Beirut - Syria informed French President Nicolas Sarkozy it has
arrested Lebanon's most-wanted terrorist suspect, Fatah al-Islam leader
Shaker al-Abssi, the Lebanese website Naharnet said Thursday.

It quoted what it called "reliable Syrian sources" as saying Abssi
was in Syrian custody and that contacts were under way between security
agencies in Damascus and Beirut to determine whether he be extradited
to Lebanon or tried in Syria.

The report came hours after the United Arab Emirates daily al-

Damascus/Istanbul - Syria will for the first time take up diplomatic relations with its neighbour Lebanon, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday at a summit of four nations in Damascus.

The announcement, which was broadcast life on Arabic television, was made after French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Assad to break the diplomatic silence.

The meeting on current regional conflicts was attended by Sarkozy, who is current president of the European Union and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, president of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to travel to Damascus later Tuesday for a two-day visit, the first voyage to Syria by a French head of state in four years.

The trip will include a summit meeting on the Mideast peace process on Thursday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyid Erdogan and the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Damascus - The Damascus-based Palestinian Islamic resistance group Hamas on Monday denied Arab media reports claiming that its leadership was moving to Sudan.

"Media reports that Hamas' politburo chief, Khaled Meshaal, and other members will move to Sudan are false," according to a Damascus- based Hamas official who spoke to the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai quoted what it described as well-informed Palestinian sources as saying that exiled Hamas leader Meshaal had moved his bureau and his home from Syria to Sudan.

Damascus  - A Syrian official on Friday denied that the country has agreed to host Russian missiles in an effort to counter the planned deployment of a US missile shield in Eastern Europe.

"What was reported by some media with regard to Syria's agreement on deploying Iskander missiles in its territories are baseless," he told the Syrian Arab News Agency
(SANA).

The official, who was not named in the report, said no such issue was discussed at all during talks this week between Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Jerusalem - Russia should not agree to a Syrian request to deploy missiles on its territory, since this could destabalise the Middle East, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday.

"The deployment of long-range missiles is wrong," she told foreign correspondents in Jerusalem.

Livni was reacting to reports that Russia could possibly supply Syria with two types of missiles - S-300 surface-to-air missiles and Iskander E-ballistic missiles, which have a range of of 280 kilometres and can carry a a 480-kilogramme warhead.

Admitting that Russia has "its own interests" in the Middle East, Livni added however that "no one has an interest in destabilizing the region."