DAMASCUS (AFP) – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri began a landmark visit to his country's former powerbroker Syria on Saturday, on a two-day mission aimed at rebuilding ties between the two Arab neighbors.

It was Hariri's first trip to Damascus since the 2005 assassination of his father, ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad gave Hariri a warm welcome at the capital's Tishrin palace, where the two young leaders shook hands and embraced before going into one-on-one talks.
They met for three hours, stressing the need to set up “privileged and strategic ties” between the two countries to overcome years of tensions, officials said.
The meeting between Assad and Hariri, who became Lebanon's premier last month, helped to “dispel the past (differences),” Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told reporters after the talks.
“There is no doubt that the ice has been broken between the two sides,” she said.
Shaaban also noted that Syria “broke with protocol” by inviting Hariri to stay at the Tishrin guest palace which is usually reserved for visiting monarchs and heads of state.
The two leaders discussed plans to mark their porous common border as well as “the challenges facing the two countries due to Israel's occupation of Arab land,” Shaaban added.
Syria's state-run SANA news agency said Assad and Hariri discussed how to “bolster bilateral cooperation” and “ways of surmounting the negative effects which marred” ties in the past.
It quoted Hariri as saying his government was determined “to establish real and strategic ties with Syria,” while Assad spoke of the need to promote “privileged and strategic ties between the two countries.”
Earlier a press official from Hariri's office told AFP the visit “will open up a new phase in relations between the two countries.”
Syrian political analyst Ibrahim Darraji agreed.
“The visit is the first attempt to break the ice after years of tense relations,” he told AFP, adding that it also showed that Hariri and Assad have “overcome personal” differences.
Hariri's billionaire father Rafiq, a five-time former premier of Lebanon, was killed along with 22 other people in a massive bombing on Beirut seafront nearly five years ago.
Earlier this month, a Syrian court asked 25 prominent Lebanese, including individuals close to Saad Hariri, to appear for questioning over the murder.
On December 8 Hariri told the Lebanese parliament he wants to forge “brotherly ties” with Syria “to a level in line with the two countries' historical ties and mutual interest.”
In November, Hariri's 30-member cabinet adopted a policy statement despite reservations from his Christian allies about the arsenal held by Hezbollah.
Hariri and his coalition defeated a Hezbollah-led alliance in a general election on June 7.
Saturday's visit is the latest sign of a thaw in decades of turbulent relations between Lebanon and Syria, which established their first ever diplomatic ties in 2008.
Hariri's landmark trip also comes as Washington seeks to improve relations with Syria, and a day after Lebanese President Michel Sleiman visited Damascus following a trip to Washington.