July 22, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 18, 1429

BEIRUT: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Monday that Damascus was keen to open a new chapter in its relations with Lebanon and to delineate the border between both countries.

“Our relations today are on an equal footing,” Muallem told a press conference after meeting with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman on the first such visit by a high-ranking Syrian official in more than three years.

“There is a new consensus president (in Lebanon) who has trustworthy ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and this can help resolve a lot of outstanding issues,” he added.

Lebanon and Syria said earlier this month that they had agreed to establish diplomatic relations and planned to open embassies in both capitals for the first time since independence from French colonial rule more than 60 years ago. Muallem during his hours-long visit handed an invitation to Sleiman from his Syrian counterpart to travel to Damascus, a trip the Lebanese press said would take place within a week or 10 days.

The two men also discussed the issue of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms, the delineation of the border between both countries and the fate of hundreds of Lebanese who vanished during Syria’s rule in Lebanon.

“There is nothing to prevent the demarcation of the borders but we must take into account the fact that many Syrian and Lebanese villages are intertwined and whether this would harm residents,” Muallem said.

“Still, if we must delineate the border, we are ready.” He added that placing the disputed Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon under UN administration would in no way signify an end to Israel’s occupation of that area.

The Shebaa Farms, a mountainous sliver of land rich in water resources measuring 25 square kilometres, are located at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel.

Israel seized the Farms from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war when it captured the neighbouring Golan Heights which it later annexed.

Ever since, the Farms have been caught in a tug-of-war over ownership.

Lebanon claims them, with the backing of Damascus, while Israel says they are part of Syria.On the missing Lebanese, Muallem said a committee set up to deal with the issue was advancing in its work but more time was needed before a final resolution.

“Those who have waited more than 30 years since the start of the (Lebanese) civil war can wait another few weeks,” he said, referring to families of the disappeared and rights groups pressing for answers about their fate.

Families of the missing and supporters organised a protest along the road leading from Beirut airport to the presidential palace to coincide with the Syrian minister’s visit.

Syria, the former powerbroker in Lebanon, withdrew its troops in 2005 in the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, ending a military presence of nearly three decades.

Syria denies it was behind the Beirut bomb blast that killed Hariri and has protested at plans for a UN tribunal to try suspects in the murder.

Sleiman was elected president and a new government formed under a May deal between the anti-Syrian ruling majority and the Damascus-backed opposition to end a drawn-out political crisis that had boiled over into deadly violence and pushed Lebanon to the brink of a new civil war.

The plans to establish ties were announced at a summit in France to launch a Mediterranean Union that was attended by Assad, marking his return to the international stage after several years of diplomatic isolation over the Hariri assassination.

Franco-Syrian ties went into deep freeze after the murder of Hariri, who was a personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s predecessor Jacques Chirac.

In a further sign of improving ties, Sarkozy announced he would visit Damascus in September.—AFP