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Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303873.html
French President on Visit to Syria
[Washington Post] Alia Ibrahim - French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed Wednesday in Damascus to pursue improved relations with Syria, during a visit that ended more than three years of Western isolation of the country. Sarkozy's visit was the first by a European leader to the Syrian capital since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. UN investigators have implicated Syrian officials in the attack. Syrian officials and analysts said Sarkozy's visit is a victory for Assad. "People were betting the regime was living its last days," said Mahdi Dakhlalla, a former Syrian information minister. "Now, the regime has proved how strong it is. It is the French who changed their policy, and not Syria."