Jumblatt: Syria terrorising Arab countries
Middle East Online:
Lebanese Druze leader urges Arab League chief to intervene with Syria to stop murders in Lebanon.
BEIRUT - Lebanese Druze leader and anti-Syrian MP Walid Jumblatt has accused Syria of "terrorising" Arab countries and urged Arab League chief Amr Mussa to intervene with Damascus.
"Amr Mussa must go to Damascus to stop the murders in Lebanon," Jumblatt told the private Lebanese satellite channel LBCI Thursday night, from his home in Mukhtara, southeast of Beirut, where he has been living in fear of his life.
Earlier this month Mussa went on a fence-mending mission to Beirut and Damascus, in the aftermath of the assassination of press magnate and anti-Syrian MP Gibran Tueni.
Many Lebanese blame the murder on Damascus, which has denied any involvement in it or three others that began with the February assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.
Mussa's "proposal to 'stop the political assassinations in exchange for a halt to the media campaign' (against Syria) means stifling the media," Jumblatt said.
But the Arab League chief denied he was pushing any diplomatic initiative.
"I am simply settling for transmitting different points of view" between Lebanon and Syria, he told LBCI.
Jumblatt charged that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad controls a variety of "instruments and terrorist factions capable of scaring Arab regimes.
"The Syrian regime has chosen to shelter behind Arab initiatives in order to avoid compliance with the international probe" into the Hariri murder, Jumblatt added.
"The terrorist Syrian regime is carrying out political assassinations in order to shut up the (anti-Syrian) parliamentary majority" in Lebanon, he added.
Jumblatt leads the parliamentary majority along with Saad Hariri, the son of the slain ex-premier, whose killing led to protests and international pressure that forced Syria to end its 29-year military occupation of Lebanon.
On Thursday Saad Hariri accused Syria's "terrorist regime" of seeking to topple the government in Lebanon.
"I am convinced that a war is being launched against us by a terrorist regime which is seeking to change the Lebanese democratic regime," Hariri told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television.
A UN investigation has implicated a number of Syrian and Lebanese officials in Hariri's murder.
Lebanese Druze leader urges Arab League chief to intervene with Syria to stop murders in Lebanon.
BEIRUT - Lebanese Druze leader and anti-Syrian MP Walid Jumblatt has accused Syria of "terrorising" Arab countries and urged Arab League chief Amr Mussa to intervene with Damascus.
"Amr Mussa must go to Damascus to stop the murders in Lebanon," Jumblatt told the private Lebanese satellite channel LBCI Thursday night, from his home in Mukhtara, southeast of Beirut, where he has been living in fear of his life.
Earlier this month Mussa went on a fence-mending mission to Beirut and Damascus, in the aftermath of the assassination of press magnate and anti-Syrian MP Gibran Tueni.
Many Lebanese blame the murder on Damascus, which has denied any involvement in it or three others that began with the February assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.
Mussa's "proposal to 'stop the political assassinations in exchange for a halt to the media campaign' (against Syria) means stifling the media," Jumblatt said.
But the Arab League chief denied he was pushing any diplomatic initiative.
"I am simply settling for transmitting different points of view" between Lebanon and Syria, he told LBCI.
Jumblatt charged that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad controls a variety of "instruments and terrorist factions capable of scaring Arab regimes.
"The Syrian regime has chosen to shelter behind Arab initiatives in order to avoid compliance with the international probe" into the Hariri murder, Jumblatt added.
"The terrorist Syrian regime is carrying out political assassinations in order to shut up the (anti-Syrian) parliamentary majority" in Lebanon, he added.
Jumblatt leads the parliamentary majority along with Saad Hariri, the son of the slain ex-premier, whose killing led to protests and international pressure that forced Syria to end its 29-year military occupation of Lebanon.
On Thursday Saad Hariri accused Syria's "terrorist regime" of seeking to topple the government in Lebanon.
"I am convinced that a war is being launched against us by a terrorist regime which is seeking to change the Lebanese democratic regime," Hariri told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television.
A UN investigation has implicated a number of Syrian and Lebanese officials in Hariri's murder.
posted by Marko at 12/23/2005 09:33:00 AM
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