Sfeir shows more flexibility towards Syria

In its Friday's report, the Lebanese daily al-Nahar said that sermons of the Maronite patriarch Nasrullah Sfeir have eliminated his tough stances towards Syrian- Lebanese relations and the presence of the Syrian army in Lebanon.

The paper said that this came after the close- door meeting Sfeir held with the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud.

The paper attributed this flexibility to several factors and the first of which is that messages to the patriarch expressing Syria's desire and that of its President Bashar al-Assad to deal positively with the issue of the Syrian- Lebanese relations through one channel which is taken by minister Fuad Butrous Second is the confidence entrusted by the patriarch in the role played by Butrous and therefore that what should take place towards correcting the Lebanese- Syrian relations is linked to Butrous, in person.

And Third that the information that were carried to the patriarch by Damascus allies stated that President al-Assad strongly holds the rule in his country and fourthly the signals coming from Damascus about the response of the Syrian leadership with certain demands raised by the Maronite patriarch.