U.S. Diplomat Condemns Syria Cross-Border Violations, Slams Warnings by Regime
The United States condemned the Syrian violations along Lebanese border, lashing out at warnings by the regime of President Bashar Assad that its forces would fire into Lebanon if "terrorist gangs" continued to infiltrate the country.
“The international community has to exert more efforts to isolate Lebanon from the Syrian crisis and prevent it from spilling over,” a U.S. diplomat told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.
Lebanon has already seen a spillover of the Syrian conflict in recent months, with frequent clashes in the northern and eastern areas of the country.
Syrian troops have also on several occasions fired shells over the border, while the Damascus regime has accused Lebanon of allowing Sunni fighters to cross illegally into Syria to join the rebels.
On Thursday, it warned that its forces would fire into Lebanon if "terrorist gangs" continued to infiltrate the country.
The U.S. diplomat pointed out that the United Nations Security Council has expressed similar fears in its latest statement.
The U.N. Security Council expressed "grave concern" Thursday over cross-border attacks between Syria and Lebanon in a rare united declaration on the Syrian conflict.
The 15-member body, bitterly divided over the Syrian conflict, agreed that the developments in Syrian shouldn't undermine Lebanon's stability, the diplomat said.
Council members "appealed to all Lebanese people to preserve national unity in the face of attempts to undermine the country's stability and stressed the need for all Lebanese parties to respect Lebanon's policy of disassociation and to refrain from any involvement in the Syrian crisis," the statement added.
The source denied reports that his country discussed with Prime Minister Najib Miqati his cabinet's resignation.
“We haven't discussed the issue with him or with any other official,” the U.S. diplomat said.
He considered that the U.S. insists that the Lebanese government carries out elections on time because Hizbullah is controlling the current cabinet.
“Our stance is clear, we support holding polls on time... The constitutional mechanism must be implements,” he added.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday called on all Lebanese parties to “resolve their differences peacefully and at the ballot box,” urging Lebanon and its leaders to “hold elections on time.”
The U.S. diplomat said that the failure to carry out elections would send “negative signals” to the western countries.
He described the disassociation policy as declared in Baabda last year as “very important,” expressing concern over violating it.
The Baabda Declaration was sponsored by President Michel Suleiman and calls for different parties to adhere to the disassociation policy to avoid the spread of the unrest in Syria to Lebanese territories.
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