Naharnet Newsdesk - Anti-Syrian Politicians Say Lebanon is Victim of Israeli Aggression and Decision Made in Damascus

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Anti-Syrian Politicians Say Lebanon is Victim of Israeli Aggression and Decision Made in Damascus

Anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians said Thursday that Lebanon is the victim of decisions made in Damascus and Tehran on the one hand and Israel's "brutal aggression" on the other.
Druze leader Walid Jumblat said the large-scale Israeli offensive on Lebanon is an unjustifiable response to Wednesday's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah. However, he said that the group may be carrying out the orders of its backers Syria and Iran.

"The decision may have been made in the Damascus-Tehran axis at Lebanon's expense. Lebanon is stuck in a pincer between a brutal Israeli aggression and a decision made outside Lebanon," Jumblat told the LBC television station.

Telecommunication Minister Marwan Hamadeh was more direct in laying the blame on the Syrian leadership for the latest escalation that has killed at least 39 Lebanese, most of them civilians and inflicted severe damage on the country's infrastructure.

"(Syrian Foreign Minister) Farouk el Sharaa gives his orders, Israel executes them and Lebanon is the victim and the hostage as usual," Hamadeh said.

Hamadeh, Jumblat and other members of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority have long accused Damascus and Tehran of using Hizbullah to serve their interests on the region.

They have been calling for the disarmament of the group in compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 that calls on all militias in Lebanon to lay down their weapons. But negotiations at a national dialogue meeting about the group's weapons have not lead to an agreement.

On Thursday, the government issued a new call for a ceasefire after Israeli air strikes left at least 40 civilians killed in the deadliest attacks on its territory in a decade.

"Lebanon's main demand is a complete and immediate ceasefire and a halt to this open Israeli aggression," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after a cabinet meeting.

"There have no results yet, and the Israelis are continuing this aggression," he said. "But we have to use all means and capabilities, at all levels, to halt this aggression."

Aridi said Prime Minister Fouad Saniora had met with ambassadors from permanent member states of the U.N. Security Council and a number of Arab countries to seek help to end the Israeli offensive.(Naharnet-AFP)

Beirut, 13 Jul 06, 17:01


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