BEIRUT (AFP)
Syria's foreign minister was visiting Beirut on Monday on a trip set to usher in a new page in relations, but a number of thorny issues must be tackled before full diplomatic ties are established.
Walid Muallem was to deliver an invitation to Lebanese President Michel Suleiman from his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad to visit Damascus, a trip the Lebanese press said would take place within a week or 10 days.
Lebanon and Syria said earlier this month that they had agreed to establish diplomatic relations and planned to open embassies in both capitals for the first time since independence from French colonial rule more than 60 years ago.
"This visit will open a new era in bilateral relations, following the tensions of the last three years," Muallem told Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper, which is close to the Hezbollah-led opposition backed by Syria and Iran.
"We hope to overcome these tensions and look forward to brotherly cooperation between Syria and Lebanon," he added. "We have all the conditions needed to succeed."
Muallem, who last visited Beirut on May 25 when Suleiman was elected, said diplomatic ties must have a solid base and take into account the interests of both countries. |
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Thorny issues Syria, the former powerbroker in Lebanon, withdrew its troops in 2005 in the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, ending a military presence of nearly three decades.
Syria denies it was behind the Beirut bomb blast that killed Hariri and has protested at plans for a U.N. tribunal to try suspects in the murder.
Apart from the tribunal, a number of other thorny issues have hampered relations including the fate of hundreds of Lebanese who vanished during Syria's rule in Lebanon.
Syria's denies any involvement in their disappearance.
Families of the disappeared organized a protest along the road leading from the airport to the presidential palace to coincide with the Syrian minister's visit.
Anti-Syrian majority MP Akram Shehayeb called on the Lebanese parliament to abolish a 1991 "friendship and cooperation" treaty which effectively formalized Syrian power in Lebanon, saying it had "weakened" the country.
Fellow anti-Syrian MP Mosbah al-Ahdab called for borders to be clearly established and that a resolution be found to the issue of weapons held in Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps, which he said could only be achieved with the help of the Syrian intelligence services. |
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Warming ties Suleiman was elected president and a new government formed under a May deal between the anti-Syrian ruling majority and the Damascus-backed opposition to end a drawn-out political crisis that had boiled over into deadly violence and pushed Lebanon to the brink of a new civil war.
The plans to establish ties were announced at a summit in France to launch a Mediterranean Union which was attended by Assad, marking his return to the international stage after several years of diplomatic isolation over the Hariri assassination.
Franco-Syrian ties went into deep freeze after the assassination of Hariri, who was a personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac.
In a further sign of improving ties, Sarkozy announced he would visit Damascus in September. |
