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Saudi, Syria urge Lebanon unity government

SYRIA: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah buried the hatchet over Lebanon on Thursday and urged the formation of a national unity government.

Speaking at the end of a landmark two-day visit to Syria by the Saudi monarch, they underlined “the importance of the agreement amongst the Lebanese, who (are likely to) find common ground to form a government of national unity,” state news agency SANA reported.

“A national unity government is the basis for stability, unity and strength in Lebanon,” SANA quoted them as saying as Abdullah rounded off his first visit to Damascus since taking the throne in 2005.

Lebanon has been without a government since a general election in June, because Riyadh-backed prime minister-designate Saad Hariri has failed to reach agreement with the Shiite Hezbollah-led bloc, supported by Syria and Iran.

The two leaders also called for “a halt to aggression against the Palestinian people, dealing with the Judaisation of Jerusalem and unifying Arab and Muslim efforts to lift the embargo” on Palestinians.

And they said they “support security and stability in Iraq” and called for national reconciliation, “ahead of an independent, free and developed Iraq.”

In another sign of improving ties, Syria and Saudi Arabia agreed to promote bilateral trade and investment, the news agency said.

Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed al-Hussein and his Saudi counterpart, Ibrahim Assaf, said the volume of trade, currently only two billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) a year, will “begin growing in the coming days,” SANA said.

“We have decided to remove the difficulties hindering commercial exchanges, notably the taxes recently imposed by Syria on products exported to Saudi Arabia,” such as olive oil and ceramics, Hussein was quoted as saying.

Syria was the main powerbroker in Lebanon for nearly 30 years until the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father Rafiq, a five-time premier who was close to the Saudi monarchy and held Saudi nationality.

There were widespread suspicions that Syria was behind the killing, something Damascus has consistently denied.

The murder further soured relations between Syria and Saudi Arabia, which had already been damaged by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. DAMASCUS, Friday, AFP

 

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