Al-Assad to visit Lebanon

The Jordanian weekly al-Bilad said in its recent issue, quoting Lebanese diplomatic sources, that President Hafez al-Assad will visit Lebanon before the end of December.

The paper added, quoting the sources, that Syrian and Lebanese officials are conducting intensive meetings to establish the details of the visit's program and topics to be debated.

The sources stated that talks between the Syrian and Lebanese sides will deal with bilateral relations between the two countries, the tense situation in south Lebanon, and Israel's possible "sudden" withdrawal from the occupied border strip as well as developments on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks and the Middle East peace process as a whole.