WORLD BRIEFING / SYRIA
A Lebanese embassy opened in Damascus after international pressure on the Syrian government to establish diplomatic ties and treat its smaller neighbor as a fully sovereign country.
The two nations have not had diplomatic relations since Britain and France carved them out of the remnants of the old Ottoman Empire in 1920.
Syria, which withdrew its forces from Lebanon in 2005 after a 29-year presence, opened an embassy in Beirut last year but has not named an ambassador. Lebanon has named Michel Khoury as its ambassador.
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