Syrian deputy PM: Syria's isolation has ended

London - The international isolation of Syria is over as Western powers have realised they need to work with Damascus, Syrian deputy prime minister Abdallah Dardari told a British newspaper published on Saturday.

Dardari told the Financial Times business daily that the international community now recognised that it ought to talk to President Bashar al-Assad's regime if it wanted progress in the Middle East, particularly on Lebanon and Iraq.

"The former political isolation of Syria has ended. It is no longer there," he told the FT.

"I don't want to say there is a sense of 'I told you so' but there is a sense that people are realising in Western capitals that if you want to be influential in the Middle East, you have to come through Damascus."

Relations between the United States and Syria are tense. But earlier this week, two US senators, including John Kerry, the former Democratic party presidential candidate, were in Damascus for talks with Assad.

Dardari said that previously, the United States had simply presented Syria with a list of demands to end various practices, instead of talking about mutual interests, and that this attitude proved ineffective.

"It didn't work in April 2003, just after (the) occupation of Baghdad. If it didn't work then, at the peak of US influence in the region, it will not work now with Syria," he said.

Dardari added that Syria's priority was to secure the return of the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967.

The United States said Wednesday it supported Syrian opposition groups rivalling Assad, but said such support was overt, and not a secret bid to undermine his government.

US President George W Bush has dismissed calls for a direct US dialogue with Syria, which Washington accuses of letting extremists into Iraq and undermining Lebanon's fragile democracy by funding and training the militant Hezbollah group.

The Syrian government daily Ath-Thawra hit out on Friday at terms set out by the US government for heeding a bi-partisan panel's recommendation to open a dialogue on calming neighbouring Iraq.

source: afp

Maronite Church Calls for Early Presidential Elections

Beirut, Updated 06 Dec 06, 18:57

The Maronite Church on Wednesday called for early presidential elections to
help settle the serious crisis which is threatening to split Lebanon.
The council of Maronite Bishops, in a declaration of the church's
principles, also urged leaders of the community and other Lebanese spiritual
groups to agree on a "code of honor" to settle differences through dialogue,
reject violence and armed confrontations and refrain from agitation.

The Maronite declaration of principles called for ratifying an agreement
with the United Nations on an International Tribunal to try suspects charged
with the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri and other related
"terrorist" crimes.

It warned against linking Lebanon to regional and international disputes and
called for the formation of an "entente government" to contain the explosive
situation.

If the entente government could not be formed, the statement noted, efforts
should be exerted to form a government of "independent" figures to adopt a
new elections law based on the principle of small electoral constituencies
that can "truly represent" the various Lebanese communities.

The statement also called for the full implementation of the Taef Accord,
which ended the Lebanese civil war in 1990, and stressed on the right of
Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland.

The Maronite Church stressed on the need for settling the question of armed
Palestinian factions in Lebanon.

Commenting on Hizbullah's weapons, without mentioning the Shiite faction by
name, the statement said weapons in Lebanon should be "strictly controlled
by the legitimate security forces."

The council of Maronite Bishops also called for an urgent meeting of the
Lebanese parliament to tackle the serious crisis which is splitting the
nation.

The council, which held its monthly meeting at suburban Bkirki under
Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, called on Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to
convene the house to deliberate the issue that has paralyzed constitutional
institutions.

The statement noted that the "confusing situation through which the Lebanese
are going is regrettable. Constitutional institutions have been paralyzed."

It said: "nothing is left except parliament, but it doesn't convene."

"That is why," the statement added, "we plead with its speaker Nabih Berri
to convene it so it may find a way out of the crisis."