Beirut: Syria`s foreign minister, a close confidant of President Bashar Assad and a staunch defender of the government, underwent a successful heart operation today, state media said.
Walid al-Moallem, a veteran diplomat in his 70s who is known for his hard-line stance against the opposition, was brought to the American University of Beirut Medical Center in the Lebanese capital early today. It is not clear whether the overweight al-Moallem has had heart problems in the past.
After not commenting on al-Moallem`s arrival in Beirut for hours, Syria`s state news agency said in a one-line report late today that al-Moallem had had what it called a "pre-planned cardiac surgery" and that it was a success.
It did not say where the treatment took place.
Earlier today, Lebanese lawmaker Assem Qanso, a close ally of the Syrian government, told reporters outside the hospital after visiting al-Moallem that Syria`s top diplomat needed surgery because "some of his arteries are blocked."
Lebanese security officials said that al-Moallem walked slowly and unassisted when he arrived at the hospital. Officials at the hospital which has treated several senior members of Assad`s government in the past refused to confirm that al-Moallem had registered as a patient, saying they give no such information to "third parties."
Lebanese police and plainclothes officers deployed outside the hospital in Beirut. Syria`s ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdul-Karim Ali, entered the facility earlier today morning, presumably to visit al-Moallem.
A career diplomat, al-Moallem served as ambassador to Washington for nine years, starting in 1990 during Syria`s on-and-off peace talks with Israel.
He was appointed foreign minister in 2006, and he has been one of the staunchest defenders of the government`s violent crackdown on its opponents since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.
