Lebanon's new president meets Assad envoy in Beirut

By Wassim Seif al-Din

BEIRUT (AA) – Lebanon’s newly-elected President Michel Aoun on Monday met with an envoy from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In a statement, the Lebanese Presidency said Aoun had received Syrian Minister for Presidential Affairs Mansour Azzam at Beirut’s Baabda Palace.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Azzam said he had conveyed a congratulatory message from Assad and the Syrian people to the new Lebanese president.

He went on to hail the deep relations between Syria and Lebanon.

Monday’s visit comes shortly ahead of a planned visit to Lebanon by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif -- whose country is a staunch supporter of the Assad regime -- to congratulate Aoun on his election last week.

Aoun, an 81-year old former army general and leader of Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), was elected by parliament last Monday as the country’s 13th president, ending a presidential vacuum that had lasted more than two and a half years.

For the last several years, Lebanon’s political arena has remained sharply divided between supporters of the March 14 alliance -- which backs the armed opposition in next-door Syria -- and the pro-Assad March 8 alliance, which includes Hezbollah and Aoun’s FPM.