Saniora Urges for an Initiative to Stop Hizbullah from Slipping into Syria's Conflict

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora urged religious and political figures to take an initiative and stop Hizbullah from sliding into the armed conflict fanning out in Syria, the state-run National News Agency said Wednesday.

Saniora held separate talks with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Vice President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, former Speaker Hussein Husseini and other figures where discussions touched on the latest developments in Lebanon.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc highlighted the possible dangers that could be inflicted on Lebanon if Hizbullah continued to slip into the military conflict in Syria.

He called on the religious and political figures to exert all possible efforts in that regard.

He said: “Stemming from the inter Lebanese-Christian-Muslim partnership I ask you to take an initiative and move hand in hand to stop Hizbullah from involving Lebanon, the Arabs and Muslims in the conflict in Syria."

“I am sure that Hizbullah and the Shiite community have wise leaders who refuse this military involvement that could drive Lebanon to the abyss. Let the Syrian people handle their own problems,” he stressed.

Moreover, Saniora reiterated the stance of his bloc denouncing Syrian breaches against Lebanon's north and east borders.

He also denounced the threats of some Syrian rebels warning to target the southern suburb of Beirut over assumptions that Hizbullah is participating in the ongoing fight against the Syrian regime.

Comments 34
Default-user-icon Jose Farhat from Brazil (Guest) 10 October 2012, 16:04

Mr. Siniora is not considering that syrians and lebaneses are one single people with commun interests and dreams, with same problema. Hizbullah is right fighting against Lebanon and Syria enemies, from Turquie to Israel to USA. Ler Hidbullah help our Brothers.

Missing rami 10 October 2012, 16:32

The're already deeply involved in it. When this conflict is over, they plan to help Argentina in getting back the Falklands Islands from the United Kingdom.

Thumb lebanon_first 10 October 2012, 18:50

Not the falklands. They have east timor first. Their Dili cell started moving a while back.

Default-user-icon Ben Dou (Guest) 10 October 2012, 17:14

M14 are deeply involved in Syria, both on the Lebanese and Syrian side of the border. Sinora should worry about the 11 billion USD he stole from the Lebanese people and not about Hizbullah whom are safe guarding Lebanon from threats.

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 17:48

You must be willing to condemn both the M14 forces aiding the opposition, as well as Hezbollah aiding the regime.

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 19:16

Mowaten, a Hezbollah commander was killed in Syria, something that was confirmed by both Hezbollah's media department and the Syrian opposition. Other Hezbollah "martyrs" died in Syria. I did not believe Hezbollah was involved in Syria until the organization confirmed it themselves that some of their men died in Syria.

Furthermore, Ahmad Jibril himself a few months ago stated publicly that - after holding talks with Nasrallah and Assad - Hezbollah would be willing to send fighters to aide the regime.

Up until lately, most of those crying out that Hezbollah was involved in Syria was empty accusations. But now, we are seeing more and more evidence of Hezbollah' increased involvement in the crisis.

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 20:14

Mowaten, the same Hezbollah commander that an opposition group claimed to be dead was the one that was confirmed by Hezbollah....coincidence?

I am no M14 fan, but you have to be able to acknowledge the faults of some M8. If this was only one instance, then yes, maybe I would question it as much as you would. But more and more incidents are occuring that suggest Hezbollah's involvement in Syria. To deny it is simply selective analysis, only looking at faults of the M14 without questions while overanalyzing actions of the M8 in order to suit your desired conclusions.

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 20:18

Also mowaten, impartial diplomats inside Syria that were denying Hezbollah's involvement early in the crisis are now confirming that Hezbollah is more involved now in fighting inside Syria, although not on a large scale. Indeed they refer to Hezbollah's discreet and secret burials of bodies of Hezbollah fighters being travelled from Syria into Lebanon for discreet burials.

Missing peace 10 October 2012, 17:49

even if they are arming rebels mowaten M14 doesn t kill people unlike your hezbo members... what s wrong in helping people from being butchered and defend themselves against your syrian friends? you d stay idle and do nothing if the lebanese army killed your family in such circumstances? oh! how wise from you! you ll let yourself get killed because it is wrong to ask help! waw! what a saint you are!

who has blood on their hands ? : your hezbi friends. better think twice before using the word hypocrit because you are a master in it!
and your hezbi friends also always claimed that their weapons were to fight israel no? but they shot lebanese now they kill syrians, so who are the biggest hypocrits? hezbollah....

