Mansour Wants Syria to Retake Arab League Seat but Miqati Holds Onto Dissociation Policy
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour called on Wednesday for scrapping a decision to suspend the membership of Syria from the Arab League, drawing the ire of Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
Mansour called during a meeting of Arab foreign ministers held in Cairo for the "return of the Syrian government to its seat at the Arab League after Arab states failed to resolve the Syrian crisis."
“The decisions of the Arab League contributed to the rise of violence in Syria,” he said as he prepared to hand over the chairmanship of the Arab League Ministerial Council to Egypt.
But Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, snapped back at him, saying Syrian President “Bashar (Assad) is responsible for the bloodshed in Syria.”
Mansour later denied from Cairo that a quarrel had broken out between him and his Qatari counterpart, deeming the Egyptian media claims as an attempt to exaggerate the issue.
In a statement issued by his office following the foreign minister's move, Miqati said: “The Lebanese government is still abiding by the disassociation policy... It's the stance that it took after the Arab League decided to suspend Syria's membership.”
The premier stressed that the government's decision is “still valid.”
Miqati stressed on Monday that “the foreign minister does not express the stance of the government.”
“I don't agree at all with the stance of the foreign minister on Syria,” he said in a TV interview.
The Arab League suspended Syria in November 2011 as a sharp rebuke for Assad's leadership over its brutal crackdown on demonstrators seeking to topple his regime.
It said at the time the suspension would apply until Assad implemented an Arab deal to end violence against protesters.
A year later, the League recognized the Syrian National Coalition headed by Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib as the "legitimate representative and main interlocutor with the Arab League.
Mansour's call will also like draw the anger of President Michel Suleiman.
Al-Mustaqbal movement said Tuesday that Mansour, who is close to the Hizbullah-led March 8 majority alliance, has continuously ignored instructions by Suleiman and Miqati to file an official complaint with the Syrian regime over violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty.
The latest request was made by Miqati over the recent deadly shelling of border villages in the area of Tall Kalakh in the northern district of Akkar.
But Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali said following talks with Mansour at the foreign ministry that the Syrian army would continue to fire at potential rebel targets in Lebanon.
In December, Suleiman said it was the duty of the Lebanese foreign ministry to respond to accusations made by any diplomat.
Diplomats should abide by the protocol and the foreign ministry should reject being used as a forum for accusations launched against political leaderships that harm the country's sovereignty, he added.
06 March 2013, 16:28
67
m8 comes here spreading their lies asking for proofs :)
even with such proof, they will refuse this clear matter and ask us to wait for the judgment as they did for samaha.
they are all a bunch of killers, thieves, drug traffickers, money launderers, kidnappers,....
in short the scum of the earth, and they dare call themselves: ashraf elnass. :)
06 March 2013, 12:48
613
It should be obvious by now. Indeed, it should be obvious who many in m8 leadership work for.
06 March 2013, 12:56
412
he's supporting a party that has admitted sending fighters to help ASSad and wreaked havoc on the country in 2006 for deciding when we should go to war without getting approval from the state.
06 March 2013, 13:36
311
Mowaten - the party is the Hizb. A foreign minister does not express an opinion, especially at a summit meeting. He is supposed to express government policy! Lebanon national interest is not to be allied with the regime in syria, not to act as a forward base for iran, to have a unity of arm under state control. All of this is prevented by m8. As for oqab, if you have evidence against him present it to judiciary. There are after all many judges loyal to m8.
06 March 2013, 13:51
311
Mowaten - oqab fled lebanon for fear of being killed by those you support. Lebanese judiciary can file a case against a person in absentia. As for Hizb, they admitted having "members" fighting in syria - their claim is that they are protecting lebanese civilians in syria.
06 March 2013, 15:10
38
said some members have chosen to defend the 30,000 lebanese living in border village
you really think they have a choice? Common dude, I know you are a shill, but think about it. If they are out on their own, then it says that HA is weak and can't control its own members and they can't say that it is an official policy because that would put them at odds with the official disassociation stance. So, they say that they were allowed as an out.
06 March 2013, 15:52
37
Creepy avatar, as I said yesterday.... I hope no children are reading naharnet!
06 March 2013, 12:43
413
The issue is that mansour is not respecting the governed and president decisions. Is that acceptable?
