BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri made a previously un-announced visit to Syria in the past 24 hours, during which he met President Bashar Assad and Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa in a bid to improve strained Lebanese-Syrian relations, according to most Beirut media reports Thursday.

It was Berri’s second visit to Damascus since May 7, when he met the Syrian leaders and managed to pave the way for a visit, which did not happen, by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. Media reports, including the daily An-Nahar noted today that Berri’s latest visit came only six days after a Syrian-Egyptian summit in Cairo and two days before the Lebanese national roundtable conference talks resume in Beirut to continue the discussion on a national defense strategy for Lebanon.

A statement issued by Berri’s office after his return home from Damascus Wednesday said no more than that the talks were “positive” and were moving from “good to better.”

An-Nahar noted that the breakthrough was due to a tacit agreement on both sides to “negotiate directly and without foreign interference” to mend fences between Lebanon and Syria.

Syrian officials made clear recently that Syria was resentful of Lebanon’s excessive reliance on the West (the United States, France and Britain) in its policy against Syria.

“Those (Lebanese) who wish to visit Syria should not go to Washington and Paris,” Syrian Information Minister Mohsin Bilal said in a press interview recently. President Assad said an interview with the international Arabic daily Al-Hayat this week that Lebanese house majority leader Saad Hariri, a staunch anti-Syrian Muslim Sunni MP, and Christian right-wing lawmaker Michel Aoun were welcome to visit Damascus.

An-Nahar reported Thursday that a high-ranking Lebanese government official is expected to go to Damascus soon as a result of Berri’s visit this week. The paper did not say who this official would be, but Prime Minister Siniora has been waiting for Syria’s invitation for several weeks.

Voice of Lebanon Radio Thursday morning said that Speaker Berri “has returned from Damascus with a surprise, which he will announce today at the roundtable conference.” It did not elaborate.

The conference, which has been meeting intermittently since March 2, will resume its discussion on a national defense strategy for Lebanon.

The meeting comes after a leading opposition figure, Christian MP Michel Aoun, told a news conference on Wednesday that roundtable talks were “futile, but we are obliged to pursue them to the end.”

Prime Minister Siniora commented on Aoun’s remark by saying that “national dialogue is the best and most effective way to solve our problems.”

Siniora also denied Aoun’s claim that public funds were being used to finance travels of the prime minister and his ministers.

“Mr. Aoun knows very well that I don’t use government money when I travel around,” Siniora said.

Siniora attended a meeting last night of the anti-Syrian March 14 Gathering follow-up committee headed by Saad Hariri’s majority bloc. The purpose of the meeting was to “coordinate position” on the eve of the roundtable conference.