Missing peace 10 October 2012, 18:20

you certainly haven t seen the videos of normal citizens and syrian fighters who have nothing to do with salafis...

i won t spare you "if someone kills your family" because you are totally forgetting that civilians are geting killed despite international laws forbidding an army to shell civilian areas that you support!
stop pretending that all the fighters are just salafis from saudi arabia because you know it isn t true! if you bashar didn t let the situation rot , groups like that wouldn t have tried to take advantage of the chaos!
and good thing you are defending a regime that harmed your country as if you want them to come back and go on coz you seem to approve this regime meaning you praise dictatorships (no wonder from a hezbi supporter...)

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 19:57

I think we are all overestimating the extent of the Salafi role in the Syrian crisis. There is no doubt they are present, but they are not as widespread as some pro-regime individuals believe.

What makes me say that? Salafis do not believe in the nation-state, they only believe in the Islamic state, and thus the only flag they will hold up is the "Black Standard" (google this), or the black Islamic flag. They will not hold any other flag. So if you see opposition members holding up this Free Syrian Army flag, they are not Salafis, although they could still be other types of Islamists.

Missing peace 10 October 2012, 18:26

and for months bashar has been killing people before salafi groups got stronger. M8 always said that nothing was going on despite the countless murders...
you d expect people to stand still? how naive you are! bashar did that on purpose knowing that the population would get exasperated and asking help from anywhere! and now he tells the world it is a foreign plot! it was expected from the beginning to turn out like that... so people like you would throw the blame on foreigners and say the regime is a poor victim! and it serves M8 too: now they are making lebanese think that all sunnis are salafis and the north is infested with them! "be afraid lebanese the bad sunnis from M14 want to cut your throats so support hezbos to prevent that!!" is exactly what is happening...
how naive you are....

Missing peace 10 October 2012, 20:27

for this incident how many peaceful protests took place ? think a bit

Missing peace 10 October 2012, 18:30

oh and for your knowledge i don t deny that horrors are on both sides as no war is clean...
but who is to blame? the syrian regime...
no regime has the right to bomb civilians,use warplanes; where have you seen that?
the regime is to blame therefore for all the horrors going on! with your support and complicity

Missing peace 10 October 2012, 20:27

just look at the videos... and hear the testimonies

Default-user-icon Kalambo Vortanouj (Guest) 10 October 2012, 18:53

OK boss. Now go back to picking the filth from between your Sunni toes using the Israeli method.

Thumb shab 10 October 2012, 19:07

Best PM ever

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 19:58

Lol

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 20:00

Before we continuously throw out accusations of Salafis in Syria, most people do not know what exactly Salafism is. Only when we know extensively the ideology and the workings of this misunderstood doctrine, we can then identify which opposition groups are Salafi and which are not.

As my comment above states, a Salafi does not believe in a nation-state and only believes in an Islamic one. Thus if you see someone holding up an FSA flag or any other flag of a nation-state, that individual is not Salafi.

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 20:00

And from what we've seen so far, most opposition groups (but not all) are holding up this FSA flag, indicating they are not Salafi.

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 20:45

I hate to generalize, and maybe Asir, if he truly means that, is prioritizing pragmatism over ideology. But the difference between Asir and Salafis in Syria is that in Lebanon, Asir does not have the opportunity to change the Lebanese "regime", as is the case in Syria.

In Syria, opposition groups view themselves as having the power and ability to change the regime. And thus if a Syrian Salafi opposition group is calling for an Islamic state, it doesn't mean that Lebanese Salafis are as well even though they believe in it. At least that's my opinion. The main difference between Salafis in Lebanon and in Syria is that Syria is in a midst of a struggle for political transition, in which all groups are aiming to change the dominant political power and system. Such is not the case in Lebanon.

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 20:48

Therefore, going back to your question, because Asir realizes that right now Lebanon is not in a struggle for a change in the political system, I doubt he is actually trying to carry out such an agenda for he knows it is impossible for that agenda to be realized.

