March 14 Divided over Baroud΄s Visit to Damascus

13-11-2008
For the fourth consecutive day, Lebanese Interior Minister Ziad Baroud's visit to Damascus and its consequences were the main topic of political debates in Lebanon at the time the so-called March 14 bloc was launching an organized campaign against the young minister.
Indeed, the mentioned bloc's Secretariat General met on Wednesday and renewed fire at Minister Baroud, ignoring all the clarifications delivered by Baroud who spared no effort to explain that the Lebanese-Syrian coordination was more than necessary at this stage.
The bloc rejected security coordination with Syria prior to establishing diplomatic ties and building confidence between the two states. In a statement it released following a meeting it held on Wednesday, the March 14 general secretariat claimed that "there is no point in security coordination under the umbrella of the higher Lebanese-Syrian council." It urged Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's cabinet to "refrain from adopting any decision in this regard pending the regaining of confidence and completion of procedures to set up diplomatic ties and the assigning of ambassadors."
Moreover, and in a harsh assault on Baroud's visit, Future movement MP Mohamad Kabbara questioned the cabinet's approval of Baroud's visit to Damascus last week, especially after state-run Syrian television broadcast footage of Fatah al-Islam members claiming they have received funding from the Future Movement. "How can the Lebanese interior minister visit a state that deals with his state through television and not through the cabinet of which he is a member?" Kabbara wondered.
However, the so-called March 14 bloc didn't seem "united" at all over the issue. Indeed, and in contrast with his "colleagues" in the "coalition," State Minister Khaled Qabbani seemed more than satisfied with Baroud's Damascus summit. Qabbani told Voice of Lebanon radio station on Thursday that Baroud's visit to Damascus set things on the right track and achieved its objective. "Everybody looks forward to establishing good relations with Syria and developing relations," he said, while emphasizing that any developments must be "within the framework of both countries' interest."
Minister Baroud has officially asked to brief the cabinet on outcome of his recent visit to Damascus that had been targeted by criticism from the March 14 alliance. Baroud's memo was addressed to the cabinet on Wednesday and asked for listing his request on the agenda of the forthcoming meeting scheduled for Saturday at the Baabda Presidential Palace.
SOURCES: EMBASSIES TO BE ESTABLISHED BEFORE YEAR-END
Meanwhile, Syrian sources told Lebanese daily As-Safir that the agreement reached by the Lebanese-Syrian summit, that joined Lebanese and Syrian Presidents Michel Suleiman and Bachar Assad, will be carried out, and if the current progress endures, embassies will be established before the end of the current year.
According to the same source, the appointment of ambassadors will take longer than that and the same holds true for the delineation of the border and the remaining provisions of Resolution 1701. The delineation of the border will start in the North and will not include the occupied Shibaa Farms.
The sources asserted that Damascus's doors are always open, adding that Syria is expecting a visit by the head of the Change and Reform parliamentary blco General Michel Aoun at the end of the current month.