Syrian foreign minister's heart surgery a success

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.