Al-Assad receives telephone calls from Annan, Lahoud, King Abdullah, Saudi crown prince
Syria-Regional, Politics, 4/18/2001

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday afternoon received a telephone call from the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan during which talks dealt with the situation emerging from the Israeli aggression against the Syrian forces a in Lebanon.

Annan expressed regret over what Israel had done against the Syrian forces in Lebanon and considered it as unjustified and a violation to the UN resolutions that increases tension in the region.

The President commented on the statement released by the UN secretary general that "he did not give things its real names and that will increase the reaction of the Arab street," stressing the need of giving things "its true names," adding it will not be possible to reach peace through using vague idioms and that it is strange to describe the acts of resistance as an aggression while a flagrant Israeli aggression to be described as mere escalation.

Al-Assad added that the Shebaa farms, regardless to what have been said being Syrian or Lebanese, are certainly not an Israeli and it is not Israel's right to react. He added that" the strange thing is to call on the Arabs for self- control at a time when Israel repeatedly attack them, noting that the situation in the region is very difficult and that great efforts should be made to reach a situation satisfactory for the Arab street and that Israel, alone, is responsible for what might result of aggressive acts in the region."

President al-Assad also on Tuesday received a telephone call from the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud during which discussions dealt with current developments and Syrian- Lebanese coordination to withstand them.

On Monday evening, President al-Assad received a telephone call from King Abdullah II in which the King expressed great condemnation over the Israeli aggression against the Syrian forces in Lebanon and voiced solidarity with Syria against the aggression.

President al-Assad also received a telephone call from the Saudi crown prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz during which talks dealt with "the Israeli aggression against the Syrian forces in Lebanon." The Saudi crown prince expressed Saudi Arabia "denunciation of this aggression" and its backing to Syria. Bilateral relations between the two states were reviewed..

In Cairo, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday delegated the secretary of the Egyptian presidency Khaled Qindil to the headquarters of the Syrian embassy in Cairo where he offered congratulations in the name of President Mubarak and the Egyptian President to President al-Assad and to the Syrian people on the occasion of the Evacuation Day.

The delegate stressed to the Syrian ambassador in Cairo Youssef Ahmad "Egypt's firm stand, people and leadership with Syria in confrontation of the aggressive Israeli acts and full support for Syria's just demands to restoring back complete occupied territories and commitment to national principles which serve the sublime Arab interests."

Meanwhile, President Mubarak denounced the Israeli attacks, describing this "aggression" as "getting into what is banned " and that the outcome of the Israeli practices is "bad."

Previous Stories:
  Al-Assad in Amman to attend Arab summit   (3/27/2001)
  Al-Assad meets with Fares, al-Sahaf   (3/16/2001)
  Al-Assad, Mubarak, King Abdullah review Arab summit agenda, inaugurate electricity grid   (3/15/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search