Syrian president meets French envoys over Lebanon

    DAMASCUS, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday met two envoys of French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the political crisis in neighboring Lebanon, the official SANA news agency reported.

    Assad and Sarkozy's top aide Claude Gueant, the secretary general of the presidency, and national security adviser Jean-David Levitte discussed the situation in Lebanon, SANA said.

    They stressed the necessity to urge the Lebanese to reach a unanimous candidate for the new president in line with the constitutional rules, it added.

    Viewpoints between the two sides "were concordant on the necessity of the Lebanese to be capable of electing the next president freely, without foreign interference," the report said.

    The two sides also discussed bilateral relations between Syria and France and means of developing them in addition to efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the region, it added.

    The talks came after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem met with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner in Istanbul on Friday for over an hour on the Lebanon issue.

    Two weeks ago, ministers of France, Italy and Spain visited Lebanon in a fresh bid to resolve the political crisis there and reconcile their conflicting views on the elections of a new president.

    Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has postponed a parliamentary session until Nov. 12 to elect a new president to succeed the incumbent pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud in order to give rival factions time to agree on a compromise candidate.

    Relations between Paris and Damascus have remained cool since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, for which Damascus has been blamed. Syria has repeatedly denied any involvement in the killing.