15 August 2006…… Assistant Minister for Arab and Middle East Affairs, Ambassador, Hani Khallaf, received on 13 August 2006 China's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Mr. Sun Bigan, who is currently visiting Egypt, where they discussed the developments of the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East in general. They also exchanged views on the Security Council resolution 1701 on Lebanon and the steps of its implementation. Noteworthy, the Chinese envoy had visited Damascus and Tel Aviv and clarified that he was looking forward to visiting Beirut but the Israeli military operations on the road between Syria and Lebanon did not allow that.