Beirut – Paris – Agencies
The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Middle Eastern Affairs stated that the Bush administration would not make any deal with Syria to bargain for Lebanon’s sovereignty in exchange for promises to restore stability to the country. David Welch, in statements to journalists in Beirut after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, considered any deal of this kind as foreign interference in Lebanon’s affairs. He emphasized Washington’s support for Lebanon, both the government and the people, standing firmly alongside them. The U.S. official, accompanied by National Security Council Deputy Adviser Elliott Abrams, recently arrived in Beirut on a visit described as a show of solidarity with Lebanon.
In another development, former Syrian Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam stated that he would form a government in exile. In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, he expressed his belief that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has already begun to fall and will not continue after this year, facing increasing pressure due to internal economic problems and the international investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Khaddam, in an interview from Paris, clarified that he would be willing to work with the Ba’ath Party and with Islamic leaders whom he described as part of the rich Islamic fabric that defines Syria’s main personality. He noted that he would not exclude any political group from his government that adheres to the “fundamental rules of democracy,” explaining that “the majority of Ba’athists in Syria turned against the regime long ago, seeing the government’s mistakes every day.” He added, “No one should repeat the mistake with the Syrian Ba’ath Party that the Americans made with the Iraqi Ba’ath Party.”
These statements come at a time when his son, Jihad, denied reports from some media outlets claiming that his father is under French pressure to leave Paris, stating to the French press agency that there are no hassles from the French government; it is the opposite.
