LEBANON: SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD ARRIVES FOR SURPRISE TALKS ON SAUDI PEACE PLAN FOR MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT

Record ID: 276733

  • Title: LEBANON: SYRIAN PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD ARRIVES FOR SURPRISE TALKS ON SAUDI PEACE PLAN FOR MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT
  • Date: 4th March 2002
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (MARCH 3, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV ASSAD'S AEROPLANE ARRIVING AT AIRPORT; LEBANESE OFFICIALS AT AIRPORT 0.08 2. MV ASSAD GETTING OUT OF AEROPLANE; MV ASSAD GREETING LEBANESE OFFICIALS; SLV ORCHESTRA PLAYING; MV ASSAD WITH LEBANESE PRESIDENT EMILE LAHOUD; SLV MILITARY ORCHESTRA AT AIRPORT (14 SHOTS) 1.15 3. MV ASSAD ARRIVING FO
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA9EA19DSNG53HP0TOORLX1KPB0
  • Story Text: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Beirut on
    Sunday for surprise talks on a Saudi peace plan on the
    Arab-Israeli conflict which is expected to top the agenda at
    an Arab summit in Beirut this month.

    The visit is the first by Assad to Lebanon since he
    took power in July 2000 after the death of his father Hafez
    al-Assad.

    Assad was met on his arrival at Beirut airport by Lebanese
    President Emile Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

    Syrian and Lebanese flags and Assad's pictures lined
    Lebanese streets, which were heavily patrolled by army and
    police units.

    Assad was due to go into closed-door talks with Lahoud
    immediately.

    A presidential statement announcing the visit did not give
    details of the talks but official sources said the two sides
    might issue a communique at the end of their meetings.

    They said Assad would also travel to Saudi Arabia this
    week to discuss the peace proposals.

    Diplomatic and official sources say Damascus has concerns
    about the plan which calls for Israeli withdrawal from all
    lands occupied by Israel in 1967 in exchange for full Arab
    recognition of Israel.

    Damascus has not yet commented on the Saudi proposal,
    which drew a warm international response after being floated
    by Crown Prince Abdullah in the New York Times in
    mid-February.

    Syria and Lebanon are both uncomfortable about a plan
    which does not include the right of return for 3.6 million
    Palestinian refugees scattered across the Arab world after the
    1948 exodus which followed the creation of Israel, the sources
    said.

    Lebanon, whose policies are shaped in Damascus, voiced
    reluctant support for the Saudi proposal which has gained
    momentum after 17 months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.

    Negotiations between Syria and Israel over the strategic
    Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria in 1967, ground
    to a halt in 2000.


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