U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's talks with the Syrian president Bashar Assad on Saturday tackled, among other issues, Lebanon's Hizbullah group and needed calm in south Lebanon.
In what could be seen as a clear message, the reporter of al-Manar, Hizbullah's TV station, was prevented from attending Powell's briefing at the Sheraton Hotel in Damascus.
Information officials at the U.S. embassy confirmed that al-Manar's correspondent was asked to keep away and was not allowed to join the other journalists for the morning news briefing.
The United States has demanded that Syria "dismantle" Hizbullah, US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was quoted as saying in an Israeli newspaper Friday.
"At every opportunity, we have asked Syria to stop supporting terrorism, dismantle Hizbullah, close the headquarters of terrorist groups in Damascus and end the threat posed to Israel from rockets in south Lebanon," Rice said, in remarks published in Hebrew in the Yediot Aharonot daily. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
