LEBANON: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner visits Lebanon and Syria as part of his tour of the region

Record ID: 278639

  • Title: LEBANON: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner visits Lebanon and Syria as part of his tour of the region
  • Date: 24th May 2010
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (MAY 23, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF RESIDENCE DES PINS WHERE FRENCH AMBASSADOR LIVES CLOSE OF FRENCH FLAG PEOPLE STANDING ON STEPS OF RESIDENCE WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER BERNARD KOUCHNER SAYING: ''The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad affirmed that there was nothing to worry about and that there were no Scud
  • Embargoed: 8th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA7I5GGPI9USJA116H40L0DEXEA
  • Story Text: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Beirut on Sunday (May 23) where he held talks with officials on Middle East peace.
    Kouchner met with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri and later held a news conference at the residence of the French ambassador.
    Kouchner arrived in Lebanon after an earlier meeting in Syria with President Bashar al-Assad.
    Kouchner said the Syrian president had given assurances that Damascus had not supplied arms to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, responding to allegations by Israel that Syria was supplying the group with Scud missiles.
    ''The Syrian President Bashar al-Assad affirmed that there was nothing to worry about and that there were no Scud missiles on your territory, which no-one has verified with their own eyes. This is the situation. There is armament. There are armaments. I am not only talking about the armaments that exist within Hezbollah but also the armaments that exist with the Israelis, of course. What we want is that these armaments are never used. By not being used, they might just rust and maybe then their (people's) hearts will beat again. This is what we would call peace,'' Kouchner said.
    During his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a part of a tour of the region, Kouchner delivered a message sent from French President Nicolas Sarkozy to his Syrian counterpart on bilateral relations and the latest regional and international developments.
    During the meeting Assad said the west should realise that the region had changed and what was accepted before had also changed. He added that the silence towards Israel's actions was not acceptable anymore and that the international community should play a significant role in order to establish peace and stability in the region.
    Kouchner and Assad also discussed the Iranian nuclear controversy where Assad had expressed the importance of the deal signed between Iran, Turkey and Brazil and that dialogue should be the only way to solve the region's problems.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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