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29 March 2024

Turkey, Qatar, Syria leaders to meet on Lebanon

Published
By AFP

The leaders of Turkey, Qatar and Syria will meet in Damascus Monday to discuss the political turmoil in Lebanon, a senior Turkish diplomat told AFP on Sunday.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Damascus for the meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said by telephone.

Unal said that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made the announcement to reporters who accompanied him on a visit to Baghdad on Sunday.

In a sweep led by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, 11 ministers withdrew from Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's unity government Wednesday, forcing its collapse and plunging the country back into crisis.

The move was linked to a long-running dispute over the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is reportedly set to indict high-ranking Hezbollah operatives in the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, Saad's father.

Murder charges for the assassination are expected Monday.

Hariri held talks with Erdogan in Ankara Friday.