HELSINKI, Aug 23: Syria threatened to close its border with Lebanon if an international UN force were deployed along the border, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said on Wednesday after talks with his Syrian counterpart.

“They will close the frontier for all traffic (if) the UN troops will be deployed” along the Syrian-Lebanese border, Mr Tuomioja told reporters following his meeting with Walid Mouallem.

“It would certainly have negative consequences for the people” near the border, said Mr Tuomioja, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Mr Mouallem made no comments to reporters after the talks.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has previously warned that a deployment of international troops along Lebanon’s border with Syria, as demanded by Israel, would be a ‘hostile’ act against his country.

In an interview with Dubai Television on Tuesday, Mr Assad said such a deployment would create hostility between Lebanon and Syria. —AFP