A French diplomatic source said that the Secretary General of the French Foreign Ministry, Francois Scheer, met separately in Damascus yesterday with Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam and Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sheikh. No explanation was provided regarding the details of these talks, which marked the first of their kind since the outbreak of the Gulf War.
According to the Syrian News Agency, Sher presented “the developments resulting from the Gulf crisis and the French initiatives taken in response to these developments to implement the Security Council resolutions calling for Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait.”
It was emphasized by Sher that “there is no possibility of resolving the Gulf crisis except through Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait,” while also affirming that “the territorial integrity of Iraq will not be compromised.”
The agency highlighted that both parties “emphasized the need to achieve a just and comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict following the conclusion of the crisis and the implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions.” The meeting also addressed “bilateral relations between the two countries.”
In Paris, it was stated that the talks conducted by Sher in Damascus are part of the close contacts that France has decided to maintain with all countries involved in the crisis.
