A Lebanese official source reported that President Emile Lahoud is hosting Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam for lunch today, who left the hospital after falling ill while delivering a speech in the city of Tripoli in the south on the anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami. The invitation will be attended by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
Immediately after his arrival in Beirut from Tripoli, Khaddam visited Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and then Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri. He would later go to the Republican Palace, where President Lahoud would host him at a luncheon attended by the heads of government and Parliament.
This is the first time that the president, the prime minister, and the speaker of the House of Representatives have met since Lahoud returned last week from his visit to Paris, as the relationship between them became tense due to a parliamentary controversy surrounding the interference of the agencies in public life.
After completing the celebrations in Tripoli, during which he fell ill suddenly, Khaddam intended to go to Beirut to “address the differences” between the three Lebanese leaders.
The interventions of representatives, especially from the Hariri and Berri blocs, during the budget discussion last week created a political crisis in the country. These discussions, which took place in Lahoud's absence from Lebanon, were characterized by strong criticism of the interference of the Lebanese security services in daily life, especially in the issue of phone tapping, which political sources considered an indirect attack on the President of the Republic.
Today, Khaddam left the hospital in Tripoli, the largest city in northern Lebanon, which he entered yesterday. He went, accompanied by the private doctor of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his personal physician, Dr. Jaber Sawaya, to the home of Omar Karami, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, before continuing his trip to Beirut.
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri went to Tripoli immediately after receiving news of the health illness suffered by the Syrian Vice President (69 years old), and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who was participating in the celebration, also visited him. Khaddam received a phone call from the Lebanese President to check on his health
It is noteworthy that the Lebanese Minister of Tourism, Dr. Karam Karam, confirmed about an hour after Khaddam - who handled the Lebanese file from 1975 to 1998 - entered the hospital that the health symptom was related to intestinal upset and had nothing to do with the heart.