Damascus - Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh arrived in Damascus on Wednesday to formally initiate diplomatic ties with Syria for the first time since independence 60 years ago.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and Salloukh announced in a joint statement "the launch of diplomatic relations between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese republic effective today, October 15, 2008."

The two ministers signed the joint statement in which they stressed their aim of "boosting relations between both their countries on basis of mutual respect."

Washington - The United States cautiously welcomed Syria's formal establishment of diplomatic relations with Lebanon on Tuesday.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the two neighbouring countries still must define final borders. He also cautioned that "behavior beyond just setting up these embassies and establishing diplomatic relations also matters."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued an order Tuesday cementing diplomatic ties and announcing plans to set up an embassy in Beirut and exchange ambassadors.

Beirut- Three Lebanese soldiers and a firefighter were injured battling forest fires in the Chouf mountains southeast of Beirut Tuesday, a civil defence official said.

"There are fires in Dibbiyeh, the area of Aley, Sirjbal and another in al-Zaaruriyeh," the official said. Dozens of families were forced to leave their homes in the Dibbiyeh area, witnesses said.

"Around 600 hectares were destroyed in the area of Dibbiyeh alone," added the official. He said the fire started on Monday but firefighters had difficulties reaching the rugged mountainsides.

Beirut - Members of a terrorist cell who were detained in northern Lebanon over the weekend had planned to assassinate the newly appointed Army Chief Jean Qahwaji, a Lebanese security official said Tuesday.

The Lebanese army said on Sunday that its troops have arrested members of a terrorist group allegedly involved in recent bombings in northern Lebanon.

Sunday's army statement said several people from a "terrorist cell" were arrested for their involvement in the August 13 and September 29 bombings in the port city of Tripoli that killed 21 people among them Lebanese soldiers.

Beirut - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued Tuesday a resolution to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon and open a Syrian embassy in Lebanon, a Lebanese government source said.

The source said Lebanon's Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh was due to visit Damascus on Wednesday to discuss "steps to be taken" in this regard between the two neigbouring countries.

Al-Assad did not specify an exact date for the embassy's opening in Beirut, Al-Arabia television channel reported.

Beirut - An Israeli infantry patrol crossed the technical fence into south Lebanon and carried out a search operation, but stopped short of coming across the formal border, Lebanese security source confirmed late Friday.

"The Israeli soldiers did not cross the UN-drawn blue line that separates the border with Israel, there is a technical fence which lies before the border line that they have crossed," the source clarified.

According to the source the troops withdrew after 30 minutes.