EU's Solana in Beirut at start of West Asia tour

BEIRUT, Mar 12 (Reuters) European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana arrived in Beirut toay at the start of a three-nation West Asia tour aimed at easing tensions in Lebanon and the region.

The highlight of Solana's tour is a meeting on Wednesday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, marking the latest step in the West's tentative rapprochement with Syria.

Solana will hold talks in Beirut with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an opposition leader, before heading to Riyadh for talks with Saudi officials increasingly centre-stage in West Asia diplomacy.

Rival Lebanese leaders held talks last week that raised hopes of a deal to end a four-month-old power struggle between the anti-Syrian majority coalition and the opposition which includes Syrian-backed Hezbollah.

Syria has been in international diplomatic isolation for the past two years, the United States and France leading moves to ostracise it over its alleged role in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

But with Damascus seen playing a key role in Lebanon, France last week ended its opposition to EU contacts. Separately, Syria was at the table at talks on Saturday with the United States and others aimed at finding ways to end the chaos in Iraq.

EU countries make up the bulk of an expanded 12,000-strong UN peace force deployed last year alongside Lebanese troops in south Lebanon after fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in which more than 1,300 people died.

Reuters KR RN1700