Two days before Geneva summit, Syrian military delegation in Beirut
Lebanon-Syria, Politics, 3/25/2000

Just two days before the convening of the Geneva summit between Presidents Clinton and al-Assad, Lebanon has asserted unity of the "Syrian and Lebanese tracks concerning the peace process," repeating their conditions for achieving Middle East peace, especially maintaining "a just solution to the question of the Palestinian refugees who live in Lebanon."

Preparations for this summit and its possible results were the preoccupation of meetings held in Beirut on Friday by a Syrian military delegation led by Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Mustafa Tlass on Friday that visited Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss and former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Tlass was accompanied by the commander of the Syrian forces in Lebanon, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim al- Safi and the chairman of the security forces for the Syrian troops Lt. Gen Ghazi Kanaan.

During his meeting with the Syrian delegation, the Lebanese president underlined "the importance of Syrian-Lebanese solidarity in confrontation of all challenges the two countries are facing."

SANA added in this context that Lebanese Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss has asserted cohesion between the Syrian and Lebanese tracks in the Middle East peace process.

In a lecture he read on Friday in a Lebanese university on the future of the peace process in the region, the Lebanese premier said the peace Lebanon aspires for will be in the framework of cohesion between the Syrian and Lebanese tracks, reaching a just solution to the question of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, implementing UN resolution 425 providing for Israel's unconditional withdrawal from all Lebanese territories, releasing the Lebanese detainees from the Israeli jails and compensating Lebanon for losses and damages inflicted on human, material and economic levels as a result of the Israeli aggression.

On Israel's announcement of maintaining a unilateral withdrawal from south Lebanon before July this year, with or without an agreement, Hoss has not ruled out that Israel is maneuvering.

Previous Stories:
  Al-Hoss, al-Shara talks on al-Assad - Clinton summit   (3/23/2000)
  Syria, Lebanon boycott water talks in the Hague   (3/21/2000)
  Syrian FM talks on the telephone with al-Hoss   (3/16/2000)

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