Lebanon anti-Syrians cry victory over opening of ties

BEIRUT (AFP) — A minister in the rump anti-Syrian cabinet overtaken by a May power-sharing agreement with the pro-Syrian opposition on Saturday hailed the opening of diplomatic relations between Beirut and Damascus as a victory.

Ahmed Fatfat, youth and sports minister in the former government, said the agreement reached in Paris on the sidelines of a European-Mediterranean summit was a victory for the pro-Western forces which secured the pullout of Syrian troops following the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.

It's a "coup for the forces of March 14 (2005)," he said in reference to the date of a huge anti-Syrian rally that preceded the Syrian pullout.

"We've been demanding the opening of embassies for a long time and it's something that should have happened years ago," Fatfat said.

"Syria needs to start conducting its relations with Lebanon on a ...