Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam will leave Monday for France at the head of a high-level delegation for talks aimed at expanding bilateral ties, French diplomatic sources said Sunday. Khaddam, whose delegation includes Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nasser Qaddour, was scheduled to hold talks with President Jacques Chirac and Foreign Minister Herve De Charette on Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations, set to resume Dec. 27, and the improved relations between France and Syria.
Discussions will also include the situation in Lebanon, where Syria is the main power broker and has stationed some 35,000 troops. France and Syria have conflicting views on Lebanon, but the sources said ‘the issue will not cause problems, especially as Syria supports the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon.’ Parts of southern Lebanon are occupied by Israel, which established in 1985 a 9-mile-wide so-called security zone with the aim of protecting its northern territory from Muslim guerrilla attack. An official Syrian source expressed satisfaction over the improvement of ties with France since the election of President Chirac. Khaddam’s visit, the first by such a high-ranking Syrian official since President Hafez Assad met with former French President Valerie Giscard D’Estaing in Paris in the late 1970s, was another indication of improvement in relations between the two countries.
