Syria's ambassador to the United States on Tuesday warned that should Israel scuttle peace negotiations with Syria, the citizens of each country will pay the price.

"If the Israelis are merely interested in the 'process' and not the 'peace', they will ultimately be held accountable... Future Israeli and Arab generations will pay a dear price for this shortsightedness and obstinacy," Ambassador Imad Moustapha said in an interview with the Syria Comment Web site.

Israel and Syria announced in May that they were holding indirect peace negotiations.

In the interview, Moustapha described Hezbollah as "a close ally" which Syria regarded with pride. A key Israeli demand in peace talks is that Damascus cut its ties with the Lebanon-based militant organization against which Israel fought the Second Lebanon War.

He also said the group was capable of defending Lebanon and "inflicting another humiliating defeat on the Israeli military machine if it decides to launch yet another war of aggression on Lebanon."

On the issue of Syria's relations with Iran, Moustapha asserted that the United States shouldn't seek to distance his country from the Islamic Republic. He said that the U.S. should instead use Syria to defuse tensions tensions.

"We can help bridge the stark differences between Iran and the U.S.; we can help find a regional settlement to the many contentious issues of the region. We can help avoid the perils of yet another major conflict in our region," said the envoy.

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