US secretary of state Madeleine Albright did not ask President Bashar Assad to intervene with Lebanese Hizbollah to ensure the release of Israeli prisoners held by the movement, a Syrian source told Albawaba.com on Friday.
The source added that Syria’s relation with Hizbollah “was discussed generally,” when Albright met Assad in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, “but Syria was not asked to intervene to press Hizbollah for the release of the Israeli prisoners.”
The official dismissed as baseless reports by news agencies claiming that the issue of the Israeli prisoners dominated the Albright-Assad meeting.
The two-hour meeting, the source said, concentrated on the latest development in the region.
He quoted the Syrian president as asserting that his country “will not give up the right to recover all Syrian occupied territories to the 4th of June 1967’s lines,” stressing that the implementation of the UN Resolution 242 is nonnegotiable.
The source also said that the Lebanese track was not tackled separately in the discussions, but came during an overall discussion of the regional issues.
A Hizbollah official had told Albawaba.com, that “Hizbollah and Syria stand shoulder to shoulder” adding that “the Islamic resistance is sure that Syria will not change its political stands, a fact that Albright knows well now, especially after the Palestinian Intifada and the achievements of Hizbollah” – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
