Syria and Hizbullah will now redouble Efforts to Bring down Lebanese Government!
October 20, 2007
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
The recent announcement that the Lebanese government will allow the U.S. to reactivate an old Air Base in northern Lebanon for their use, and the article which follows, is putt
ing Syria and Hizbullah unto a new frenzy to topple the existing government as quickly as possible before it gains strength through the efforts of a union with America. Syria and Hizbullah have been assassinating anti-Syrian delegates of the Lebanese Parliament at an alarming rate, such that its majority has been cut to a razor thin edge.
The second Article from the Lebanese Daily Star was received during the morning hours after the previous paragraph was written. It also shows the intensity of Syria’s purposes in deposing the present Lebanese government to replace it with one controlled by Hizbullah.
Begin Jerusalem Post Article 1
Hizbullah slams US call for “strategic partnership” with LAF
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST
October 19, 2007
Hizbullah on Friday denounced a senior Pentagon official’s call for a US “strategic partnership” with Lebanon’s army, saying American attempts to boost military ties were a ploy for domination and could turn the country into another Iraq.
Washington has dramatically increased military aid to Lebanon’s pro-Western government over the past year. On Thursday, Eric Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, said the US wants to make military ties even closer, with a “strategic partnership” to strengthen the country’s forces.
Edelman said in an interview with Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television that the building up of the military would mean the Shiite Muslim guerrilla group Hizbullah would have no excuse to bear arms.
He comments c ame on the s
ame day that a Lebanese newspaper reported that Washington is proposing a treaty with Lebanon that would make it a strategic partner and lead to the creation of American bases.
The Lebanese government and the US ambassador in Beirut denied the report in the opposition-leaning As-Safir newspaper, and Edelman made no mention of bases in his comments.
The comments and the newspaper report brought quick condemnation from Hizbullah, which is an ally of Syria and Iran and leads Lebanon’s political opposition to the anti-Syrian government. The opposition, which is locked in a power struggle with the government, already accuses Prime Minister Fuad Saniora of being too close to the United States.
In a statement Friday, Hizbullah said the American efforts were “part of a comprehensive plan to link Lebanon with the American project for the region … under deceitful banners such as strategic partnership,” it said.
Hizbullah, which Washington accuses of being a terrorist organization, accused the United States of “interference” in Lebanese affairs, saying the American plans “and the dangers it encompass could turn the country into another Iraq.”
It did not elaborate. Some in Leb anon h
ave expressed fears that a foreign military presence could attract al-Qaida and other militants, as has happened in Iraq.
Syria, meanwhile, accused the United States of threatening Lebanon’s stability with its backing of the government in the country’s political turmoil. In a letter sent to the United Nations on Thursday, it said US interference “has so far deepened divisions” by “clearly and openly siding with one Lebanese side after the other.”
The United States – and anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon – accuse Damascus of fueling Lebanon’s instability with its backing of Hizbullah, and say Syria is trying to restore the political domination it held over Lebanon for nearly 30 years until 2005.
The opposition, in turn, accuses Saniora’s government – which came to power after the end of Syrian rule – of putting Lebanon in the US camp. The opposition has tried for months to remove his government and the two sides are in a dangerous deadlock over the choice of the country’s next president.
After last year’s war between Hizbullah and Israel, the United States sharply increased its military assistance to Lebanon to US$270 million in 2007 – more than five times the amount provided a year ago – in a show of support to Saniora.
The military in Lebanon has long been weak, numbering 56,000 personnel, with about 220 battle tanks, no effective air power and no air defense system. Hizbullah guerrillas are widely considered a stronger, more experienced force, and they were able to fight Lebanon’s military to a standstill last year.
Since the battle with Israel, Lebanese forces and UN peacekeepers have deployed in the south – Hizbullah’s stronghold – in part with a mandate to prevent new arms flows to the guerrillas. But they have not taken steps to disarm Hizbullah.
Asked whether helping the Lebanese army aimed at eventually taking on Hizbullah, Edelman said that as the army strengthens its capabilities “there will be less excuse for other armed groups to continue to bear arms.”
Begin Daily Star Article 2
Syria ‘open’ to diplomatic ties with Lebanon
Damascus ready to start relations with a ‘friendly’ new government
By Rym Ghazel
Daily Star Staff
Saturday, October 20, 2007
IRUT: Syria reiterated on Friday that it respects Lebanon’s independence and is ready to open diplomatic relations, but only if the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is replaced by a more courteous government. In a letter sent to UN chief Ban Ki-moon and published by the state-run news agency Thursday night, Syria said it respected Lebanese sovereignty and independence and was not interfering in Lebanon’s presidential elections.
The Syrian letter to the UN is a response to an earlier letter sent by Siniora to Ban last week in which the Lebanese government accused Syria of interfering in Lebanon’s internal stability and funding the Al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam group that was crushed by the Lebanese military two months ago.
“Lebanon requests the help of the Arab League and the UN to preserve its independence and stability
and to protect it from domestic and foreign dangers,” Siniora said in his letter to the UN and the Arab League.
Syria, which dominated its smaller neighbor from 1976 until 2005, has never established diplomatic relations since colonial power France granted Lebanon independence in 1943.
In addition to calling for a different Lebanese government, Syria also accused the United States of interfering in Lebanese internal politics, saying its bias for one side against the other threatens Lebanon’s security and stability.
“The well-known blatant foreign interference by a superpower, which has so far deepened divisions between the Lebanese … poses a direct threat to Lebanon’s security and stability because it [the US] is clearly and openly siding with one Lebanese side over the other,” the letter said.
The US openly backs the government of Siniora and Washington has recently seen several high-profile visits by politicians from the parliamentary majority. After meeting with the head of parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri, US President George W. Bush warned Syria last month against interfering in Lebanon’s presidential elections. http://www.dailystar.com.lb
In the letter, Syria also accused Siniora and his supporters of “harming Syria’s image” and provoking Western countries against it.
But how seriously the letter by Syria will be taken by the UN is a matter of speculation, with some experts viewing this as an attempt by Syria to show good “faith and face.”
“Syria will have to prove the credibility of its declaration,” political analyst Shafiq Masri told The Daily Star.
Masri noted that Syria currently is playing a “triple” track game, with its recent efforts with Turkey and Iran on the one hand, and the peace conference in the US and the Lebanese-Syrian relations.
“Syria is trying to regain its political power,” said Masri, “but before it can do that, it has to prove it means what it says.”
“The UN wants Syria to prove what it is saying as so far there is evidence that arms smuggling is ongoing along its borders,” said Masri.
Both the UN and US has called on Syria to implement resolutions 1559 and 1701, both demanding an end to arms smuggling to militant groups in Lebanon, particularly Hizbullah and the Palestinian militias.
At the same time, Syrian President Bashar Assad was quoted as telling the Al-Hayat newspaper on Friday that he supports “any consensus president that believes in having positive relations with Syria.”
Assad also warned that “any explosion” in Lebanon, or Iran or Palestine or Iraq, “will spread beyond the Middle East.”
“It could reach as far as Europe,” he said. – With agencies
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