LEBANON: SYRIAN DEFENCE MINISTER MOUSTAFA TLAS EXPRESSES OPTIMISM ABOUT PEACE TALKS BETWEEN SYRIA AND ISRAEL

Record ID: 276681

  • Title: LEBANON: SYRIAN DEFENCE MINISTER MOUSTAFA TLAS EXPRESSES OPTIMISM ABOUT PEACE TALKS BETWEEN SYRIA AND ISRAEL
  • Date: 16th March 2000
  • Summary: BNASHII, LEBANON (REUTERS) (MARCH 16, 2000) 1. MV/SV: SYRIAN DEFENCE MINISTER MOUSTAFA TLAS AND LEBANESE MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE SOULEIMAN FRANGIEH AT THE LEBANESE MINISTER'S HOUSE (3 SHOTS) 0.14 2. SV: SOUNDBITE (Arabic) SYRIAN DEFENCE MINISTER MOUSTAFA TLAS SAYING: "I think that the peace process is our option and the Lebanese strategic option as
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BNASHII, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVACUQZU5IZ13RWJ6RHPHW8VUDAI
  • Story Text: The Syrian Defence Minister Moustafa Tlas has expressed
    optimism that peace talks between Syria and Israel could
    resume within weeks with the help of the United States.

    Syrian Defence Minister Mustafa Tlas renewed hopes for
    a fresh start to Israeli-Syrian talks on Thursday (March 16)
    during a visit to the home of Lebanese Agriculture Minister
    Souleiman Frangieh in northern Lebanon.

    "I think that the peace process is our option and the
    Lebanese strategic option as well.President Clinton is
    putting a lot of effort in order to resume the talks on the
    Syrian and Lebanese tracks, and I think that he will succeed
    in the coming weeks." he said.

    As he spoke, Israeli planes conducted a series of raids on
    targets in the mountains of the western Bekaa, overlooking the
    Israeli occupation zone in the south.There were no immediate
    reports of casualties.

    The attacks concentrated on the areas facing the eastern
    and central sector of the Israeli-held zone.

    Earlier this week Israel and its south Lebanese militia
    proxies launched their heaviest attacks since assaults on
    Lebanese infrastructure in February, killing at least one
    soldier and a civilian and wounding three others, including a
    seven-year-old child.

    The attacks followed Syrian and Lebanese warnings that a
    unilateral Israeli pull-out from south Lebanon without an
    agreement that returns Syria's Golan Heights and settles the
    future of 360,000 Palestinioan refugees in Lebanon will not
    bring peace -- an implicit warning of cross border attacks.

    Israel has said it will end its 22-year-long occupation of
    south Lebanon by July, with or without a peace agreement with
    Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon.

    The Syrian Defence minister was sceptical on Thursday.

    "I always said that it is a manoeuvre and a balloon test.

    If they withdraw without conditions then it will be a
    decoration on the Lebanese resistance chest, no major country
    has this honour because the Israelis will never give it to
    Lebanon.It is impossible to give it to Lebanon, that is why
    they are firing test balloons to separate the Syrian and
    Lebanese tracks from each other," he said.

    Syria has stationed 35,000 troops in Lebanon, except in
    the south.It also backs Hizbollah, the main Lebanese
    guerrilla organisation fighting to end the Israeli occupation.

    Talks between Israel and Syria broke off in January after
    Israel refused to commit itself to a full withdrawal from the
    Golan Heights before discussing security and other elements of
    a peace deal.

    Western powers, concerned at the worsening situation in
    south Lebanon, have been trying to get Syria and Israel back
    to the negotiating table.

    Pressed by reporters, Tlas did not rule out a meeting
    between Syrian President Hafez-Al-Assad and Clinton in Geneva,
    also within weeks.

    The Syrian government has in the past had to point out
    that some views expressed by Tlas were not representative of
    official Syrian policy.Foreign affairs are the preserve of
    Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara and ultimately decided by
    President Hafez al-Assad himself.


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