CHRISTOPHER LEAVES SYRIA EMPTY-HANDED

Secretary of State Warren Christopher headed home today after a week of trying to accelerate the peace process in the Middle East, having failed to jump-start negotiations between Israel and Syria. After a three-hour meeting with Syrian President Hafez Assad, Christopher said the two Mideast countries are still deadlocked over the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War. Assad, more vaguely, said he was open to "discuss steps" that might help advance Christoper's aims when the American returns there in early August.