It also depends on the Asir's, and by extension a Salafist, point of view of an Islamic state. Some Salafist believe that minorities can exist under an Islamic state. So when Asir says he is willing to co-exist with other sects, it doesn't mean he does not want an Islamic state. Of course, we can never know for sure what his true intentions are. So far very little is known about him.

Missing ulpianus 10 October 2012, 21:08

What Salafis in Syria and IN Lebanon has in common is that: THERE ARE NO Lebanese or Syrian Salafis. It´s a new invention injected into Lebanon and Syria from abroad.

As for the Syrian uprising, "blaming" it on Salafis is only done by cowards. Everybody hailed the revolution in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya etc etc. Why cant we do the same in Syria?

I read a post above saying that "sunnis are against the regime and shiites are with the regime".
What about the Christians? Christians have been the biggest critics of this regime for decades. So the Christians are suddenly with it? Or Neutral?

Missing gcb1 10 October 2012, 21:52

Um, Salafis are present across all of the Arab world. You can't deny that. Please go read more about them before you make such false statements.

As for Christians, you have some on both sides. THere are some that are against the regime for its past oppression, and others that side with the regime only because they are not with the revolution, for they seek stability and fear a scenario similar to Christian Iraqis after the fall of Saddam.

Missing ulpianus 10 October 2012, 23:09

Mister smart...Try to understand what I´m saying. They are present yes. Exactly like the Iphone5 is present now and like the Nokia 3210 was present a couple of years ago. The salafists and wahabee movements are not genuine Lebanese sects. They are brought to us thanks to politics. They will vanish again one day.

Missing gcb1 11 October 2012, 00:56

That comment is full of contradictions I don't know where to start, therefore I won't bother.

Missing toucan 11 October 2012, 10:31

Salamis are not a sect you see how people post ignorance and claim they know this Nd that, shut up if you don't know what your tLking about

Missing ulpianus 11 October 2012, 21:53

Gcb1 you ignorant kid. you cannot find any contradictions in my comment. What you need is an english dictionary to see what contradiction means. You and your fellow Toucan. you do not even know what a sect is, but I thank you for that comment because by saying they are not a sect, you are implying that they are just a..."moda" , a trend that will stay for a while and then disappear. I agree on that.

Missing ulpianus 10 October 2012, 23:12

That is the problem FT. Staying neutral and leaving your brothers in the area, undependant of religion, dying for a something is wrong. This could have been a golden opportunity to unite once and for all for something that most people with brains agree upon----) the fight for democracy and freedom.

Missing gcb1 11 October 2012, 00:53

FT, inflation? secularism? Economic development? Unemployment? Wages? Monetary/fiscal policy? That sounds boring! Let's spend time talking about butchering Assad and filthy Shi3as and murderous Wahabbis!

Unfortunately, that is the mentality of most people in Lebanon, vary narrow political analysis.

Missing gcb1 11 October 2012, 00:55

For so long I've been arguing that secularism and real discussions about improving socioeconomic conditions is the cure to our remedies, but most people have disliked my comments without giving it much of a thought. They rather discuss the threat of Hezbollah's weapons/corruption in M14/Iran-Saudi-Syria influence etc., because that is really all their minds can handle.

Any discussion that goes deeper than those simplistic arguments is simply incompatible with the narrow-minded views of most Lebanese party followers.

Missing ulpianus 11 October 2012, 21:57

Gcb1. Do you want me to read this article for you? The article is mainly about a certain conflict, that Sanyoura "does not want" Hezbollah to be dragged into ( one could question his intentions though). The article itself, is not about socioeconomic conditions, secularism, inflation.
Talking about inflation...it describes well the condition of your comments.

Thumb shab 10 October 2012, 23:15

Everybody on this site knows I never go into personal debates so Tonyfarris i not me

Default-user-icon Leb1st (Guest) 10 October 2012, 23:46

mowaten you have no shame to say saniora stopped the war, you started it why would he have to stop your crazy adventures, and who are you to decide whether lebanon goes to war or not, only if you loved lebanon and your brothers the lebanese for once lebanon would be safe, but as long as yo worship your gods in iran and syria "assad" and go knows what else you will have the finger pointed at you in leb! teach your kids economics and sciences, not hatred and extremism, and money laundering! you are ruining lebanese ppl's reputation in exile! yes YOU HA ppl! walaw kariha el kafiroun! ;)