The First Vice-President of the Czech Government and Foreign Minister Martin Stropnický paid an official visit to Damascus. He was received by his Syrian counterpart Walid al-Muallem.

Since the beginning of the aggression against Syria, the European Union has closed the embassies of its member states, banned Syrian consuls from organizing election offices on their premises, and instituted sanctions against the Syrian Arab Republic and its main elected officials.

However, Austria, the Czech Republic and Romania have kept their embassies open.

At the instigation of its President, Miloš Zeman, the Czech Republic observed the events on the spot, presented reports to the EU, and issued Schengen visas to Syrian personalities travelling into the Union. President Zeman never withdrew his support to his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad.

Martin Stropnický was successively Minister of Culture, Defense and now Foreign Affairs. While several foreign leaders have secretly come to Damascus recently, he is the first official executive in the European Union to visit Syria publicly since the beginning of the foreign aggression.

The Russian Federation and the White House agreed at the Helsinki summit on July 16th to end the conflict. The Syrian Arab Army has just liberated the entire south of the country (except Al-Tanf, still occupied by the US), up to the Lebanese, Israeli and Jordanian borders.

Translation
Roger Lagassé