SYRIA: Spanish foreign minister holds talks in Damascus

Record ID: 279172

  • Title: SYRIA: Spanish foreign minister holds talks in Damascus
  • Date: 3rd August 2006
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF MORATINOS MEETING AL-MOUALEM (5 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Reuters ID: LVAF5JEIIERMWIGW89SF6T82PF49
  • Story Text: Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos met his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Moualem, on Wednesday (August 2) as Syria assumes a more prominent role in solving the crisis in Lebanon.
    Moratinos was in Beirut earlier in the day, where he had lunch with the Lebanese cabinet, including two ministers from Hizbollah, the group fighting Israel.
    "We must succeed at an immediate ceasefire," he said after meeting Moualem. "We are working together on constructive ideas and proposals."
    In Lebanon, Moratinos said the violence must be stopped.
    Spain and other European governments have started to reach out to Syria, a main backer of Hizbollah, by engaging Damascus to find a solution to the Lebanon war, although they have largely boycotted the Syrian government since last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
    After he was killed, the European Union froze talks on a major trade agreement with Syria that included assistance for economic reform.
    Syrian officials have not hidden their disappointment at what they saw as European reluctance to engage them early on the crisis, which began on July 12, when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
    Syria says it is willing to "facilitate communications" with Hizbollah and wants an immediate ceasefire followed by talks that address Hizbollah's demand for a prisoner exchange and eventually what Damascus views as the root of the instability -- Israel's occupation of Arab land.
    EU foreign ministers called on Tuesday called for an immediate end to hostilities in Lebanon, but fell short of calling for an immediate ceasefire at the insistence of the United States' closest allies in the bloc.
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