Assad from France: We Won’t Present Initiative End Crisis Even Though Lebanese are Incapable of Settling it

Sources close to the Elysee Palace revealed on Friday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad affirmed to his French counterpart Nicola Sarkozy that Syria will not present an initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis even though he is aware that the Lebanese are unable to reach a settlement themselves.

Al-Balad French reported the sources as saying that the meeting between Sarkozy and Assad focused on the need for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to continue its work.

France also voiced its concern over the obstruction of the Lebanese government’s functioning, stressing the importance of Lebanon’s stability and security through the French unit in the United Nations Force in Lebanon.

Furthermore, Sarkozy emphasized that his country is closely monitoring the developments in Lebanon.

Assad said Thursday that no one wants civil strife in Lebanon, amid tensions ahead of indictments over the 2005 assassination of former Lebanon Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

"No one wants there to be clashes, fitna (strife within the Muslim community), between Lebanese," Assad said after lunchtime talks with Sarkozy centered on Lebanon, for decades dominated by Syria.

Pro-Saudi billionaire Hariri was assassinated in a massive car bombing in Beirut that also killed another 22 people, and a U.N.-backed tribunal tasked with finding who was responsible has said it will issue indictments "very soon."

The killing led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops who had been in neighboring Lebanon since the end of the devastating 1975-1990 civil war.

Several foreign media have reported that the tribunal will indict members of the powerful Shiite group, Hizbullah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, in connection with the murder.

Hizbullah, which fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel, has warned any such accusation would have grave repercussions in Lebanon.

Assad traveled to Saudi Arabia in October to discuss Middle East tensions heightened by the U.N. probe into the Hariri killing.

"We (Syrians) don't want to intervene, we don't want to interfere in an internal Lebanese situation," Assad said.

"There is a Saudi-French coordinated effort that has been carried out months ago and there is coordination between Syria and France," he explained.

"There is no Syrian-French initiative, however," Assad insisted in response to a question.

"Consequently the solution can only be Lebanese. It can be neither Syrian, nor Saudi, nor French."