Both Lebanon and Syria pledged on Monday at Barcelona Summit to open a "new page" in their ties, nine months after the murder of former PM Rafik Hariri poisoned the relationship between Damascus and Beirut.
The joint pledge came following talks between Syria's Foreign Minister and Lebanon's Prime Minister, held unexpectedly on the sidelines of a meeting of European leaders with their Mediterranean-rim counterparts in Barcelona.
"We have embarked upon a new phase in our relations," Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa said after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
"We want to open a new page," he said, adding that Syria "wants to see security and stability in Lebanon."
Siniora agreed progress had been made.
"We want to have healthy and strong relations between the two countries," he said.
Al-Sharaa said Syria would provide that cooperation on an issue (that prompted the Barcelona forum to exclude President Bashar al-Assad from the talks).
"Syria is committed to collaborating with the international commission of investigation and resolved to uncover the truth behind the assassination ( of Hariri) , as both Syria and Lebanon, as neighboring and independent peoples, have a major interest in doing so," he said.
Al-Sharaa added that both countries were allies "whose common interests are unlimited."
Al-Sharaa stressed that Damascus stood firm with its insistence on "a total Israeli withdrawal to the frontiers of June 4, 1967, including the Golan Heights and the Shabaa Farms, and the establishment of a Palestinian state with Arab Jerusalem as its capital."
PM Siniora, should take an immediate action, in advising the UN on this matter, so that the UN will tell Israel to pull out from the farms and the blue line separating both Lebanon and Israel is redrawn accordingly.
Once Shebaa farms are confirmed by all concerned that they are Lebanese territories, then the next step is to disarm all militias in Lebanon. The Lebanese army will become the only entity that is responsible for defending all our borders.
Source: Naharnet,
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