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Border issues on agenda for Baroud”s visit to Damascus
President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met on Sunday as Lebanon was preparing to send its interior minister to Syria on Monday for the first time since former Premier Rafik Hariri”s murder in 2005, in an effort to boost security cooperation between the two neighbors.
Sleiman and Siniora discussed the prospects of Ziyad Baroud”s visit as well as other issues, most importantly the outcome of the president”s weekend visit to Egypt.
Baroud, who visited both Siniora and Sleiman on Sunday to brief them on his visit”s agenda, will be accompanied by Lebanon”s security chiefs, Wafiq Jizzini and Ashraf Rifi, the president”s office said.
The visit comes almost three months after Sleiman made a landmark visit to Damascus and less than a month after Syria and Lebanon decided to establish diplomatic relations for the first time.
Cross-border smuggling will figure high on the agenda of Baroud”s talks, a source at the president”s office said.
Syria has deployed reinforcements along its border with Lebanon in what it terms an anti-smuggling operation.
News reports on Sunday said the talks” agenda would also include the recent allegations that Lebanon”s Future Movement was involved in funding the militant group Fatah al-Islam.
The allegations were made on Syrian state television last week by alleged Fatah al-Islam members who were reportedly arrested by Syrian authorities.
The reports also said Siniora had complained to Sleiman during their Sunday meeting at the Baabda Palace about Damascus” decision to air the allegations on state television rather than raise the issue with Lebanese security authorities.
Baroud will be the first Lebanese interior minister to visit Syria since pro-Syrian Premier Omar Karami”s cabinet resigned in April 2005, the same month as Syrian troops pulled out of Lebanon after an almost three-decade deployment.
The anti-Syrian camp in Beirut blamed Syria for the assassination of Hariri.
The charge has been repeatedly denied by Damascus, whose troops withdrew from the smaller neighbor it dominated for decades, having come under pressure on the streets of Beirut after the murder.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said on the eve of Baroud”s visit that Syria was satisfied with the overall situation in Lebanon in the aftermath of last May”s Doha Accord.
"The Doha Accord has laid down the foundations of stability in Lebanon … It also put an end to plans to disturb the country”s unity," Assad told members of the Arab Parliament, who gathered for a meeting in Damascus.
Meanwhile, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri was quoted by Russian newspaper Vremia Novosti as saying after he wrapped up a visit to Moscow over the weekend that Russia was willing to sell Lebanon military hardware at "advantageous prices."
Hariri held talks with Russian officials in Moscow as he met both Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Hariri reportedly asked for Russia”s help to achieve an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon”s occupied Shebaa-Farms.
Separately, Sleiman ended a visit to Cairo on Saturday after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Arab League chief Amr Moussa, and members of the Lebanese community.
The president told members of the Lebanese community in Cairo before departing to Beirut that Lebanon was moving toward restoring its regional role and proving that it could be the "Switzerland of the Middle East."
Sleiman told reporters earlier on Saturday that border demarcation between Lebanon and Syria would not be delayed by differences over the ownership of the Shebaa Farms.
"A joint statement which was released following my recent meeting with Assad officially recognized Lebanon”s ownership of the Shebaa Farms," he said in a joint news conference with Mubarak.
"Border demarcation between Lebanon and Syria will start as soon as all technical and administrative measures are in place," he added.
Asked to explain Moussa”s absence last week at the second session of the national dialogue second, Sleiman said that the Arab League chief”s absence had no implications.
"Nothing should be read into that … Moussa”s absence does not mean that Arabs have stopped their support for dialogue in Lebanon."
Sleiman urged Arab states to make use of the "worldwide atmosphere of change" and speed up efforts to mend fences and achieve Arab consensus.
He added that Lebanon was also ready to benefit from "the tide of change," particularly following the recent US presidential elections which saw Barack Obama set to become the United States” first African-American president.
Sleiman also said that he agreed with Mubarak on holding annual meetings of the joint Lebanese-Egyptian Committee.
Siniora visited Egypt late last month to attend a Lebanese-Egyptian Committee meeting.
The premier, however, was not able to meet Mubarak, who was not feeling well following his return from an official visit to Paris.
For his part, Mubarak reiterated his country”s commitment to supporting the Lebanese government and providing Lebanon with gas and electricity as well as assistance for its armed forces. Mubarak added that Egypt would "continue" to be at an equal distance from all parties in Lebanon.
"We look forward to seeing the enhancement of security and stability in Lebanon … Egypt is sure that the Lebanese want to safeguard their country against any from of regional or international intervention," Mubarak said.
Separately on Saturday, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said that technical and not security reasons were delaying his meeting with Hizbullah”s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
"I am not worried about my personal security, but the meeting is being delayed by technical reasons," he said, adding that his relations with the Shiite group have become "calm" following recent bilateral meetings between PSP and Hizbullah representatives.
He was referring to a number of meetings that grouped officials from both groups at Youth and Sports Minister Talal Arslan”s residence in Khaldeh.
He added that last month”s meeting between Hariri and Nasrallah had also contributed to "improving relations."
Jumblatt, who reiterated his intention to compete in next year”s parliamentary elections within the ranks of the March 14 Forces, said that reconciliation between the March 14 alliance and Syria was dependent on the results of the ongoing investigations into Hariri”s assassination.