Envoy Meets with Hizbullah after Talks with Salam, Bassil in Beirut

U.N.'s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura met on Thursday with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and is expected to hold talks with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil later in the day, on the other hand, he pointed out the "agreement" with Hizbullah on "a political solution" to end the war there.

“A new turn of events are controlling the region, in particular regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant... and the International community is deeply concerned,” De Mistura told reporters after talks with Salam at the Grand Serail.

The envoy revealed that he will leave Lebanon and head on a tour that will include Iran, Turkey and other countries in the region and Russia.

“We are trying to understand the changes the region is passing through,” De Mistura added.

He expressed the international community's concern over stability in Lebanon, calling for “political stability” to maintain a strong country.

De Mistura also met the Deputy Secretary General of Hizbullah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, in the presence of Wafik Safa, the person responsible for the Liaison Committee and coordination in the party.

Qasim hoped for the "success of the U.N. envoy tasks,” stressing that “the only available solution in Syria is a political solution away from the pre-conditioned solutions and not to exceed the parties and influencers in such a solution. "

“The visit comes within the framework of consultation of the importance of communicating with all the parties that could help in the solution for the region and especially in Syria,” he added.

“The points of view were consistent that the solution in Syria is based on a political solution,” he ended.

This meeting is the first between a representative of the U.N. and Hizbullah since the beginning of the conflict in Syria by more than three years since non of Lakhdar Brahimi nor Kofi Annan had ever met with Hizbullah.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper said that De Mistura arrived in Beirut at dawn Thursday after asking for an “urgent meeting” with Salam.

Al-Mustaqbal also quoted diplomatic sources in New York as saying that the envoy's meetings with Salam and Bassil will focus on the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon, mainly the impact of the refugees and the security situation in the country.

De Mistura was appointed to the Syria job in July, after his predecessor, Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, resigned in May following the failure of peace talks.

The Syrian conflict has acquired a new dimension with the advance of Islamic State jihadists battling to establish an Islamic caliphate in the region.

In August, the United States launched an air campaign in Iraq -- extended into Syria in September -- to halt the advance of the jihadists.

Despite the bombing raids, the IS jihadists have continued to gain ground in both countries, including around the key town of Kobane near the Turkish border.

The Lebanese army is also locked in a battle with the militants from the IS and al-Nusra Front who are taking positions on the porous Lebanese-Syrian border.

In August, the jihadists overran the northeastern border town of Arsal and kidnapped Lebanese soldiers and policemen. They later executed three of them.

G.K./Z.A.

H.K.