Mansour: Not Joining Arab Observers Aims at Dissociating Lebanon from Syrian Crisis

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said on Wednesday that Lebanon decided not to participate in the Arab League observer mission in Syria in order to “dissociate” itself from the crisis.

“Prime Minister Najib Miqati decided after discussing the issue with President Michel Suleiman not to participate in the mission,” Mansour told As Safir newspaper.

He reiterated the premier’s decision not to send 10 observers to Syria as part of the Arab League team aims at avoiding any “meddling in the internal affairs of an Arab country.”

Mansour noted to the daily that the decision taken by Lebanon was in order to “avoid entering in the Arab disputes.”

In November, Lebanon voted against suspending Syria's membership in the 22-state Arab League and opposed the group's decision to impose unprecedented sanctions on Damascus.

The Arab League mission kicked off its Syria tour Tuesday in the protest hub of Homs following reports that 34 people had been killed in 24 hours in and around one of the main hubs of nine months of protest.

The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that calls for the withdrawal of security forces from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.

Since signing the deal, the Assad regime has been accused of intensifying a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests, which have shown no signs of abating since they erupted in mid-March.

The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have lost their lives.