Hariri: There Had Been Mistakes with Syria...Sedition in Lebanon Rejected

Nada Raad

23/07/2010 The Lebanese Prime minister Saad Hariri recognized that he had committed many errors in his relation with Syria during the last five years, and described the bilateral relations with Damascus as "serious, correct, fraternal, irrevocable, and based on real consultations with Syrian president Bachar Assad".

In his press conference Thursday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah called on so called March 14 leaders to make a review of their stances and admit their mistakes in the past five years; mistakes, he added, that could have led Lebanon and the Lebanese to the abyss of civil war.

Hariri, who was speaking to Al Hayat newspaper, said that he made a thorough revision to his relation with Syria, and called for drawing lessons from the past to build a better future. "I've learned a lot of things in the last five years, and the most important thing is to be sincere with ourselves and with other people. If we stay looking at the past, we'll not go forward".

The Lebanese prime minister refused to accuse Syria in interfering in Lebanese affairs, saying that "Syria, like many other Arab countries, receives political figures, and it's very normal. I think that the last Syrian interference was positive, because after its consensus with Saudi Arabia, we successfully achieved the national unity government".

According to Hariri, the Lebanese stability comforts Syria, adding that he doesn't have any problem to dialogue with anyone, at any moment, and over any subject.

On the other hand, Hariri confirmed that he will react as the Lebanese prime minister of Lebanon and the son of Rafiq Hariri when the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will issue its indictment. “Certainly, I'll put the national interest at the top level of importance, and the national interest is to know the truth about the assassination of my father.”

Sayyed Nasrallah said during his press conference Thursday that Hariri had told him the the STL will issue an indictment that will implicate “undisciplined members of Hezbollah,” something the Secretary General categorically rejected.

Speaking to Al-Hayat, Hariri rejected division in Lebanon and assured that all the Lebanese people will stay united together in front of all schemes of sedition, division, and Israeli threats.

Hariri needs Nasrallah for his survival

Haaretz/ here

".... highly unlikely that Hezbollah operatives would have been involved in such an incident without the senior leadership's knowledge.

But Hariri's political survival depends on Hezbollah's acquiescence, something evidently more important to him than his family honor. He may also have concluded that if he supports the international probe, he will share his father's fate - or, alternatively, that doing so could risk renewed civil war between Hezbollah and his own March 14 movement. In such a face-off, Hezbollah would certainly win. Thus Hariri hopes to resolve the problem by distinguishing between the operatives and the organization........ Nasrallah denied yesterday than any of his people were involved, and lashed out at Hariri's party for "not considering the possibility that Israel was behind" the murder....."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 12:35 PM

Michael Young is still smoking some really, though different, good stuff....

Whatever happened to Syria, Syria, Syria?

"...In that context, a new attack against western Beirut seems absurd. Nor can Hizbullah attack the mountains, because Walid Jumblatt is now more or less on the party’s side. Destabilizing the government would also be difficult, unless Syria sees an interest in doing so to gain greater leverage over Hariri. But for Hizbullah to bring down the government is much trickier. The Hariri government is, above all, the fruit of a Syrian-Saudi compromise. Hizbullah doesn’t have the latitude to damage relations between Riyadh and Damascus.

So there is not much Nasrallah can do, except rely on Syria ........... Bashar Assad seeks to return Lebanon entirely to the Syrian fold, and indictments would open doors allowing him to play on Lebanese divisions to Syria’s advantage.

Nasrallah is caught in another bind as well. His foremost task, as defined by his relationship with Iran, is to prepare Lebanon for the possibility of a conflict with Israel in the event of an attack against Iranian nuclear facilities. He has largely succeeded on that front. Hizbullah has rearmed, has managed to neutralize serious opposition to its weapons from within the government, and largely controls the activities of the Lebanese Army in southern Lebanon, not to say the major decisions taken by the army’s intelligence service....

Maybe Nasrallah is being too hasty in incriminating his own party."

Posted by G, Z, or B at 12:23 PM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian