A two-year freeze on high-level European Union contacts with Syria has ended. The EU’s foreign policy chief has arrived in Damascus for talks on the political crisis in Lebanon. Javier Solana was expected to urge Damascus to do more to help ease tensions in Lebanon where there is a struggle for power.

Syria is seen as key to breaking a four-month deadlock between the anti-Syrian majority coalition and an opposition that includes Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran. Solana has already been in Beirut as part of his mission, which includes investigating what to do about the suspected smuggling of arms between Syria and Lebanon.

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