Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'alem said yesterday at a Beirut press conference that followed his meeting with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman that the decision to establish diplomatic relations must be a joint Syrian-Lebanese decision.

He added that he did not know whether the Lebanese were interested at all in opening embassies.

He said that Syria does not oppose registering the borders between the two countries, but that the needs of the Lebanese village residents near the Syrian border must be taken into account. He also said that the Israeli occupation of the Shab'a Farms must be ended, and that handing them over to the U.N. did not mean an end to the occupation.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Lebanon, July 22, 2008