Damascus - Michel al-Khoury, the first Lebanese ambassador to Syria, arrived in Damascus Monday, in a further step toward normal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"I am very happy to be the representative of my country in Syrian territory," Khoury told the German News Agency dpa on Monday. "I am now waiting for an appointment to present my credentials to President Bashar al-Assad."

Damascus  - A group of British parliamentarians met with exiled Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus on Wednesday, Hamas said.

The Labour Party's Roger Godsiff led the nine-member British delegation in its meeting with Meshaal, Hamas said.

"The visit comes in the framework of European endeavours to open communication channels with Hamas, and to get a more profound

understanding of the (Palestinian) issue through direct contact with Hamas," Hamas said in a statement sent to reporters.

Damascus  - A court in Damascus has sentenced three men to death after finding them guilty of murdering a "senior diplomat" from an unidentified country's embassy, a Syrian newspaper reported Tuesday.

The diplomat met one of the men, a 26-year-old identified only as Amjad, at a bathhouse in Damascus and agreed to pay him for sex, Syria's official al-Thawra daily reported Tuesday.

The court found that the two met several times at the diplomat's flat before Amjad plotted to rob the man with the help of two friends.

Damascus - A European parliamentary delegation on Saturday met with members of Hamas's political leadership-in-exile in Damascus to discuss ways to end the group's international isolation.

The six-member EU delegation, which includes lawmakers from Britain and Ireland, said that their meeting with Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshaal in Damascus was intended to encourage more Europeans to recognise Hamas as a legitimate movement that was democratically elected by its people.

Damascus - Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal arrived in Damascus on Wednesday in yet another sign of improving ties between the two Arab powers.

Al-Faisal is expected to deliver a message from King Abdullah to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudi-owned al-Arabiya news satellite channel reported.

On Thursday, al-Faisal said that he wanted to build "healthy" new ties with Syria.

"The disagreements between us are over and buried," he said two days after his Syrian counterpart visited Riyadh with a message from al-Assad.

Damascus - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was due in Syria for high-level talks on Tuesday, at the start of a five-day tour of the region.

Over the course of his two-day stay in Damascus, Solana will meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Deputy Prime Minister Abdallah al-Dardari, and Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim.

He will next travel to Lebanon and Egypt on February 25, and to Israel on the following day. He will spend February 27 and 28 in the Palestinian territories, before attending a March 2 summit on reconstructing the Palestinian economy in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt.