18/01/2011 One week following the announcement of the death of the Saudi-Syrian efforts to resolve the Lebanese crisis and defuse the tensions in the country, another initiative seems to have started…
The initiative, unclear until the moment, saw birth on Monday in Damascus where the leaders of Syria, Turkey and Qatar met and expressed commitment to a solution to the Lebanese crisis based on Syrian-Saudi good will.
In a continuation for the initiative, Turkish and Qatari Foreign Ministers were in Beirut on Tuesday where they held consultations with Lebanese officials and leaders, focused on the ways to reach understanding among Lebanese and prevent escalation of the situation, a few days after the collapse of the Lebanese government headed by Saad Hariri due to the resignation of more than one third of its members.
The intensive diplomatic activity in Lebanon also came after the Special Tribunal for Lebanon announced that Prosecutor-General Daniel Bellemare has submitted the draft indictment for the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri to the Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen, in a move expected to increase tensions.
TURKEY, QATAR IN LEBANON
As expected, Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in Beirut Tuesday for talks with Lebanon's top leaders on a possible solution to the political crisis in the country.
The two diplomats kicked off talks at the Baabda Presidential Palace where they met President Michel Sleiman. They did not make any statements after the meeting. Sheikh Hamad and Davutoglu then headed to Ain al-Tineh for talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, where the latter said that issues are being studied, always within the Saudi-Syrian framework. They will meet next with the head of the caretaker government Saad Hariri.
The Qatari and Turkish officials arrived from Damascus where they participated in a Turkish-Qatari-Syrian summit meeting on the Lebanese crisis on Monday, where the leaders of Syria, Turkey and Qatar agreed to back mediation efforts by Syria and Saudi Arabia.
ASSAD RECEIVES QAHWAJI
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad received in Damascus Lebanon’s Army chief General Jean Qahwaji and discussed with him the role of the Lebanese army in consolidating security and stability in Lebanon.
According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), Assad and Qahwaji also discussed during their meeting in Damascus ties between the Syrian and Lebanese militaries.
On Monday, Qahwaji assured UNIFIL commander Major General Alberto Asarta that current circumstances should not affect the situation in south Lebanon. "Whatever the circumstances Lebanon is going through, they should not affect the internal situation in the south or UNIFIL's area of operations," Qahwaji told Asarta during a meeting at his office in Yarze.
IRAN’S SALEHI DISCUSSES LEBANON IN TURKEY
The regional concerns over Lebanon continued, meanwhile, to be raised here and there…
In this context, Iran’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was in Ankara on Tuesday where he discussed the Lebanese crisis with Turkish officials.
Iranian news agencies ISNA and Fars said Salehi's talks with Turkish officials will tackle the latest political developments in Lebanon after last week's collapse of its government.
The visit follows a telephone call from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday in which the Iranian leader called for a quick solution to Lebanon's political crisis.
AL KEEN ON CONSOLIDATING UNITY IN LEBANON
In a related statement, Director of the Arab League secretary-general's office Hisham Youssef said on Tuesday that the AL was keen on consolidating security and national unity in Lebanon and stressed the importance of resumption of dialogue to solve pending issues.
Youssef told Saudi daily Okaz that the 22-member body is keeping contacts with all Arab sides to follow up developments in Lebanon.
He unveiled that Arab foreign ministers held an extraordinary meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss the "important developments in the Arab region which require coordination and intense Arab-Arab consultations."
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Uprooted Palestinian
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