Walls of Refaat al-Assad office in Damascus, removed

In its Saturday's issue, the London based al-Hayat daily said that the Syrian authorities on Friday removed a huge cement security wall, used to surround the largest of the offices of Refaat al- Assad in al- Shalaan quarters in the downtown of Damascus.

In a message from its correspondent in Damascus on Saturday the paper added that the bulldozers removed tons of concrete cement used to surround the said office from three sides and completely blocked one of the streets in the said quarters.

The paper added that Refaat al-Assad installed the building against the office of the Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam to be a center for the league of the higher studies graduates established by the end of the 1970s to be the a "cultural arm" for him after he had formed a military unit under the name of "Saraya al-Defaa " ( the defense units).

The paper also explained that the new measures to this effect covered reducing number of the Republic's guards which was guarding the building, and this measure is in the context of handing it to another state run establishment, noting that this building will be converted into a center for strategic studies and the dialogue of civilizations which President Bashar al-Assad had decided to found.