Miqati Rejects to Hold 'Emergency' Cabinet Session over Situation in Syria
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati expressed hope on Wednesday that an expected western strike on Syria doesn't occur, pointing out that he will not call on the cabinet to “urgently” convene to tackle the matter.
“We are advocates of peace and stability in the region,” Miqati said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.
On Tuesday, caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said that the cabinet should convene to address “the dangerous situations although it is acting in caretaker capacity.”
“This dangerous situation requires an emergency meeting of the cabinet, or at least a ministerial meeting, to discuss the threats that are being launched against Syria and the possibility of a military strike against it and the direct repercussions on Lebanon,” Mansour said.
Miqati pointed out that if any western military intervention happened in neighboring Syria then he will act according to the circumstances.
“I will not call for an emergency cabinet session as the western strike didn't happen and we don't want to seem like we are marketing for it,” Miqati said.
U.S. forces are gearing up to strike Syria, though the West insists its goal is not regime change but to punish President Bashar Assad's government for unleashing chemical warfare on civilians.
The ground for a military intervention was laid out by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who for the first time said last week's attack, thought to have killed hundreds, could only have been perpetrated by Assad's forces.
Britain and France also moved to back the use of force in Syria, while the White House promised to provide declassified evidence this week to prove that the August 21 chemical attack was the work of regime forces.
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