DAMASCUS, 15 August 2004 — A US congressional delegation met yesterday with Syrian President Bashar Assad on the situation in Iraq, terrorism and the Middle East peace process, the SANA news agency reported.
The president and the US lawmakers led by Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut, discussed repercussions of the Iraq conflict on neighboring states as well as bilateral issues, the official news agency added.
Speaking as they were leaving Beirut after a 48-hour visit to Lebanon, Shays said the fact-finding mission would press Bashar to withdraw Syria’s troops from neighboring Lebanon. “We know they have gone from 30,000 to 16,000, but you still have 16,000 foreign troops in your country and we hope for the Lebanese that they will be able to see that become zero,” he said.
He added: “We will talk with President Bashar about the Syrian government’s interference in Lebanon ... and we will be discussing our concerns about weapons of mass destruction in the region, the situation at the border between Syria and Iraq, and the support of extremists by the Syrian government.”
