Hariri in Damascus on first trip as PM

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has arrived in Syria on his first visit to the former foe and powerbroker since taking office in November. Hariri was due to hold talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

AFP - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived in Syria on Saturday on his first visit to the former long-time foe and powerbroker since he took office last month.

 

Hariri was due to hold talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to discuss relations between the two neighbours during his visit, an AFP correspondent travelling with him said.

 

The visit is Hariri's first since the 2005 assassination in Beirut of his father, former premier Rafiq, a murder which the younger Hariri in the past had pinned on Syria.

 

Hariri was met on arrival by Syria's minister for presidential affairs, Mansur Azzam, and the Lebanese ambassador to Damascus Michel el-Khoury -- Beirut's first ever envoy to the Syrian capital.

 

Reports from Beirut earlier suggested that Hariri would spend a few hours in Damascus for his first ever official contact with Assad's regime, but Syria's state news agency SANA said the visit would last two days.

 

After years of tense ties over his father's murder, Hariri told parliament earlier this month he wanted to forge "brotherly ties" with Damascus.

 

"The government wants to raise brotherly ties between Lebanon and Syria to a level in line with the two countries' historical ties and mutual interest," Hariri said before his cabinet received parliament's vote of confidence.

 

The 39-year-old premier has had sour relations with Syria since the massive Beirut bombing in February 2005 that killed his father and 22 others.

 

The international community widely blamed the murder on Syria, which withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April 2005 under public pressure after 29 years of military and political domination.

 

Damascus has consistently denied involvement in the assassination.

 

In June, a UN inquiry said it had evidence that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were linked to the killing, but no charges have been brought.

 

Earlier this month, a Syrian court asked 25 prominent Lebanese figures, including individuals close to Saad Hariri, to appear for questioning over the murder.

 

The Syrian court acted after Lebanon's former security services director Jamil Sayyed filed a lawsuit in Damascus in October in connection with his detention without charge for four years over the Hariri murder.

 

Syria's list also included police chief Ashraf Rifi and prosecutor general Saeed Mirza, as well as several MPs and journalists.

 

In November, Hariri's 30-member cabinet adopted a policy statement despite reservations by his Christian allies on a clause relating to the arsenal held by the Syria- and Iran-backed Shiite party Hezbollah.

 

Hariri formed his unity government after five months of drawn-out talks with his political rivals.

 

His US- and Western-backed coalition defeated the Hezbollah-led alliance in a general election on June 7.

 

Lebanon and Syria recently established diplomatic ties following decades of turbulent relations.

 

The thaw came after a joint pledge by Assad and his Lebanese opposite number, Michel Sleiman, who visited Syria on Friday.

 

Damascus opened its first embassy in Lebanon just under a year ago, and Beirut sent an ambassador to Syria in March.

 

It was the two countries' first diplomatic exchange since independence from France more than 60 years ago.

Date created : 2009-12-19