Mansour Downplays Letter Delivered to Syrian Embassy in Beirut

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour shied away on Thursday from revealing the details of a letter he sent to the Syrian embassy in Beirut, saying it was part of daily messages exchanged between Lebanon and Syria.

In remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper, Mansour said the letter delivered to the Syrian mission on Monday was part of the “daily routine process” on political, economic and security issues.

He refused however to reveal its details saying it included classified information.

The state-run National News Agency reported Wednesday that the foreign ministry sent the letter to the Syrian embassy upon the request of President Michel Suleiman.

While NNA did not specify the nature of the letter, media reports said it included the recent request made by Suleiman to hand the ministry copies of security reports on the latest Syrian airstrikes on Lebanese territories.

Last Thursday, Suleiman asked army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji to hand the ministry the copies of the raids in the northeastern town of Arsal the day before and another attack that took place on March 18.

Last week's raid involved two rocket attacks on a house 11 kilometers deep into Lebanese territories and the previous one included assaults as deep as 5 kilometers across the border with Syria.