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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Bush banned entry to US for Syrians with Lebanon links

2007-06-30

President George W. Bush on Friday banned entry to the United States by Syrian and Lebanese officials whom Washington accuses of undermining the Lebanese government, the White House said. The list of Syrian officials the United States considers to have meddled in Lebanon includes Assef Shawkat, Syria's director of military intelligence ( brother-in-law of president Bashar el-Assad), Hisham Ikhtiyar, adviser to President Assad and the former head of Syria's security apparatus in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazali , Juma'a Juma'a, top Syrian military intelligence official, according to information provided by the White House. The list of the Lebanese who are banned entry includes the four former Lebanese ministers - Abdel-Rahim Mrad, Assad Hardan, Assem Qanso and Michel Samaha, Wiam Wahhab and former MP Nasser Qandil The U.S. move followed repeated calls by Washington for Damascus to stop fomenting instability in Lebanon.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Key MPs advocate release of Dinnieh detainees

2005-04-18

A pressing law proposal advocating the release of the Dinnieh detainees was submitted to Parliament on Friday by MPs Abdel-Rahim Mrad, Najib Mikati, Jamal Ismail and Saleh Kheir. The Dinnieh clashes between the Lebanese Army and the extremist Usbat al-Ansar group occurred in Northern Lebanon in early 2000. This is a little dated. It was before Karami resigned the second time. Mikati's the new PM. Usbat al-Ansar remnants have figured largely in the festivities that pop up now and then in Ein el-Hellhole. The families of the detainees had asked Prime Minister Omar Karami in February to help release their sons. The delegation said it had presented evidence to the prime minister showing the detainees were innocent and that the participants in the clashes had been killed during the fighting. "Yeah. All the bad guys are dead! Our boys were just in the wrong place at the wrong time..." Commenting on this issue, Jamal Ismail said: "In the wake of the exceptional situation the country is going through, we submit this pressing law proposal to Parliament again, calling for the release of all the detainees held since the Dinnieh clashes." Ismail added the detainees should be released in order to "open a new page in relations between the Lebanese people and the government" and to promote national unity, justice and equality. "We might need a few trained gunnies to call upon in the immediate future, y'know!" Ismail further said the Lebanese should "turn the page on the past," and called for the return of former Army Commander General Michel Aoun to Lebanon so that he can "carry out his national role in the Lebanese political arena."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon appoints moderate ally of Syria as New PM

2005-04-16

BEIRUT - Lebanon's president appointed moderate ally of Syria Najib Mikati as prime minister-designate on Friday after the anti-Syrian opposition unexpectedly backed him to lead the country into a general election set for May. Mikati won the nomination of the country's 128-member parliament as a compromise candidate in a close race with outgoing Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad, a staunch ally of Damascus. Ah, the lesser of two weevils won out. Prime Minister Omar Karami stepped down on Wednesday after he failed to agree a cabinet, first with the anti-Syrian opposition and then with pro-Syrian allies. 'I hope I can survive embody national unity,' Mikati told reporters after being appointed by President Emile Lahoud. He said he could begin consultations to form a government on Saturday. 'We are facing an important stage ... the return of democracy,' said Mikati, a wealthy 49-year-old businessman and a friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Does Babyface have any 'friends'? The political crisis has threatened to delay the elections, much to the ire of anti-Syrian opposition lawmakers who believe the polls would give them a majority in a chamber now dominated by allies of Damascus. But Mikati's appointment with the backing of the opposition could revive hopes of the polls being held on time. Unlike veteran politician Karami, Mikati does not hail from one of Lebanon's political dynasties and so carries less political clout baggage, rendering him a compromise choice palatable to both anti-Syrian opposition figures and pro-Syrian loyalists. 'We welcome the naming of a prime minister. We expect to see both an expeditious formation of a Lebanese cabinet as well as parliamentary elections being held by the end of May without delays,' said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. 'Lebanon must be allowed to determine its own future free of intimidation and all foreign interference.' Mikati must quickly form a government, win a confidence vote in parliament, draft an election law and get it passed by the assembly all in under two weeks to have any chance of holding the polls before the end of May. He said his priorities were survival holding the polls, keeping his head attached to his neck cooperating fully with an international inquiry into Hariri's killing and returning to his wife and kids alive confidence to an economy shaken by his death. The Sunni Muslim former transport minister did not say whether he expected the elections to take place on time.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Damascus, Beirut hold summit to kick off Lebanon pullback

