Syria breaks off contacts with France over Lebanon
Syria will break off contacts with France over the political crisis in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Walid Muallem announced Wednesday, responding to a similar gesture by Paris three days earlier.
Lebanon on Monday opened an embassy in Syria, sealing the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the long-feuding rivals for the first time since they gained independence from France in the 1940s.Relations between the neighboring countries reached a turning point in August when they agreed to establish ties and demarcate their contentious border.