DAMASCUS, 8 April 2008 — Syrian President Bashar Assad yesterday offered to help bolster security in Lebanon and voiced support for inter-Lebanese talks to solve a protracted political crisis.
Syria “stands ready to provide all possible help which the Lebanese could request, to guarantee security and stability in Lebanon,” Assad said, according to the official SANA news agency.
Assad made the remarks during talks with Lebanese Parliament speaker and opposition leader Nabih Berri.
The Syrian president also expressed support for “an internal Lebanese dialogue” saying such talks between Beirut’s feuding politicians would help resolve the crisis that has plagued Lebanon for more than a year.
After the two-hour meeting, Berri told reporters that Syria was putting “no conditions” on the inter-Lebanese talks that he has been trying to organize. Berri said the visit to Damascus had provided him “with a new boost to launch a dialogue in Lebanon aimed at electing... Gen. Michel Sleiman to the Lebanese presidency” — a reference to the Lebanese army chief.
Berri’s spokesman Ali Hamdan had earlier said that the speaker intends to gather Lebanon’s political leaders for talks before April 22 when Parliament is due to convene for a fresh attempt to elect a president.
Lebanon’s has been without a president for more than four months. Parliamentary sessions to vote for a new president have been postponed 17 times since last September.
On Sunday, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora accused Syria of holding his country hostage by blocking the election of a new president, following talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
