Eighteen people, including nine Lebanese soldiers, were killed in a bomb attack yesterday only hours before the leaders of Lebanon and Syria agreed to establish diplomatic ties at a ground-breaking summit in Damascus.

After decades of mutual suspicion and repeated Syrian military interventions in Lebanon, President Suleiman of Lebanon and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria announced that they would staff embassies in each other’s capitals for the first time since Lebanon gained independence 65 years ago.

Mr Suleiman’s trip to Damascus was his first visit as head of state since his election in May after violent clashes in Beirut. Today he is expected to hold talks with President Assad, his Syrian opposite number, who has defied critics inside his Government to host the meeting. Many Syrians oppose diplomatic relations with Beirut, arguing that Lebanon is an integral part of a greater Syria and is not a foreign country.

In that respect diplomatic relations represent an important symbolic concession by Syria. It will be seen as further evidence that Damascus is moving towards improving relations with the Arab world and its international standing. Syria has been involved in talks with Israel via Turkish intermediaries and there are hopes that it will seek to repair relations with the West while cooling ties with Iran and militant groups.

In theory, the full recognition of Lebanese sovereignty should prevent future military incursions by the Syrian Army, common since 1976, which led to de facto Syrian occupation until 2005.

But the bombing in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, in which 45 people were wounded, was a reminder of the remaining obstacles to peace in the region. It was the deadliest attack on the army since a battle with al-Qaeda-inspired militants last year.

The bomb had been placed in a bag at a bus stop where soldiers usually gather, the Lebanese Army said, describing the attack as a “terrorist bombing” – a phrase used by the military when it suspects the involvement of militant Islamists.

The bomb, which appears to have been detonated by remote control, struck in the morning rush hour, not long before Mr Suleiman left for Damascus. The explosion sent shrapnel through a bus and the pavement, which was crowded with people heading for work. The bus, which was travelling from Akkar, a region north of Tripoli where many military personnel live, was left pockmarked with holes and its windows blown out. Soldiers and bystanders carried away the wounded.

Sami Moubayed, a Syrian professor with government links, said of the Damascus meeting: “It’s an important event, especially since it comes after several years of tension between the two sides. Following independence from French colonial rule six decades ago there had never been an exchange of ambassadors.”

Syria condemned the bombing within hours and for once there have been few suggestions that the Damascus Government was behind it.

“Syria strongly denounces the criminal act perpetrated this morning in Tripoli that killed many innocent civilians,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Syria expresses its regrets and condolences to the families of the victims and affirms its sympathy and solidarity with brother Lebanon in the face of all those who are manipulating its security and stability.”

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack in Lebanon’s second-largest city, which has been the scene of fighting between security forces and Islamist militants and sectarian violence linked to political tension in Lebanon.

Mr Suleiman was army chief before he was elected President in May.

War and peace

1975 Lebanon erupts in civil war. Syrian troops move in to keep peace the following year

1989 General Michel Aoun declares a “war of liberation” against the Syrian presence

1990 Civil war ends

February 2005 Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is assassinated

March 2005 Exit of Syrian troops ends 29-year military presence

May 2008 General Michel Suleiman is elected President

Source: Times archive

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