"He is a guest among some 45 or 50 others," said Claude Guéant, the secretary general of the Elysée, in an interview on Europe 1 radio.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is the guest of honor at the July 14 celebrations, when foreign dignitaries will join thousands of people to watch the traditional military parade down the Champs Elysees.

Sarkozy's invitation to Assad has sparked speculation that the Syrian president may hold a historic meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to advance Israeli-Syrian peace talks.

Guéant said Olmert had suggested that the Mediterranean Summit, scheduled for July 13, would perhaps provide "an opportunity to have direct contacts."

"I do not know if that will be the case, but in any case, there is much at stake, and it is in the interest of peace that France is trying to make it work," said Guéant.

The top official in the presidency traveled to Damascus on the weekend for talks with Assad on his visit to Paris, the Israeli-Syrian peace process and the situation in Lebanon.

France and the United States are calling on Syria and Lebanon to establish diplomatic relations after the election of President Michel Suleiman put an end to 18 months of crisis in Lebanon.

Last month, Israel and Syria announced they have launched indirect peace talks, with Turkey serving as a mediator, after an eight-year freeze.

The last round of Israeli-Syrian negotiations broke down in 2000 over the fate of the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed in 1981, a move not internationally recognized.

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