Syria may close Lebanese border

Syrian official: Due to int'l court, we may also stop monitoring of Iraq border.

By JPOST.COM STAFF, AP
Published: DECEMBER 21, 2006 12:05
Amr Moussa 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Amr Moussa 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
If the international community establishes an international court to try suspects for political assassinations in Lebanon, then Syria may close its border with Lebanon, a senior Syrian official said during a meeting with an Arab official in Damascus earlier this week. According to a report printed in the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper on Thursday, the Syrian official also warned that other measures to prevent the establishment of an international court may include "stopping the monitoring of the border with Iraq." Also on Thursday, Arab League chief Amr Moussa met with Syrian President Basher Assad and the Syrian foreign minister to seek Syrian help to end the long-running political crisis in neighboring Lebanon. Assad gave his full support to Arab League mediation to end the long-running political crisis in neighboring Lebanon, Moussa said. "We are moving towards reaching a Lebanese reconciliation," said Moussa after meeting with Assad. He did not elaborate. Moussa arrived in the Syrian capital earlier Thursday from Lebanon where he held two days of talks with rival leaders. His visit to Lebanon was his second in less than a week amid plans by the Hizbullah-led opposition to escalate its open-ended street protests against the Saniora government. "I feel relieved," Moussa told reporters. "What is important is to salvage the Arab world from the woes of divisions and threats of what we are seeing in the region." Assad "supports my efforts, the initiative I am making and the efforts of the Arab League in this regard," Moussa said.