Baroud in Syria: Joint Security Committee Established

Source: Al-Manar TV, 10-11-2008
While the so-called March 14 bloc, still under the shock of the Fatah al-Islam confessions aired on Thursday on Syrian Television, was "rejecting" the progress achieved in the Lebanese-Syrian relations and "re-vivifying" the campaign against Damascus, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud paid on Monday an official visit to the Syrian capital in which he discussed the security cooperation with Syrian officials.
Baroud agreed with his counterpart Bassam Abdel Majid on establishing a Syrian-Lebanese committee to coordinate combating terrorism and control borders.
According to a statement read out to reporters after their meeting, the commission would also be tasked with establishing a joint mechanism to police the border.
Abdel Majid and Baroud discussed means to boost links between their ministries and the two countries' security services. The two ministers also reviewed the "confessions" broadcast by Syrian state television last week by alleged Fatah al-Islam members for a deadly September 27 car bombing in Damascus.
"We are optimist and all issues will be discussed and made clear," Baroud told reporters after he arrived to Damascus, as the head of a delegation that includes the head of the Internal Security Forces, General Ashraf Rifi, and the head of the General Security Forces, General Wafik Jezzini, in addition to two other high-ranking officials.
For his part, Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdel Majid, who welcomed Baroud, expressed optimism, adding that bilateral relations will be improved. He said that the brotherly and historical relations have demanded coordination between the two countries.
The visit that would be followed by another one that would join Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr and Army Commander Jean Kahwaji who have received official invitations to visit Damascus seems to open a new era in security cooperation between the two neighbor countries. It's also important as it's the first visit of a Lebanese interior minister to Damascus since 2004.
The visit also comes almost three months after President Michel Suleiman made a landmark visit to Damascus and less than a month after Syria and Lebanon decided to establish diplomatic relations for the first time.
MOALLEM: SECURITY OFFICIALS CAN MAKE DECISIONS ON COORDINATION
Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said on Monday that arresting the terrorist cell of Fatah al-Islam did not just serve Syrian people, but all the people of the region, because the militant group also targeted Lebanon and Iraq.
Speaking to Qatari daily As-Sharq, Moallem said that security officials had the authority to make decisions about coordination between both countries.
He also said that the names of the ambassadors would not be announced before the approval of the countries concerned and that his country was looking for a "decent place" in Beirut to be the Syrian embassy's headquarters, but the final decision will be made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.