Hoss: Assad willing to help end Lebanese crisis

Source: Daily Star, 17-04-2008
BEIRUT: Former Premier Salim al-Hoss said Thursday Syrian President Bashar Assad was willing to help Lebanon achieve a settlement to the political crisis. "We are ready to meet the demands of the Lebanese in order to find a way out of the current crisis," Hoss quoted Assad as telling him on the sidelines of a Conference on Pan-Arab Thought Revival and Arab Destiny in Damascus. "We want nothing [from Lebanon]," Assad told Hoss. The former premier, in remarks published Thursday by the daily An-Nahar, said the Syrian president also told him he was "open to dialogue with Saudi Arabia." Hoss quoted Assad as saying he wanted to "achieve whatever is possible to achieve regarding Arab solidarity" during Syria's year-long presidency of the Arab League. Hoss said the US-'Israeli' plot targeted the entire Arab world, adding that US and 'Israeli' policies were "identical," and aimed at fragmenting the region into "conflicting entities" to ensure 'Israel's' dominance over the Middle East.