German FM to Visit Syria Neighbors, Including Lebanon

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will visit Syria's neighbors this week in a bid to help stop the bloody strife threatening regional stability, a spokeswoman said Sunday.

Westerwelle will leave Monday on a tour that will take in Turkey and Lebanon as well as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, the foreign ministry spokeswoman told Agence France Presse, without giving a detailed itinerary.

The talks are to focus on "an end to the violence in Syria," she said.

Westerwelle is to hold his first official meeting with his new French counterpart Laurent Fabius in Berlin before his departure on Monday.

Germany has ruled out deploying troops to halt the bloodshed in Syria, an idea that has been floated by French President Francois Hollande.

"We must avoid a conflagration that could set the whole region on fire," Westerwelle told Sunday's Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"Considering the highly complex and dangerous situation in Syria, we must not create the wrong expectations, pretending that we could bring about a quick solution with a military intervention."