Damascus Did Not Understand France, Egypt Stances toward Syria
Syria’s Information Minister Mohsen Bilal responded to warnings by France and Egypt over the weekend, saying Damascus did not understand appeals issued by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Egyptian counterpart Husni Mobarak that urged Syria to facilitate the Lebanese Presidential elections.
Bilal stressed in remarks published on Monday by the Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat that the relation between Syria and France ““persists until this very minute.”
He was referring to an announcement by Sarkozy on Sunday that France “will have no more contact with Syria… until we have proof of Syrian willingness to let Lebanon appoint a president by consensus.”
Sarkozy’s statement was made to reporters after talks with Mubarak covering thorny regional issues.
Mubarak described the political deadlock in Lebanon as “dangerous” and appealed to Syria to “use its influence in Lebanon to work towards reconciliation so that the parliament elects a president”.
Bilal stressed that Damascus did not agree with France on “pressuring our friends in Lebanon.”
Influential U.S. Senator Arlen Specter said on Sunday that he got the impression after his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Damascus has great influence on Lebanon.
Specter said that the political atmosphere in both Syria and Israel was different now and that the time was “positive” for resuming peace talks between the two countries, halted since 2000.
He added that he got the impression after the meeting with Assad that the time was very “positive for productive talks between Israel and Syria.”
