Kerry Includes Lebanon in Mideast Tour
U.S. Democratic Senator John Kerry will include Lebanon in next week”s tour of the Middle East, An-Nahar daily reported Friday.
On Thursday, Kerry”s spokesman said the senator planned to leave next Friday and visit Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Syria, and stop in London on the way home. He did not mention Lebanon.
However, An-Nahar quoted credible sources as saying that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had "convinced Kerry of the need to make a stopover in Beirut."
The turn of events came two days after Kerry, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations committee, told An-Nahar that Lebanon had not been included in the trip due to time constraints.
During their breakfast meeting on Thursday, however, Clinton advised Kerry that a visit to Beirut was necessary to avoid giving the "wrong impression" both in and outside Lebanon, An-Nahar reported. The senator "accepted her advice and decided to add Lebanon to his tour."
In Damascus, Kerry was to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and other officials, said committee communications director Frederick Jones.
Despite media reports that Kerry would travel with House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Howard Berman, a fellow Democrat, Jones said he would go alone and Berman”s spokeswoman declined to discuss any travel plans.
The senator”s trip came after former president George Bush”s administration repeatedly complained about U.S. lawmakers visiting Syria, charging that they might undermine Bush”s hard-line policy.
However, State Department acting spokesman Robert Wood showed no sign of objecting to such trips.
"There is a new administration," Wood said when asked about travel to Syria. "And the secretary has been very clear that she wants members of Congress to travel." He specified, though, he was referring to a general travel policy.