French President Sarkozy says he is heading back to Egypt (2nd Lead)

Jan 6, 2009, 13:37 GMT

Beirut/Damascus - French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Tuesday in Beirut that he would return to Egypt for further talks with President Hosny Mubarak on the situation in Gaza.

His visit to Lebanon is part of tour in the region aimed at achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Sarkozy arrived in Beirut from Damascus on Tuesday.

'I will be heading back to Sharm el-Sheikh later today to continue my talks with President Hosny Mubarak ... I believe Egypt will play a vital role regarding the situation in Gaza,' Sarkozy said in a brief statement to reporters following his meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman.

Sarkozy's second visit to Egypt in less than 24 hours would coincide with ongoing talks in Cairo between a delegation from the radical Islamic Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Egyptian officials.

Hamas sent a delegation to Egypt on Monday for talks on the war in Gaza, the first such contact since fighting began on December 27. The delegation included two members of Hamas's political leadership, Emad al-Alami and Mohammed Nasr.

'We want an immediate end to the Israeli aggression on our people and the lifting of the blockade ... and we came to Egypt to listen to the Egyptian proposal,' said Ousama Hamadan, Hamas spokesman in Beirut, who is currently part of the delegation in Cairo told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by phone.

Hamas, which has controlled the strip since June 2007, has said it would be open to a ceasefire with Israel if the Jewish state lifts its blockade of Gaza and opens border crossings.

Sarkozy is scheduled to travel to southern Lebanon aboard a French military helicopter and meet his country's troops who are working with the United Nations Interim Forces in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), before leaving for Egypt.

'I am going to southern Lebanon to show solidarity with our troops,' Sarkozy said.

The French president paid a two-hour visit to Lebanon and, along with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, held talks with Suleiman and Premier Fouad Seniora.

Sarkozy earlier paid a similar visit to Damascus where he held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

During a joint press conference with Assad, Sarkozy urged Syria to put pressure on its ally Hamas to return to a truce in Gaza.

'It's up to Syria to put pressure on the players (in the conflict) and notably on Hamas so that peace returns,' Sarkozy told journalists.

Al-Assad strongly condemned the Israeli offensive, dubbing it a 'war crime.'

'Israel did not learn from the Lebanon war,' he said, adding that the 'barbaric Israeli aggression on Gaza should immediately stop.'

Israel intensified its offensive in Gaza on Saturday, sending in ground troops, in the operation aimed at halting rocket fire on southern Israel by Palestinian militants in the enclave.