President Bashar Assad on Tuesday discussed the situation in Lebanon and Syria's troop redeployment with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, who arrived earlier in the day in an unscheduled visit, an Egyptian official said. Assad and Mubarak, meeting in a hilltop palace overlooking Damascus, discussed the ongoing movement of Syrian troops from central and northern Lebanon, which is expected to be completed by the end of March. Mubarak was accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Zakariya Azmy, the president's chief of staff, the official said on condition of anonymity. Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported that Mubarak and Assad on Monday discussed during a telephone call "the situation on the Syrian and Lebanese arenas in light of international developments regarding this issue."
