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Javier Solana (R), the EU's foreign policy chief, with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus last week.
Photo: Council of the European Union.
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BRUSSELS (EJP)---EU’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana has voiced concern at the US air raid against al-Qaeda in Syria on Monday that caused the death of civilians.
"I am concerned at the air raid that took place inside Syria which resulted with the death of civilians,” he said in a statement.
Solana recalled that he was in Syria last week where he discussed with the Syrian authorities “prospects for improved stability and security in the region.”
“I hope the situation can rapidly return to normality,” he added.
During his Damascus visit, Solana held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem about the regional situation and the development of closer ties between the European Union and Syria.
The following is an edited summary of Mr SOLANA's remarks to the press during his stay in Damascus:
"I have had a very good meeting with the Syrian President. I have had a very good personal relationship with him for many years and it is good to see him again. I hope that contacts between the EU and Syria will be strengthened,” Solana told the press in the Syrian capital.
“On EU-Syria relations, my presence here in Syria has a meaning. President Sarkozy was here in September and we are engaged also in the new Mediterranean dialogue that we have established,” he added.
He said EU-Syria relations “are developing” and expressed the hope that the Association Agreement between the two sides that is due to be updated “can be concluded soon.”
Solana said the EU supports the indirect talks between Syria and Israel and thanked “our Turkish friends” for the role they are playing.
Solana's visit to Damascus was the first since March 2007, when his trip signaled a resumption of EU contacts with Damascus frozen after the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
Lebanese figures blamed Syria for the murder but Damascus has repeatedly denied any involvement.
Solana’s return to Damascus came after Syria and Lebanon formally established diplomatic ties on October 15, for the first time since independence 60 years ago.