Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) - The leaders of Lebanon and Syria vowed to improve cooperation between their two countries Sunday, tying up a meeting aimed at thawing frozen relations.

Syrian President Bashar Assad greets Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (left) on his arrival in Damascus.

"We want to open new horizons between the two states," Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said at a news conference at the end of the two-day meeting, which happened in Damascus, Syria.

"We had good and excellent discussions based on mutual clarity and honesty," he added. "We are betting on a better future for both countries and peoples, in economy, trade as well as all other levels."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was not at the news conference. Official Syrian news agency SANA reported that both al-Assad and Hariri "saw the visit as a starting point to restore cooperation between the governments of Syria and Lebanon."

"Both sides agreed that the institutions and ministries in both countries directly coordinate and communicate to remove all obstacles to the cooperation on all levels," SANA reported.

Hariri has previously blamed Syria for the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese leader who was a prominent figure opposing Syria's continuing presence inside Lebanon.

A United Nations investigation found indications of Syrian involvement, but Syria denies responsibility. A U.N.-backed tribunal has been created to investigate the killing.

The two leaders did not discuss that issue or the assassinations of other anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon, Hariri said Sunday. They also did not discuss requests by a Syrian court to question Lebanese officials.

Asked whether any guarantees were exchanged regarding the Lebanese-Syrian relationship, Hariri responded, "I don't want to go into details." He added that the meeting proves "a relationship is being built in both countries' interest and in the benefit of future openness."

A popular uprising after the elder Hariri's killing in 2005 helped lead to the withdrawal of Syrian forces after almost 30 years of military and political domination of Lebanon.

Under international pressure, Syria opened an embassy in Beirut almost a year ago, and a Lebanese ambassador arrived in Damascus a short while later. It was the first time the two foes established diplomatic ties since their independence more than six decades ago.

The United States, which also accused Syria of involvement in Rafik Hariri's assassination, withdrew its ambassador four years ago. President Obama decided to make an effort toward reconciliation and announced earlier this year that he was returning a U.S. diplomat to Damascus.

Paula Hancocks
CNN

From Connect the World with Becky Anderson

JERUSALEM - Logging onto Facebook as a resident in the Golan Heights, should you enter Syria or Israel as your home country?

Facebook now has 300 million users - almost as many as the population of the United States.

Decades of war and occupation have not provided an answer to that question - but the social networking Web site now permits both options, sparking fears about an anti-Facebook cyber-war.

The Golan Heights is Syrian territory that was captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. Since then it has been internationally classified as Israeli-occupied territory.

Up until recently, Facebook fans in the Golan Heights could only choose Syria as their country of origin or else leave it blank. Pro-Israel Web site honestreporting.com sought to change that, starting a group called "Facebook, Golan residents live in Israel, not Syria."

Alex Margolin says the campaign was never political. "It was never a question of the future of Golan... it's totally possible that at some time in the future the Golan will change hands and go to Syria."

The group welcomed 2,500 members in the first week. Shortly afterwards Facebook policy changed. Do you think Facebook was right to change policy?

"We have enabled users in Golan Heights to choose either Syria or Israel in the listings," a Facebook spokesperson told CNN. "We currently have the same dual-listing options for the West Bank settlement, which is listed in both Palestine and Israel.

"We deal with the listings for disputed territories on a case-by-case basis, and with Golan Heights we decided a dual listing made sense in this instance."

Eighteen-year old Ofri Bazaz is delighted she can finally change her profile to Israel, squealing with delight as she tries it for the first time. She said: "It's very important on the Internet when somebody comes to my profile on Facebook they will see Israel and not Syria. I'm not Syrian."

But a 20-minute drive away in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, the reaction is very different. Facebook users here consider themselves Syrian and refuse to accept the change, as they fear it undermines their peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation.

Shopkeeper Sakar abu Sabit said: "Even if it's just on the computer, I want people to always recognize me in the Golan Heights as a Syrian citizen."

Reaction from Syria is likely to be muted according to Syrian scholar, Ammar Abdulhamid. He told CNN that Facebook and other social networking sites have already been banned in Syria. "The Syrian government has really taken a strong stance on Internet activism and social networking sites," he said.

"The real reason is nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict, it's because these sites are very popular with Syrian activists."

But with 300 million users worldwide and an estimated 120 million logging in every single day according to Facebook, there will inevitably be fears about a backlash against the site that now finds itself at the center of a 40-year-old conflict.

As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is set to begin tomorrow, people around the Arab world have been preparing for its arrival.

Watch it with Captions

From our own Hala Gorani – check out her iDesk blog

On assignment in Syria in the autumn of 2005, I found myself in Aleppo, my family’s ancestral hometown. I took the opportunity to visit my then 91 year-old grandmother, Nana Berine, my mother’s mother and my only surviving grandparent.

My grandparents at a restaurant in Aleppo, Syria 1958

She’d been a petite , thin person her whole life. Since my grandfather’s death ten years earlier, she rarely left the house and had become even frailer, a whisper of a woman. Family members and her children – three daughters and a son including my mother – visited her regularly; my uncle daily.