06 March 2013, 13:45
210
Mowaten you got it wrong. A fm should not voice his opinion officially but should voice the official position of the government. If pm or president did something wrong then we should voice it.
06 March 2013, 12:52
29
Gcc sees Iran as a hegemon and as a national threat to them and are doing what they think is necessary to deal with it. If at the same time, they get rid of a nasty regime they loath, all the better. Where is Lebanon's national interest lies in mansour's utterings?
06 March 2013, 13:39
210
Mowaten - please read human rights organization and UN reports as to who is doing the most killings, tortures and executions. You will see that it is the regime you support. The same regime who bombs civilians lining for bread with 1 tons bombs or who fire scuds at cities.
06 March 2013, 14:11
49
FT - I strongly disagree with your assessment of human right organizations as being political screens. I find it amusing that mowaten (and others) is ready to accept such reports when criticizing israeli actions while you here discount them. Simply put it, it is impossible for honest people to deny the criminality of this regime. It is true that some in the opposition committed crimes against humanity and some of these are documented by these same organizations. It is true however that these (while totally unacceptable) pale in comparison with those committed by the regime.
06 March 2013, 15:41
17
then let all media in... oh but Bashar doesn't, and never did, want ANY foreign media in Syria... i wonder why???
06 March 2013, 16:06
16
Mowaten - it took me a total of 5 seconds to go to youtube and find dozens. you must be trying hard not to find them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duprlSdSwuc
06 March 2013, 16:34
16
Mowaten- I'm not sure who you are trying to fool by claiming that Assad's forces have not committed any atrocities. Almost all Lebanese older than the 20 year old Flamer know FIRSTHAND what Assad's thugs are capable of. Seriously, you are a very bad shill and should be fired!
06 March 2013, 14:16
39
The M8 ministers are shameless and traitors to the interests of Lebanon...they only represent Bachar, Iran and the terrorists org. Hizbala...
06 March 2013, 14:54
18
why are we deviating from the topic that Mansour spat on the Governments policy of "disassociation"? Mansour has the right to speak his opinion when talking to a newspaper or in a tv interview... not when he is on official government business and is obliged to follow the governments policy in a meeting of foreign ministers. anybody arguing to the contrary is just biased and trying to make a Syrian lackey look good, strong and opinionated.. lol
06 March 2013, 15:14
18
what solutions are you talking about? the syrian government has not done one meaningful thing to find a solution--they will talk with those that put down their arms, seriously after 2 years of bloodshed, that's a "solution"
the elections are a sham, and the 'freedoms' being propagated around are fiction. the fact is they started the bloodshed and the more the bloodshed went on, the more groups decided to get involved. they fired the first shots and they haven't offered any tangible or realistic solutions.
06 March 2013, 22:06
21
mowaten, stop giving me generalities, what SPECIFIC REAL reforms did ASSad propose? the one I remember kept power in the hands of Baath party and was a sham.
06 March 2013, 16:44
43
Granada, Ste Lucie or Lebanon.... republique bananiere comme tu le dis.
06 March 2013, 19:22
13
@anonyme, why should he? This thug is getting paid like the rest of them...when was the last time any of these cowards worked to protect the best interest of Lebanon and all its people as one cohesive unit? 7aret kil meen edo 2elo...nawar.
06 March 2013, 21:31
14
and here come again the two best defenders of the syrian regime aka FT and moowaten! seems they are paid by the baath party to post their praise of assad! they willingfully forget how this regime harmed lebanon and what they did here! but in syria they seem to be victims and never harming citizens only in self defense! LOL!!! their posts speak for themselves and give us a picture on how M8ers really feel and how desperate they seem to see this regime come back in lebanon to bring us democracy and a model of state management....
they are just laughable and pityful
06 March 2013, 21:46
11
jaysh souriya el horr will take the seat mansour.full stop.
N.B.i ask fellow members of this site not to argue with poor phenomens,they cannot change a letter from what they say,their masters are in teheran.
07 March 2013, 00:22
10
Whether you are pro or anti Assad's regime, in a sense Mansour is correct. The Arab League has indeed failed to resolve the Syrian crisis which is typical of them. I take it it easier to sit idle and just blame others.
