Syria FM Muallem hospitalised in Beirut

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, who led the regime's negotiating team at failed peace talks in January and February, has been admitted to hospital in Beirut, Lebanese media reported Friday. The 73-year-old diplomat "was admitted to the American University Hospital in Beirut at 8:30 pm (1830 GMT)  on Thursday to undergo emergency examinations," Radio Liban Libre reported. "He was accompanied by a large number of bodyguards and entered through the underground parking. Mr Muallem was seen moving about the interior of the establishment on foot, but slowly," it said. The English-language Daily Star newspaper said Muallem "was admitted to the intensive care unit" of the hospital late Thursday, without providing further details. Muallem has been the chief diplomat of President Bashar al-Assad's regime throughout the three-year civil war. He was Syria's ambassador to Washington from 1990 to 2000 and became foreign minister in 2006. Source: AFP