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GV ULL BACK Street scene in Syrian capital, Damascus.
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SV INTERIOR Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat holding picture PULL BACK TO SHOW Arafat greeting Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad and taking seats PAN TO members of the Executive Committee of the PLO seated in office. PAN TO Arafat and Al-Assad talking to each other.
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CU & SV Member of the PLO Committee watching as Arafat and Al-Assad continue talking. (2 SHOTS)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: President Al Assad of Syria held a meeting with the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation on Sunday (5 October), which included PLO leader Yasser Arafat. The meeting came on the day after Syria was accused of helping Iraq attack Iran in the Gulf war.

SYNOPSIS: The meeting was held in the centre of the Syrian capital Damascus, at a time when Syria was facing claims of taking side in the Gulf War. The Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat, and his Committee members are understood to have expressed their concern about the issue. Official Syrian sources were quick to respond to the allegations of interference with a strong denial. A government spokesman said a protest note was delivered to the Iraqi Charge D'Affaires by Nasser Qaddour, Syria's Assistant Foreign Minister. The note said that since the start of the Iraq-Iran war, the Iraqi government had been verbally attacking Syria, which "remained silent because of the circumstances" of the conflict. The war issue's brought similar meetings with other Middle Eastern leaders over the past two weeks. Yasser Arafat had earlier been acting as mediator in the war, and so his comments to President Assad on the situation were of particular interest.

The meeting of the two leaders later centred on issues more relevant to the two countries.