The secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, Abu Mazen, arrived in Damascus Sunday carrying a message from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat for the Syrian leadership, said reports.
"My visit to Syria comes in the context of the coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Syria," said Mahmoud Abbas, who is also know as Abu Mazen.
"We want to inform our brothers (the Syrians) about the political situation and the Intifada and to consult on the issue of the future," he said, cited by the official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA.
Abu Mazen said he would meet with a number of Syrian officials, pointing out that his visit was an official one to Damascus, representing the Palestinian Authority.
It is the veteran leader's first visit to Damascus in 15 years.
On Thursday, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Maher Taher, said that Abu Mazen was expected to raise the possibility of an official visit to Syria by Arafat.
It would be Arafat's first visit since 1996, apart from attending the funeral of the late president, Hafez Al Assad, in June 2000.
The idea of Arafat visiting Damascus has been planned since the last Arab summit in Jordan in March, at which the Syrian and Palestinian leaders held talks – Albawaba.com
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