France's Kouchner in Beirut on tour to ease regional tensions (Roundup)

May 23, 2010, 15:21 GMT

Beirut/Damascus - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner met with Lebanese leaders in Beirut Sunday after a short visit to Syria, as part of a tour intended to ease tensions in the region.

France, along with the United States and other western powers, is worried about Syria's involvement in Lebanon, as well as the need to secure the borders between the two countries.

Kouchner met Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and President Michel Suleiman after holding talks with Syrian President Bashar al- Assad in Damascus.

The talks in Lebanon were 'a push towards reducing the tension which has prevailed in the previous period, especially on the subject of Israeli threats,' Kouchner said, according to a Lebanese presidential statement.

Suleiman stressed the importance of a concerted international effort to launch the Middle East peace talks, the statement said.

Al-Assad said Israeli threats of war and further regional destabilization necessitated a change in the policies of Western countries towards the Middle East if they want to see secure, according to a Syrian presidential statement.

Last month, Israel had accused Syria of smuggling Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite Group Hezbollah.

Relations between Lebanon and Syria had been strained since the 2005 assassination of former Prime minister Rafik Hariri, when Damascus was accused by Hariri's allies of plotting his murder. Syria denied the accusation, yet it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon shortly after.

International pressure on Syria eased as relations improved, when the current premier and son of the late premier, Saad Hariri, visited Syria last December to mend ties.

Last week, Hariri met with al-Assad in Damascus in a visit designed to coordinate policies ahead of Hariri's trip to the United States. Hariri is to meet US President Barack Obama in Washington on Monday.

Kouchner will continue his tour of the region with visits to Turkey and Egypt.