Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid met here today with Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam and discussed with him developments in the situation on the Palestinian scene and the aggressive actions carried out by Israel against the Palestinian people.
A presidential statement said that Obaid and Khaddam stressed during the meeting the importance of strengthening Palestinian unity to achieve Israeli withdrawal from the entire occupied Palestinian territories.
The Palestinian territories are currently witnessing a dangerous turning point that threatens to undermine peace efforts in light of the Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people and the attempted assassination of the spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as well as the resignation submitted by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas yesterday to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who in turn approved it.
The presidential statement stated that during their meeting, Obaid and Khaddam also discussed the situation in Iraq, its repercussions, and the need to support the Iraqi people to restore their sovereignty, achieve the withdrawal of foreign forces, establish the constitution, and hold free elections that enable the Iraqi people to determine their fate.
The Lebanese Foreign Minister arrived in Damascus this morning in a surprise visit that falls within the framework of Lebanese-Syrian contacts regarding developments in the situation in the region.
It is noteworthy that the Syrian Vice President had returned to Damascus last night after concluding an official visit to Yemen, during which he met with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, where he handed him a message from his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, related to the situation and developments in the Arab region.
Khaddam's visit to Sanaa came as a result of a new initiative proposed by Yemen to establish an Arab union as an alternative to the Arab League
