Round UP: Lebanon, Hostages Wait…Hariri Withdrew Mediation
In the past, riddles were associated with wisdom.
However, in the Lebanese book of politics and security, riddles need a lot of patience.
11 Lebanese were kidnapped by the Syrian rebels.
24 hours passed. Turkey informed the Lebanese state that they are on their way to freedom.
More than 5 days have passed, and Lebanon is still waiting the freedom of its hostages.
Hariri Withdraws Mediation
According to "al-Akhbar" Lebanese daily, new dramatic elements appeared at the level of mediations.
"Both the head of the so-called "Party of Free Syrians" Ibrahim Zoebi and former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced the cut of their mediations with the Syrian rebels," the paper clarified.
This came as the paper reported that "the mediation of Hariri was a source of optimism for a large number of those who follow up the file, knowing the man's good relations with the armed rebels."
Lebanese political sources informed the daily that "despite Hariri's claims that media cover is behind his withdrawal from the mediation, we learned that Saudi authorities demanded Hariri to stop interfering in the case of the abducted men."
However, this negative atmosphere did not prevent the concerned parties from confirming that the given information indicates that the hostages are in good health.
They are Fine...
In this context, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati stressed to "as-Safir" that "contacts continue with all sides to determine the fate of the hostages and we ensure their families that they are fine and safe."
Similarly, Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour informed the daily that the hostages who were abducted last week in Syria's Aleppo were still on Syrian territory.
According to the daily "Mansour informed Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi during a meeting on Monday that the hostages were still in Syria, in a region controlled by the Syrian opposition and supervised by Turkey."
"Turkey will continue intermediating the release of the pilgrims," Mansour told the conferees.
Moreover, "al-Akhbar" reported that Mansour contacted the Secretary General of the Arab League Nabil Al-Arabi and asked for the League to step in to secure the release of the Lebanese hostages.
For his part, House Speaker Nabih Berri, said in an interview with "as-Safir", that "efforts are ongoing to release the hostages in Syria, and perhaps to crystallize the picture and clear the vision within 48 hours."
In parallel, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel didn't hide his annoyance and displeasure to the outcome of the kidnapped Lebanese issue.
In an interview with "al-Binaa" daily, the state with all its concerned parts is mobilized to secure their release.
"The Syrian officials are making their best efforts to help us in this matter," he clarified, and pointed out that " we hope that the local, regional and Arab sides intervene to address this humanitarian issue."
Ready Table for National Dialogue
On another level, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called for a national dialogue table on the 11th of June 2012 at 11 a.m.
This came as political sources predicted to "an-Nahar" that " the coming period will witness intensive political activity in search of solutions to "March 14's" refusal to attend the dialogue unless the government resigns."
On the call for dialogue, PM Mikati hailed the step as "there is no political alternative for dialogue."
In remarks to "as-Safir" daily, Mikati hoped that "the politicians meeting on a single table would lead to the positive results that fall in the interest of all Lebanese without any exception."
"We hope that all parties react positively to the President's initiative, which came without any prior consultation with any of the parties involved," he added.
He further viewed "what made the President confident of his call to dialogue is the emergence of international and Arab supportive positions to dialogue away from conditions."
Syria Reprimand Annan
On the regional level, "al-Binaa" daily reported that the United Nations envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, who arrived to Damascus Sunday, heard harsh reprimand from several Syrian officials whom he met.
According to the daily, the Syrian side listened to Annan's thesis on the need to ensure an appropriate environment for a political solution, the need for greater Syrian cooperation, and that the Syrian people pay a great price for the acts of violence.
"It seems that the Syrian side didn't compromise with Annan during the talks, as it asked him about the reasons for his silence on the terrorists, the States financing the armed groups, the crimes and the systematic destruction of Syrian institutions," "al-Binaa" mentioned.
The paper also quoted a well-informed political source as saying that "Syria will absolutely reject any proposal to increase the number of international observers."
On the request to increase the number of observers, the source commented: "If 300 observers had provided the rebels with such freedom of movement, what will the situation be if the number increased to 3000?"
Source: Lebanese newspapers, translated and edited by moqawama.org
