Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said he would visit Syria soon and newspapers predicted that Beirut and Damascus would exchange ambassadors by no later than mid October.

Salloukh did not set the date for his visit, but the daily As-Safir reported that Syria is proceeding with "constitutional and legal arrangements" to set up diplomatic ties with Lebanon for the first time since independence from French Mandate in 1943.

A joint declaration would be issued by Beirut and Damascus announcing the setting up of ties, the report added.