Larsen meets al-Assad after accusations of Syrian security intelligence in Lebanon

The envoy of the UN special secretary general to Lebanon, Terry Rod Larsen, held talks in Damascus with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. A statement by the office of the UN in Beirut said that Larsen discussed with al-Assad all issues pertaining to the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.

The spokesman for the media center of the UN in Beirut, Najib Friji, said that the two sides will continue their dialogue, noting that Larsen left Damascus after the meeting in order to notify Annan who is in Paris on the content of the talks, giving no more details.

No Syrian official commented on al-Assad's meeting with Larsen, who is assigned to follow up the implementation of UN resolution 1559 which states the withdrawal of the Syrian forces from Lebanon. Moreover, the Norwegian diplomat left Damascus giving no statement to the press.

Annan, however, had decided to send back the UN investigation committee to Lebanon in order to make sure of the full withdrawal of the Syrian security forces from it. This was following the accusations raised by the US President George W. Bush against Damascus of keeping intelligence members in the Lebanese territories.

The UN team submitted a report on May 23 states that Damascus withdrew all its forces from Lebanon, but he indicated the difficulty of assuring the Syrian intelligence members left Lebanon because of the nature of the issue.