Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that Syria was not a partner in the diplomatic process to end the current conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerillas.
According to an statement released by the prime minister's office, Olmert said that the Syrians could have risen to the occasion if they did not have their finger on the trigger on both the Lebanese and Gazan fronts.
In addition, Olmert said that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah had "made a mistake."
"If he (Nasrallah) would have thought and would have known that this would be our reaction, he would have responded and acted differently," he said, referring to an ongoing Israeli onslaught in Lebanon.
"The international response and the changes in the Arab world will allow us to, within a reasonable timeframe, build a model solution that will significantly weaken and isolate Hezbollah," he added.
Syria, which supports the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, has condemned the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and called for a ceasefire as soon as possible.
Israel has been battling along its northern border with Hezbollah over the past 13 days in an effort to bring back its two soldiers taken hostage by Hezbollah guerillas and remove Hezbollah from the border area.
Olmert is scheduled to meet with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jerusalem on Tuesday over the Lebanon crisis.
Rice has said that the United States would push for a " sustainable" ceasefire.