WASHINGTON - The US State Department on Wednesday backed out of rare talks with a visiting Syrian delegation, citing conflicting schedules as among reasons.

"Representatives from the State Department will not meet with this group from Syria," said department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos. "Upon review of their program and changes in schedules, ultimately this did not work out."

The decision came after Riad Daoudi, legal adviser to the Syrian foreign ministry, decided at the last minute to skip the trip to Washington where the group was scheduled to attend a private forum, among other activities.

Daoudi, a Syrian lead negotiator with Israeli officials in Turkey, reportedly had to remain in Damascus for talks with a visiting Turkish delegation.

The State Department confirmed on Tuesday that the meeting would still go ahead with others in the group -- including a consultant to Syrian prime minister Ahmad Samir al-Taki.

"My understanding at that time was that they had requested it, that we had looked at the meeting, and we were going to meet with them. Today, conditions have changed, and we're not going to be meeting with them," Gallegos said.

"Our understanding is this group did not come here to meet with US government representatives," he said.

Syria is on a US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism. Washington also accuses it of allowing foreign fighters to cross into Iraq, allowing arms to flow into Lebanon, hosting Palestinian militant groups and violating human rights.

Gallegos had said on Monday that Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the pointman for Middle East affairs, was prepared to meet with them although they were not official talks as the Syrian team was here in "private capacity."

Still, the move to hold the talks came in the wake of a tactical shift in the Bush administration's Middle East dealings following the participation of the State Department's number three official, William Burns, in talks in Geneva last week over Iran's nuclear program.

The Syrian group's visit is sponsored by Search for Common Ground, an international non-governmental organization headquartered in Washington and Brussels, which had sought the talks with the State Department.

The State Department had welcomed a decision by Lebanon and Syria to open diplomatic relations announced during a landmark visit by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to France, but said US-Syria ties would remain limited unless Damascus changed its "destabilizing" behavior.

Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in 2005 in the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, ending a military presence of nearly three decades.

Syria was widely blamed for the killing but denies involvement.