Egypt's President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak of Egypt arrived in Damascus on Wednesday, and was received by President Bashar al-Assad. Later, the two leaders held a meeting.
According to SANA, "Both sides reviewed the challenges that face the Arab region, asserting the need of unifying efforts in dealing with these challenges."
They voiced support to the internal dialogue among the Palestinian factions under the sponsorship of Egypt in light of the expected Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip.
"They underlined the importance that Israel should carry out its commitments in improving the human situation of the Palestinians under the occupation and to start the political negotiations that aimed at the establishment of a Palestinian independent state," SANA added.
The two presidents also stressed the need of ending the Israeli occupation of the Syrian Golan, asserting total rejection of the "language of threat" instead of dialogue and negotiations. It should be noted that following a recent bombing attack in southern Israel, Tel Aviv said Damascus was behind this attack and threatend to retaliate.
Mubarak and al Assad expressed solidarity with Lebanon, asserting Lebanon’s rights to run its own internal affairs, rejecting any foreign intervention in Lebanon’s internal affairs. Earlier this month, a U.N. Security Council resolution effectively called for Syria to withdraw its 20,000 troops from Lebanon and allow presidential elections to be held as scheduled. (albawaba.com)
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