In Middle Eastern households, the elderly traditionally stay home until the end. And so Nana Berine, still healthy enough to shuffle around the house, read the newspaper daily, watched Turkish television, and was tended to and cared for by a great number of family members.

That evening in 2005, exhausted with work and travel, I fell asleep on Nana’s couch. When I woke up a few hours later, Nana Berine had covered me with a blanket and wedged a pillow under my head.

“It’s good to sleep,” she said, in her nightgown, sitting in her usual living room chair. “It means you need it.”

Berine Gorani was born April 30, 1914. Throughout her life, first as wife to my grandfather Assad, then as mother to her children, then as grandmother to my twelve cousins and me, she always gave of herself with joy and love.

When my grandfather, a lawyer and author of Syria’s civil code, served as minister in various cabinets during his country’s brief experiment with parliamentary democracy, she remained as unaffected as ever. She dressed elegantly but simply and never lost touch with what really matters: the love for her family and the truth that, in the end, nothing matters much more than that.

As a little girl visiting Syria, I was often a difficult and unfriendly child. Nana Berine would sit on the living room floor, trying with toys and stories to bring me out of my taciturn shell. Ultimately, not even I was stubborn enough to resist her charms.

On the last day of every grandchild’s visits, she would give each of us a cardboard gift box, containing a few treats and little toys. Those boxes were treasures to me then and, in my memory, still are.

As an adult when I visited, Nana would hunt in her closet or jewelry box for something to give me. Having been the youngest of her grandchildren for a long time, there wasn’t much left for me to choose from.

“I’m sorry I haven’t got anything nicer. If I did, it would be yours,” I remember her saying while handing me a stone ring.

Anything that came from her was a gift, and everything of hers I will cherish for all of my life.

I have a black and white picture of Berine Gorani and my grandfather Assad, sitting at an outdoor restaurant terrace, dated 1958. Nana is wearing a white dress and four rows of pearls, leaning forward into the camera, smiling a tight-lipped smile, with a playful spark in her eye.

That was the Syria of long ago, when the scintillating possibility for a better future gave my grandparents’ generation some hope.

There was the hope for political stability and freedom, the hope of opening their country to the outside world, of rewarding its youth with work and opportunity. Before young Syrians, including a vast majority of my mother’s generation and their children, were forced to leave the region to study and work. Today, my family is peppered on four continents.

Berine Gorani’s generation is gone now. She was its last survivor. My Nana died on August 1, 2009. On that day, for me, a part of Syria died too.

By Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama has decided to send a U.S. ambassador back to Syria, a dramatic sign of reconciliation between the two countries, senior administration officials tell CNN. The announcement is expected to be made this week.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, left, welcomes U.S. envoy George Mitchell in Damascus on June 13.

"It's in our interests to have an ambassador in Syria, a senior administration official told CNN Tuesday night. "We have been having more and more discussions, and we need to have someone there to engage."

The official said that the decision was not in any way related to the election crisis in Iran, although the Obama administration has maintained engaging the Syrian regime could weaken Syria's strategic alliance with Iran.

Syrian Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha said his country had not formally been notified of the decision, but told CNN if this is true, it reflects the genuine desire by the United States to correct the past efforts of the Bush administration and engage Syria.

It's good for the United States, it's good for Syria and it's good for the region, Moustapha said. Read full story

Syria's Tourism Ministry will hold a festival June 28-30 marking the end of the Year of St. Paul the Apostle.

Vatican's official logo for the Year of St. Paul.

Pope Benedict XVI announced June 2008 – June 2009 as the "Year of St. Paul" marking 2000 years since the birth of the apostle who, it is believed, converted to Christianity on the road Damascus.

Events will include masses in various churches and monasteries around Syria and joint Islamic-Christian activities.

If you ever happen to walk around the popular Hamidiyeh souk in Damascus, Syria, make sure you visit one of the lingerie shops. Their locally-designed and produced offerings might surprise you. Customers range from young wives-to-be preparing their wedding night with the help of their knowledgeable mothers, but also older women looking for ways to keep their marriage young.

A pair of battery operated novelty underwear at a shop in the popular Hamadiyeh souk in Damascus

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images.

Knickers decorated with singing canaries.

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images.

Bold and slightly racy?

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images.

A selection of honey and chocolate flavoured panties.

LOUAI BESHARA/AFP/Getty Images.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter traveled to Syria over the week-end and met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

"I don't have any doubt that the situation will improve between the United States and Syria after we have a new president," said Carter. "It's my hope that we can also see full diplomatic relations and friendship restored between Damascus and Washington at an early day in the new year."

Carter arrived in Syria from Lebanon where he met with political leaders and offered his organization's assistance in monitoring elections there next year.

Perhaps most controversial is Carter's meeting in Damascus with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. It's his second meeting with Meshaal in the last year.

The location of the meeting was unsurprisingly kept secret.

The former U.S. president said he intends to continue to meet with the militant group's leader because peace requires open dialogue, he said.

What do you think of Carter's peace initiatives in the region?

(Photo Getty Images)