28/12/2010 Syrian President Bachar Assad likened the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s anticipated indictment to the 'May 17 scheme, in reference to former President Amine Gemayel’s ‘peace’ agreement with Israel in 1983 which was thwarted by Lebanese national forces.
The Lebanese daily As-Safir quoted “well informed sources” as saying that Assad had revealed that Syrian-Saudi efforts to defuse the Lebanese crisis over the STL indictment (in martyr Rafiq Hariri’s assassination) “has reached a near- final conclusion, but the delay in announcing it was due to Saudi King Abdullah’s health condition and his travel to the US for treatment.” According to the newspaper, the Syrian president said that succeeding in facing the “politicized indictment and curbing the repercussions of the STL on the situation in Lebanon would be an essential achievement tantamount to thwarting the May 17 agreement; a message Assad related to PM Saad Hariri.”
The well informed source” also told As-Safir that the Americans had spared no effort to stop King Abdullah from moving forward with his ‘good effort’ with Syria.
It pointed out that during phone conversations with King Abdullah in the US, Assad used avoid speaking directly in the Lebanese question fearing US eavesdropping, and that the Syrian president had used codes to relate certain political ideas or suggestions.”
IRAN WARNS AGAINST STL ‘IT’S TO SOW DIFFERENCES AND BENEFIT ISRAEL’
Meanwhile, Iranian Security Council chief assistant Ali Baqeri said during a visit to Damascus that ‘stability in Lebanon depends on consolidating national unity and the resistance…Any attempt or move to harm this national unity or the resistance would only serve enemy plots.’
“Lebanon’s enemies are targeting stability in Lebanon, but we believe that the awareness of all parties and confessions in the country would stop these known sides from achieving their evil goals,’ Baqeri said Monday in a press conference at the Iranian embassy in Damascus.
In Tehran, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned Monday that the STL has become “a political tool” and that “those who are following up issues related to the court are not seeking the truth (behind Hariri’s assassination).”
Mehmanparast added that “US support to establish the STL further uncovers the court’s political dimensions…When the court is intended to turn into a political tool for exploitation, then it loses its legitimacy. The main purpose of the STL is to sow differences between Islamic nations and to weaken the resistance, and Israel is the main side to benefit from this.”
BOLTON DEALS BLOW TO MARCH 14, PROVES STL’S DISREGARD OF SECRECY
Former US Ambassador the United Nations John Bolton confirmed Mehmanparast’s concerns.
Speaking to the London-based pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, he revealed that STL prosecutor Danielle Bellemare will release the indictment soon adding that “it is almost certain the prominent Syrian officials and Hezbollah members will be accused of the (Hariri) crime.”
Bolton dealt a severe blow to his March 14 allies in Lebanon, who have been frequently defending the STL’s professionalism and secrecy by revealing his knowledge of who will the indictment accuse.
He also expected an eruption of war between “Hezbollah and Israel” in light of the indictment, adding that Syria could take part in that war.
"Resistance will determine future of Middle East"
"... "We believe resistance will determine the future of this region," Baqeri said in a press statement after his meeting with Assad. "There are many countries in the region which believe resistance is the way to solve the region's problems, and at the center of this view are Syria and Iran," Baqeri added.
Baqeri held separate meetings with the Islamic Jihad Movement Ramadan and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Iranian news agency Al-Fars reported.
Baqeri is also reported to have met with senior Hamas officials in Damascus, as well as Hussein Khalil, a political aide to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah...."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 11:25 AM
"... Reports that Saudi Arabia and Syria had persuaded Lebanese leaders to reject an assassination tribunal's findings are baseless, a lawmaker said...
Ammar Houri, a lawmaker in Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri's March 14 coalition, told Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper there was nothing to support reports of a deal brokered by Syria and Saudi Arabia....."
Posted by G, Z, or B at 5:35 PM
Uprooted Palestinian
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