KUWAIT (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said his country will consider opening an embassy in Lebanon for the first time once its smaller neighbor forms a government able to foster good ties with Damascus.  Assad said Syria had raised the issue in 2005, when Syrian troops left Lebanon after a 29-year sojourn, but decided against opening an embassy as ties with Lebanon deteriorated. "Our conditions were that there should be a national unity government firstly and that there be good ties with it…. Obviously, if there is a unity government that represents all the Lebanese parties then our ties with it will be good," he said in comments carried on Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA. "When these conditions are provided for then we will exchange soon, God willing, embassies with Lebanon after studying the situation of the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Commission." Ties between the two countries have so far been governed by a joint commission in what many Lebanese consider a reluctance on Syria’s part to recognize their country’s sovereignty.

(MENASSAT) — Syrians are paying increasing attention to Lebanon

Still, the political unrest that has wracked Lebanon since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri continues to fascinate the Syrian public