Lebanon says Syria willing to hand over prisoners

BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday that Damascus was willing to hand over to Beirut all Lebanese prisoners, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's press office said.

The two leaders had discussed the issue during a telephone call, it said in a statement.

"President Assad affirmed Syria's willingness to deal positively with President Lahoud's request to issue a decree that would allow for the handover of all Lebanese detained (in Syria) to the Lebanese authorities," the statement said.

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Assad told the Lebanese president he still had to make some amendments to Syrian laws to allow for the handover.

Most Lebanese jailed in Syria are Christian activists opposed to Syria's political and military grip on Lebanon.

No date was given for the handover but the Lebanese statement said it was expected within a few days. Lebanese opposition groups say there are 150 political prisoners in Syria but the total number of Lebanese detainees is unknown.

Assad's remarks come a month after he pardoned 600 Syrian and Lebanese political prisoners amid intense debate in Beirut over Syria's 24-year-old military presence and its domination of Lebanese politics.

Lebanese Christian groups, and the country's influential Maronite Christian Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, have called on Damascus to free political prisoners detained during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.

Sfeir, in a meeting with Maronite archbishops on Wednesday, welcomed Assad's comments.

"We thank President Assad for his initiative and hope that it will be a step towards putting the relations between our countries on the right footing," the archbishops said in a statement.

Syria says the Lebanese were arrested on charges of attacking Syrian troops in Lebanon or on suspicion of spying for Israel. Christian Lebanese groups however say most were detained for campaigning against Syria's presence in Lebanon.

Some Lebanese were arrested for crimes they allegedly committed in Syria.

The reformist Syrian leader has allowed a modicum of political freedom since he took office in July after his father Hafez al-Assad died on June 10.

Assad has freed some opposition figures, including members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, and political sources expect him to allow the emergence of political parties in Syria.

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