Syria breaks off contacts with France over Lebanon
Syrian foreign minister announces Damascus will break off ties with Paris on Lebanon crisis, responding to similar move by France several days ago
Syria will break off contacts with France on the political crisis in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem announced Wednesday, responding to a similar move by Paris three days earlier.
"Syria has decided to cease Franco-Syrian cooperation on the Lebanese crisis," Muallem told a press conference in Damascus.
He accused the French of trying to blame the failure of international efforts to resolve the crisis in neighboring Lebanon on Syria and the Damascus-backed opposition in Beirut.
On Sunday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said France will have no more contact with Syria until Damascus shows a willingness to let Lebanon end its long-running political crisis and find a new president.
Sarkozy was in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on his first official visit to the Middle East since taking office in May.
France "will have no more contact with Syria... until we have proof of Syrian willingness to let Lebanon appoint a president by consensus," Sarkozy told journalists after talks in Cairo with Mubarak.
France "wants a president for Lebanon," he said. "It's time to provide proof (of goodwill), it's time for Syria to show it."