2005-03-07

DAMASCUS - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud were to hold a summit in Damascus on Monday to mark the start of a pullback of Syrian troops in its tiny neighbour. Lebanon's outgoing Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad said Sunday that the Syrian military would start the much-awaited troop redeployment to the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon after the summit. A Lebanese presidential spokesman said the meeting of the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council, with Lebanon's outgoing premier, Omar Karameh, and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri also taking part, was due to start at midday (1000 GMT). On Saturday, Assad said the supreme council would "approve the withdrawal plan and then we will have fulfilled our obligations under the Taef accord and under (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559." The Syrian president has not made clear whether the troops would cross over into Syria once they had reached the border, prompting calls from Washington and Paris for an unambiguous pledge for an immediate and full withdrawal. The United States said it would keep up the pressure for a complete Syrian withdrawal in line with Resolution 1559, which was passed last September. The offer made so far by Assad was "half-hearted" and in "complete contradiction" to the Security Council resolution, White House director of communications Dan Bartlett said Sunday. He urged the Syrian government "to withdraw its troops and, more importantly, or just as importantly, withdraw its security secret services as well". However, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, head of Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah, said Sunday after a meeting of pro-Syrian groups that they opposed an immediate withdrawal as Lebanon was still in a "state of war" with Israel. "And those Israelis could kill me!" he added. Assad, in an interview with Time magazine released Sunday, insisted he should not be compared to Iraq's ousted president Saddam Hussein and said that he wanted to cooperate with international demands. "Please send this message: I am not Saddam Hussein. I want to live cooperate."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

UN sets April deadline for Syrian pullout

2005-02-25

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned Syria it must withdraw all its forces from Lebanon by April in the latest escalation of tension between the international community and Damascus. The hardening of attitude comes as Syria said it will "redeploy" all of the 15,000 troops it has stationed in Lebanon to the country's eastern border with Syria in a last ditch attempt to defuse increasing international pressure against it. Foreign Minster Deputy Walid Moallem said Syria was willing to cooperate with the UN but insisted again that any withdrawal would be carried out in line with the 1989 Taif Accord and not through UN Resolution 1559 which calls for all foreign troops to leave Lebanon. Moallem said: "The important withdrawals that have been implemented so far, and those that will follow will be carried out in agreement with Lebanon based on the 1989 Taif Accord and the mechanism it contains." But in an interview to be shown later Friday with Dubai-based Al-Arabiyya television, the UN chief warned that "the Security Council would take measures against Syria if it does not implement the resolution." Al-Arabiyya added that Annan called for "a full withdrawal of the troops deployed in Lebanon, not a redeployment to the east of the country." But Annan's comments came as Lebanese Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Mrad said there would be no complete or immediate withdrawal. Mrad said: "A decision has been made for Syrian troops to pull back from Lebanon's coast and mountains toward the Syrian border in Bekaa but we cannot give any timeline." He added: "We cannot create a security vacuum."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon protests UN probe into Hariri killing

2005-02-20

Lebanon's embattled government said yesterday that it wanted an explanation from the United Nations of its decision to appoint a commission of inquiry into the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri and hit out at France over opposition calls for an "uprising". Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad said his government was poised to boycott the UN probe, a move likely to put Lebanon on a collision course with both the former mandatory power and the United States, which have demanded an independent investigation into the bombing, in which 14 other people also died. The decision to protest to the United Nations followed a meeting between Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud, Justice Minister Adnan Addoum and presidential adviser Georges Dib, a foreign ministry official said. Asked earlier if the government would work with the UN inquiry to be headed by senior Irish police officer Deputy Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, the defence minister said: "I do not think so." "This issue was proposed by the opposition and we did not agree on that," Mrad told state television, saying the government had not even been notified by the world body as to the commission's terms of reference. He took particular issue with Fitgerald's appointment, saying that Beirut should have been given a veto over the choice. "This issue is up to the council of ministers and chiefly the prime minister," he said. Mrad vowed that the security forces would clamp down on any illegal demonstrations following the opposition's call for a wave of sit-ins against his government. "We will not allow any security breaches," he said. More than 40 of Lebanon's 128 MPs called on the international community on Friday to back their peaceful "uprising for independence" and accused the government and its political masters in Damascus of having a hand in Hariri's assassination. Prime Minister Omar Karameh struck back, accusing the opposition of "planning a coup d'etat" but adding that his government remained open to "dialogue". Information Minister Elie Firzli accused French President Jacques Chirac, who attended Hariri's private funeral here Wednesday, of having a direct hand in the opposition's campaign. "Chirac made himself a direct party to lead the battle on the Lebanese scene," Firzli charged. Mrad lashed out at a French government advisory warning nationals against all non-essential travel to Lebanon in a new blow to the fledgling recovery of its tourism industry. The Hizbollah warned the opposition not to go down a path that would only prompt counter demonstrations by Damascus's supporters in Lebanon.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hariris snub government overtures

