Mubarak sends envoy to help ease pressure on Syria

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sent his most trusted troubleshooter to Syria yesterday on a mission to ease tensions created with Lebanon since the assassination of Rafik Al Hariri.

Presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said Mubarak had asked intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to go to Damascus following a telephone conversation on Tuesday between Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

Mubarak is a longstanding ally of Syria and his government has kept well away from international calls for an immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon following Hariri's death in a car bomb attack last week.

"The state of tension on the Lebanese scene and the escalation of pressures on Syria ... require effective and rapid action to contain the situation in Syria and Lebanon in an Arab framework," Awad said.

"We hope we can achieve a breakthrough that eases the tension in Lebanon and the pressure on Syria," Awad said. He said Suleiman would take a message to Bashar but he declined to discuss any Egyptian proposals.

Meanwhile, David Satterfield, deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, was expected to travel to Lebanon this week to discuss the fallout from Hariri, a senior US official said. The official, who asked not to be named, said Satterfield would "take the temperature" of the country.