his friendship with the wealthy Lebanese businessman is behind the rare French alliance with Washington.

But Mr. Hariri recently had to publicly reverse his opposition to the constitutional change after being admonished by Damascus. Additionally, a French official told the Sun yesterday that a scheduled meeting between Messrs. Hariri and Chirac, which was planned on the margins of the General Assembly meeting here late September, was canceled by Mr. Hariri, who would not come to New York as planned.

In addition, Lebanon yesterday called for a meeting of the Arab League to mobilize the opposition to the American-French move. It might be too late, several Arab diplomats here told the Sun yesterday. Syria’s failure to convene the Arab group at the U.N., they argued, allowed Algeria, the only Arab member of the Security Council, to break solidarity with a fellow Arab, abstaining in Thursday’s vote, rather than opposing it.