2005-02-16

Lebanese opposition leader Walid Jumblatt and Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir stood together to receive condolences alongside the sons of assassinated former Premier Rafik Hariri at his Qoreitem residence in Beirut on Tuesday. The unprecedented show of solidarity from the two most prominent opposition leaders came as the former premier's family told the Lebanese government to stay away from the funeral, and that relatives would not allow the event to be turned into a state occasion. "The family does not wish the government to attend the funeral," one family member told The Daily Star. Golly. I wonder who they blame for his death? Underlining this breach with the government, which opposition politicians have alleged was behind the murder, Hariri's family refused to answer telephone calls from Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh, a Hariri security source told The Daily Star. Fouad Siniora, a former finance minister and close Hariri colleague, said the family has "categorically and definitively refused" that Wednesday morning's funeral be organized by the state. He nonetheless said he expected "a massive public turnout" and demanded that authorities ensure people's security and safety. I suspect that's going to be the case. In the midst of grief mixed with emotional protests and political exploits, opposition leaders reiterated their claims that Syria was behind the murder - escalating an already tense standoff with both Damascus and the pro-Syrian Lebanese government. After a meeting at Hariri's family home, the anti-Syrian opposition hardened its stance and called for the government to resign and for Syrian troops to quit Lebanon before the May parliamentary elections. In a statement issued at Qoreitem, Jumblatt, the leader of the Democratic Gathering, said: "The present government had declared that Hariri, (myself) and the rest of the opposition leaders were traitors and Israeli collaborators. By this logic, murdering us one by one became permissible." 'Twas Wally who was named as a candidate for the boneyard along with Hariri the other day. Calling the assassination "a crime against humanity," Jumblatt called for an "international force" to protect and safeguard the Lebanese people, who "do not feel safe in a Syrian or Lebanese police state." Sorry, Wally. Been there, done that. If we come back, we'll be there for a thorough housecleaning. Maybe the Frenchies would like to throw in a few of their marines? Defense Minister Abdel-Rahim Mrad hit back at Jumblatt, saying: "The Lebanese people did not permit Jumblatt to speak on their behalf. We stick with the [1989] Taif Accord, which regulates Lebanon's relations with foreign countries." Pretty impolitic for a politician, though that's pretty much the usual level of discourse in Lebanon... Beirut MP Mohammed Qabbani, a member of Hariri's parliamentary bloc, was more conciliatory, saying: "Under this roof, conflicting points of view were freely exchanged. We heard statements from Hizbullah's deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, a statement of U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman and from Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam." Feltman again called for an international investigation into Hariri's death to "find the guilty and punish them." Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah appeared to favor such a move. During his Ashoura speech he said: "We don't object to getting foreign help with the investigation, but it should remain under the control of the Lebanese government." "That's so it can be... ummm... controlled."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Israel threatens 'unlimited' attacks against Lebanon

2005-01-22

Israel has threatened "unlimited" military retaliation against Lebanon if Hizbullah attacks into the Shebaa Farms continue. Israel's powerful Security Cabinet, which includes senior members of the Israeli government including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, warned it will order the army to take "serious military action" in Lebanon if Hizbullah attacks continued. Following the meeting, an Israeli official, who declined to be identified, said: "The military has no limitation to act if the situation deteriorates further." Lebanon's Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad was unavailable for comment. The warning comes at the same time as UN secretary general Kofi Annan issued a report which blamed Hizbullah for the increased tension along the southern border, but also warned Israel against its current policy of allowing military aircraft to fly over Lebanon. Annan's report comes in the wake two separate attacks launched by the resistance group into the Shebaa Farms in the last fortnight which led to the death of a UN peacekeeper. Presenting his report to the UN security council, Annan said: "The resumption of military measures, for which Hizbullah took credit, asserting its claimed prerogative to resist Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory by force, is disturbing." But he added: "If Israel carries on with its policy of flying over Lebanon whenever it sees fit, it risks provoking retaliatory acts from the Lebanese side." He added he was "greatly troubled by the disregard shown for the safety and security of the unarmed UN military observers." Annan recommended that the mandate of the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which monitors all military activity on the border between Lebanon and Israel, be extended for six month, until July 31. Commenting on Israel's warning, Tyre MP Abdullah Qassir, who is also a member of Hizbullah Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc, said: "This is not the first time Israel has threatened Lebanon with military actions." He added: "As long as there are Lebanese territories under occupation, we will keep up our struggle. We are not intimidated by Israeli threats."

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Syria-Lebanon

Mrad heaps praise on Syrian approach to Mideast conflict

2003-05-14

Lebanese Minister of State Abdel-Rahim Mrad praised Syria’s stand in the Middle East conflict on Tuesday. Mrad was speaking in Baalbek at a celebration marking the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday, held by Dar al-Fatwa and attended by both Sunni and Shiite religious leaders, in addition to a number of local personalities. He said Syria’s leadership was the only regional force with an “effective voice” that can impose conditions for dialogue, reject external conditions and seek the liberation of occupied land instead of bargaining for it. He thinks using the Syrian army and kicking the Israelis out is a better option than negotiating with them...

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