By Maya Gebeily, Parisa Hafezi and Alexander Cornwell BEIRUT/GENEVA/DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. and the United Arab Emirates have discussed with each other the possibility of lifting sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if he peels himself away from Iran and cuts off weapons routes to Lebanon's Hezbollah,

Talks have intensified in light of the Dec. 20 expiration of sweeping US sanctions on Syria and Israel’s ongoing campaign targeting Iranian-backed networks in the region.