Feltman to Lebanon: "Sever your ties to Syria or be as isolated!"

Via FLC

"... Visiting Beirut last week, the State Department's Middle East envoy, Jeffrey D. Feltman, bluntly warned Lebanese officials that the tide had turned against the autocratic four-decade-old Damascus regime and urged them to distance themselves from a nation that has long been a major player in Lebanese political life, a Western diplomat and Lebanese officials said. "There is no return back to the bad old days. Syria is going to change," a source with knowledge of the talks said, characterizing the U.S. message to Lebanon. Also seeking to influence the cast of a new government in Beirut, Feltman warned that Lebanese leaders "risk being as isolated as Syria," which he characterized as "potentially the North Korea of the Middle East," said the source, who requested anonymity because of the private nature of the talks... ...

Feltman, who arrived in Beirut late Thursday and left early Saturday, delivered his message to Mikati, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, Hariri aide Mohammad Chatah and President Michel Suleiman, who has repeatedly called for "stability" in Syria in what many perceive as vocal support for Assad's regime. "Suleiman is playing up the fear of a Christian genocide," said a Western diplomat in Lebanon, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record to journalists. American officials are concerned that Lebanese ambivalence on the Syrian uprising has resulted in refugees and defecting Syrian soldiers being sent back home...."

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 11:09 AM

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