Monday, Mar 16, 2009
DAMASCUS (AFP)--Lebanon opened its first embassy in Syria Monday, five months after the neighbors established diplomatic ties following decades of turbulent relations.
Lebanese Charge d'Affaires Rami Mortada raised the Lebanese flag over the building located in the Damascus residential neighborhood of Abu Remmaneh, which is also home to the U.S. Embassy.
Lebanon and Syria reached agreement in October on establishing diplomatic ties for the first time since gaining independence from France more than 60 years ago.
Lebanon has named career diplomat Michel el-Khoury as its first ambassador. Khoury is Beirut's current envoy to Cyprus.
Syria has yet to name an envoy to Lebanon, where it opened an embassy in December. It isn't yet fully operational, although it has been staffed with three diplomats.
The thaw between the two neighbors came following a joint pledge by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Lebanese opposite number, Michel Suleiman, in Paris.
It marked a turning point in relations between Lebanon and Syria, which dominated its smaller neighbor for nearly three decades before pulling its troops out in April 2005.
The withdrawal came two months after the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri in a Beirut bombing widely blamed on Syria. Syria has always denied any involvement.
The embassy opening comes as Suleiman starts a three-day state visit to France, which sees the thaw in ties between Lebanon and Syria as a step towards the stabilization of the region.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
16-03-09 1051GMT
