A high-ranking Syrian security delegation visited last week the Roma and met with senior Italian officials, Al-Watan Syrian newspaper quoted a Western diplomat, on condition of anonymity, in Beirut as saying.

A high-ranking Syrian security delegation visited last week the Roma and met with senior Italian officials, Al-Watan Syrian newspaper quoted a Western diplomat, on condition of anonymity, in Beirut as saying.

The delegation's visit, which was headed by the Director of the General Intelligence Department Major General Deeb Zaytoun and joined by a number of officers, lasted for two days.

Major General Zaytoun met in Rome with his counterpart as well as other security officials.

A special Italian governmental airplane moved the members of the Syrian delegation from Beirut to Rome and returned them to the Lebanese capital, according to the source.

It 's worth noting that it was the first time that a Syrian security official visits a European capital and that a number of Western (German, Belgian, Spanish and French) delegations had visited Damascus.