Lavrov in Damascus, ’’Israeli’’ Barrier in Mutilleh

Zeinab Essa

Expressions of disgust, astonishment, grief and sadness are few of the terms that the Western diplomats used in describing the dual Chinese-Russian veto.

But as it is sometimes beneficial to turn time backwards, one asks where these expressions were when dealing with the "Israeli" massacres in Lebanon and Gaza or the invasion on Iraq.
 
As if it was the first time the US diplomacy heard of the word veto what drove US representative in the United Nations' Security Council Suzan Rice to scream and shout.

Lavrov to Damascus

However, the head of the Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov said Monday: "Comments on the voting at the Security Council were outrageous, hysterical and impolite."

Heading with the head of the Russian Intelligence Mikhail Fradekov to Damascus, Lavrov viewed that "these comments and statements seek to gloss over the fact that there are multiple sources of violence in Syria", stressing "his country's strong support to calls for ending violence in Syria."

Noting that "the draft resolution on Syria showed its makers' desire to force the Syrian government to cease violence without assigning responsibility to armed groups," he clarified that "this would mean that the Security Council is taking a side."

For his part, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby announced that he spoke to Lavrov Monday and said the foreign minister would present an initiative to Damascus. He gave no details and when asked if he thought it could end the crisis, he replied: "They believe so."

From Washington, US President Barak Obama said that "hard Western countries are prepared to lean on (Syrian President) al-Assad diplomatically, they still had no intention of using force to topple him, as they did against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya last year."I think it is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention. And I think that's possible," he told NBC's Today show.

Sayyed Nasrallah to Address Syria, Two Khalils to Launch Mediation

In Lebanon, it seems that the governmental crisis is suffering freeze despite efforts to end it as eyes are focused on the expected speech that the Secretary General of Hizbullah His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is to deliver in the festival celebrating the Birth of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and the week of Islamic Unity.
 
"As-Safir" Lebanese newspaper learned that "Sayyed Nasrallah is to start his speech from emphasizing the Islamic unity to move to the regional situation i.e.  particularly to developments in the Syrian file and the repercussions of the Russian-Chinese veto."

The paper's well informed sources "didn't rule out that Sayyed Nasrallah would tackle the Special Tribunal for Lebanon which stands on the threshold of transition next month with the expiry of the mandate of Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare and the appointment of his successor."

Moving to the governmental crisis, "al-Akhbar" Lebanese daily uncovered that "the political aides of both Sayyed Nasrallah Hussein al-Khalil and the political aide of House Speaker Nabih Berri Ali Hassan Khalil are to launch their move in an attempt to solve the ministerial conflict."

"Both men held a meeting before moving to meet Berri in Ain al-Tine," the paper reported adding that "the two Khalils are carrying out a sort of preliminary survey to the general situation of the crisis."
 
Unveiling that "the two men proposed the wild possibilities that led to the outbreak of the crisis, and the positive or negative predictions for the crisis," the paper noted that "Monday's meetings led to set down the roof of moving to solve the crisis:"
"Government should continue to survive; the Council of Ministers must be prevented from disruption, Prime Minister Najib Mikati mustn't be pressured to leave, and General Michel Aoun mustn't be embarrassed or pressured," "al-Akhbar" quoted well informed sources from the meeting.

For its part, "as-Safir" newspaper mentioned Tuesday that Mikati criticized the "Change and Reform" Bloc ministers for the strong rhetoric they are using against him and Aoun's threat to stage demonstrations near the Grand Serail.
Aoun's visitors quoted him as saying that "the government conflicts should be resolved thoroughly so that we don't have a crisis at every issue."

"We should set a mechanism for the cabinet's work," he reportedly said.

Meanwhile, "an-Nahar" paper reported that Monday meeting between Berri and Mikati showed no signs of solution.

The PM told the paper that "he explained to Berri the points of contention among the cabinet members and who is blocking the government's work and its productivity in more than one sector."
He further added that "he will keep on coordinating with President Michel Suleiman," pointing out that "all the cabinet members should work on safeguarding stability and avoiding strong rhetoric and disputes."

For his Part, Berri stressed to the "an-Nahar" that "he is trying to find the motive behind the alleged obstacles in order to intervene."

This comes as PM Mikati is expected to pay Paris an official visit Thursday for two days in which he is to meet French officials.

In parallel, a Christian-Muslim spiritual summit will be held at the Maronite Archbishopric of Beirut on Tuesday.

"Israeli" Barrier Facing Lebanon

At the security level, a Lebanese security source told "as-Safir" that ""UNIFIL" forces informed Lebanese military that the Zionist enemy decided to start building a wall of separation between the northern border of Occupied Palestine and the Lebanese town of Kfar Kila."

"From the twelfth of this month (February), "Israel" is to start building its barrier with a height ranging between six to eight meters so that it will be similar to the apartheid wall in the occupied Palestinian territories."

The source said that the "Israeli" army conditioned that the acts of censorship on its work would be limited from the point of "Fatima Gate" to the Spanish pond in the area between Kfar Kila and Adaisseh."

"However, the Lebanese army, refused but to have a complete supervision on the construction of the wall," the source asserted adding that "the LA stressed that it is not allowed that any one centimeter of the wall be build within the Lebanese Blue Line."


Source: Lebanese newspaper, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org