BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora called for former power-broker Syria to learn to treat its smaller neighbour as an independent state. "The Syrians must get used to dealing with Lebanon as an independent state, an independence which does no harm to Syria," he said in a statement carried by local newspapers on the eve of Lebanese independence day Tuesday.
"The Lebanese must also be persuaded that they live in an independent country which is free to take its own decisions," said Siniora, calling for "cordial and healthy ties with Syria, based on mutual respect". It will be Lebanon’s first independence day for almost 30 years without foreign troops deployed on its territory.