Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a vehement critic of the mass arrests of Christian anti-Syrian activists in Lebanon, met in Damascus Tuesday with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Meanwhile, the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud met with the Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Nasrallah Sfeir in Beirut in an attempt to defuse an escalating political crisis over the Syrian presence in the country, according to reports.
The Assad-Jumblatt meeting "touched on Lebanese questions and on the challenges faced by the two brother countries of Lebanon and Syria," the official Syrian news agency SANA reported, cited by AFP.
Assad had pledged his full support to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and army commander Michel Suleiman in the wake of the August 5-8 jailing of around 200 Lebanese Christians opposed to the heavy Syrian military presence in Lebanon.
The same issue topped the agenda of the meeting on the same day by Lahoud and the patriarch, according to Al Jazeera satellite channel.
Seventy-five of the detainees freed on Monday with a warning and a fine of three million pounds ($2,000) each.
Among them was the retired general Nadim Lteif, who leads the supporters of exiled general Michael Aoun, the former Lebanese prime minister who led Christian forces into battle against Syria in 1989 before fleeing to France a year later.
Those jailed in the Lebanese army crackdown were charged with "harming relations with a brother country," in reference to Syria, and insulting President Lahoud.
The source said 17 people belonging to the banned Lebanese Forces (LF) militia were still detained.
Among those still behind bars are former LF political advisor Tawfiq Hindi as well as two journalists, Antoine Bassil, a correspondent for Saudi Arabia's MBC television, and Habib Younes, a correspondent for the London-based Al Hayat.
The three are accused of having established contacts with an Israeli official, Odid Zaray, the press attache of the former coordinator of Israeli activities in southern Lebanon, Uri Lubrani.
On Monday, a car bomb exploded without causing injuries near the Beirut headquarters of the judiciary where some of the activists were on trial, police said.
Asked about the incidents, Transportation Minister Najib Mikati told reporters that the blast was "the work of a fifth column" and that "the forces of evil are looking to undermine Lebanese unity."
The official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, said in a report that the bomb targeted head of the Lebanese public security, Jameel Al Sayyed.
Monday overnight, the office of the president of the bar association in north Lebanon, George Murani, was ransacked by strangers, police said.
On August 9-10, Murani's association and its Beirut counterpart observed a strike to protest against the crackdown on the Christian and anti-Syrian activists and the way it was carried out.
Also on Monday, Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh told the press that the army's brutality during the arrests had "harmed Lebanon's image abroad."
There were also reports that Syria on that day moved 15 tanks and 100 military trucks loaded with equipment into the Beirut area of Dhahr Al Baydar.
Damascus has voiced its support for Lahoud and the army for the widely criticized moves - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
