BEIRUT – The Council of Ministers gathered yesterday in a relatively tranquil atmosphere in Baabda Palace. During the reunion, the 148 items figuring on the agenda were tackled, including the one that has to do with the establishment of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon.

The Ministers took just a few minutes of discussion to agree on this point. The Council assigned to the Minister of Foreign Affairs the task of following the establishment of those diplomatic relations “in concrete terms”, especially regarding the opening of an embassy in Damascus. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fawzi Salloukh, asserted after the session that he was going to start working immediately to solve all the details of the procedure.

The thorny issue of the Lebanese detainees in Syria was not tackled.

The session eluded all the subjects that could crystallize the tensions on the political scene in those last days. Therefore, the appointment of the commander in chief and the intelligence service director in the Army, as well as the issue of the prerogatives of the Vice-President of the Council were not discussed.

Moreover, the Defense Minister, Elias Murr, affirmed before the reunion that “the appointment of a new commander in chief in the Army was not on the agenda” and that this issue was “postponed till next week”.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora took the opportunity to denounce the threats of the Hebrew State this week. “Israel is inventing excuses to aggress Lebanon and its population”, he stated. “While hearing the Israeli leaders, we can have the impression that Israel planted roses during its last war on Lebanon, whereas it perpetrated war crimes against the civilians, from Qana to Marwahine, and destroyed many homes in the Southern suburb. They talk as if their hands weren’t stained enough and they pose threats to Lebanon by warning it from a new aggression, without remembering that the initial problem is the Israeli occupation of a Lebanese territory”, added Mr. Siniora.

After the reunion, the Council decided to send a letter soon to the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon to protest against the Israeli threats.