DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan 14, SPA -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Syria later this week for talks with Hamas' exiled political chief, Khaled Mashaal, as well as Syrian officials, Palestinian officials said Sunday. The officials, speaking Sunday on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media, said Abbas' talks in Damascus would focus on ways to form a national unity government and ending Palestinian infighting. Meanwhile, in Ramallah on Saturday, Abbas told reporters after meeting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he will go ahead with early elections if new coalition talks with Hamas fail.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/417881