Army Foils Smuggling Weapons to Syria, STL Finance to Front
Zeinab Essa
Who's Smuggling Weapons into Syria?
Ahead of the public welcoming that Maronite Patriarch Bshara Rai is expected to receive in the city of the sun, Baalbek, Bkirki turned to a political pilgrimage for announcing solidarity with the church in face of "March 14" verbal campaign.
After the head of the state, Rai received Friday a second dose of political support from the third Lebanese chair.
Mikati Supports Rai
Following the one hour closed Meeting with Rai, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that the patriarch will not back off from his statements on Syria and resistance arms.
"I don't think the patriarch will back off from any stance he takes because these stances are not spur-of-the-moment, but they are based on wisdom. I am sure of his wisdom. All matters were completely clear during the meeting," Mikati revealed.
A statement released by Mikati's media office on the visit to Diman said the prime minister shared Rai's fears over the possibility of partitioning the Arab world into sectarian mini-states.
Declaring "agreement on patriarch's fears about attempts to dismember the Arab world into sectarian mini-states," Mikati said.
"Hence, our constant calls for national unity and solidarity because these options achieve national immunity, which can foil suspicious designs that might target our country," he stressed.
The Mikati-Rai meeting discussed the local and regional situation in the light of developments in the region, as well as national issues, the statement said.
Rai said he voiced during his meetings with Sarkozy and other French officials the concerns of the Lebanese and the region's peoples about "repercussions and changes that take a violent character, triggering instability in the political, security and economic conditions," the statement said.
At another level, "as-Safir" Lebanese daily reported that two Syrians have admitted
to trying to smuggle arms to Syria to support anti-regime protestors in the neighboring country.
A judicial source told the daily Saturday that "the army intelligence thwarted the plot earlier in the week after it raided a neighborhood of the Beirut district of "Tariq al-Jdideh" and arrested Lebanese Ibrahim M. and Syrians Assef F. and Bassel Q."
Uncovering that "army seized Rocket Propelled Grenades, hand grenades, Kalashnikov rifles, night-vision goggles, and Inerga-type RPGs," "as-Safir" quoted military sources saying that "the issue of arms smuggling to Syria has become a top priority for the Lebanese army which has taken strict measures on the borders with Syria."
"Such measures confirm the army's aim at confronting any attempt that would threaten the security and stability of the two countries," the sources said.
STL Finance Not an Obstacle
At another level, high-ranking sources within Amal and Hizbullah, informed "al-Akhbar" that the issue of financing the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will not become a threatening subject to the government.
"Talks are currently ongoing regarding a proposal, whereby Lebanon's share of financing would be secured by issuing a "normal decree" bearing the signatures of the president, the prime minister and the ministers of Finance and Justice," "al-Akhbar" reported.
Head of Arab Unification Party Wiam Wahhab lashed out against those "who give theoretical lessons about supporting the STL, which is attacking us." Wahhab described these people as "employees who pretend they are members of parliament."
"Let those who want to finance it provide aid for that from their many resources. We will not do it because the STL is a project aiming to wreak havoc in Lebanon and threaten everything in it," he said.
Source: Lebanese newsapapers, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org
