Mansour Procrastinates in Sending Message of Protest to Syria after Casting Doubt on Air Strikes
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour reiterated on Wednesday that he would do the necessary contacts about the alleged Syrian air strikes inside Lebanese territories upon his return to Beirut after he cast doubt that the attacks took place.
In remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper, Mansour said he would follow up the case when he returns to Beirut “although he was informed during his presence in Nigeria that the alleged Syrian raids in the border areas were rumors.”
He said the Syrian embassy in Beirut has previously delivered several letters to the Lebanese foreign ministry with information about facts on the ground on the Lebanese-Syrian border in the North.
Mansour told NBN TV on Tuesday that “issuing such a complaint requires documents that he doesn’t have with him.”
But Baabda palace sources told An Nahar daily published Wednesday that Suleiman's condemnation of the air strikes that reportedly took place in the northeastern town of Arsal came after military and security officials confirmed that Syrian warplanes had bombed Lebanon.
Suleiman instructed Mansour on Tuesday to send a message of protest to the “Syrian side” so that such operations are not repeated.
He also condemned Syria for carrying out the "unacceptable" air strikes.
But Syria, in its first comments on the attacks, denied it was involved.
"The information being peddled by the Lebanese, Arab and international media claiming that Syria fighter jets bombed inside Lebanese territory is baseless," a foreign ministry official told state news agency SANA.
"The ministry completely denies this information and reiterates that it respects Lebanese sovereignty," the official said.
The denial drew anew the condemnation of Suleiman, who said: “The (Lebanese) Army Command confirmed that the (strikes) did take place."
The shelling came just days after Damascus warned Beirut to stop militants from allegedly crossing the border to fight with rebels.
In a letter of protest, Damascus warned that its forces would fire toward Lebanon if "terrorist cells" continued to infiltrate the country.
20 March 2013, 08:16
410
Is this clown the Foreign Minister of Lebanon or Syria ..what a traitor.
security forces already confirmed the attack .
20 March 2013, 09:30
35
Lebanon existed long before Syria ..Phoenicia was a country before Syria existed ,,if the ottoman empire combined the coutry,s for a short period of history ,does not make it a one country.go and get your history right
20 March 2013, 09:53
34
maroun do you speak phoenicion??
wrong not the ottoman ruled only, the french divided Syria to create a lebanon!
mar maroun was Syrian too! you know!!
go and get your history right!!
20 March 2013, 21:30
00
Here's some history for everyone's sake:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lebanon#Prehistory
20 March 2013, 09:11
25
He has nothing to do with the word Syria just like Bashar and his monkeys have nothing to do with the word Syria....these animals belong in some zoo in Iran where they all originally came from....nothing to do with us.
20 March 2013, 08:47
32
Stop the protests it falls on deaf ears. Mr President just obliterate any foreign illegal activities regardless if their Syrians or Israelis even the trouble makers the so called jihadist. Shave half of their bearded face and send back where they came from- naked. Low scum fanatics try to impose their idealism upon us ha , Mr P or Mr C just act and F.... Them off even to the North Pole if you have to the polar bears will know what to do with ..bastards.
20 March 2013, 08:59
13
Our govt. are like a scud missile without a warhead it's bloody useless.!!!!! All our govt. minsters have no balls they instead replaced them with deeper pockets !!
20 March 2013, 09:45
25
What about thé Iranian ambassador?
What about the proofs on the ground by the Lebanese army that Syrian airplane bombed Lebanon?
20 March 2013, 10:52
14
as expected: this Syrian sinister of foreign affairs refuses to abide by the orders given to him either by his president or his prime minster, and chooses to abide by what hizbushaitan tells him to do.
for how long this shit is going to remain in his post?
20 March 2013, 12:40
16
Only in Lebanon will you have a foreign minister who's clearly not serving the interests of his country. Villages all over the border are getting bombed, there is no doubt about it. What a pathetic excuse for a government official.
20 March 2013, 13:36
14
ft, you really need to keep to the issue at hand and not play the game if he did wrong it's ok for others to do the same...we are talking about Lebanese territorial integrity and a minister that doesn't care, please stick to the subject...
20 March 2013, 18:18
12
FT, I agree about Rifi, but that doesn't have to do with the issue at hand. The here problem is that 'procrastination' isn't acceptable in this situation, especially when it's this serious. Things in Lebanon are especially tense, there's no reason for Mansour to make it worse unless he is serving foreign interests.
20 March 2013, 20:24
11
and what about the syrian ambassador for all the crimes that Syria committed against lebanon during its occupation and the ongoing ones like Samaha.
talk like a hypocrite, sound like a hypocrite which makes you less than credible.
