Suleiman Defends Speech, Aims at Neutralizing Lebanon from Regional Conflict
President Michel Suleiman's speech marking Lebanon's 68th Army Day didn't highlight any new stance and will only press foreign countries to neutralize the country from the ongoing turmoil in the region, Baabda Palace sources said on Friday.
“They are the same old stances that he has reiterated on different occasions,” sources close to him said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper.
The speech “might have included a clearer and stronger rhetoric but an occasion like that requires such statements... The Lebanese deserve to know these facts and if they would've listened before the situation would've been better locally,” the sources pointed out.
The sources stated that the president had previously urged Hizbullah to end its military intervention in Syria, in particular, after al-Qusayr battles.
Syrian government troops are backed by Hizbullah members in their fight against rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad.
Hizbullah has played a major role in a battle last month in the town of al-Qusayr, which is near Lebanon's northeastern border, and lost scores of men there.
The sources noted that Suleiman's stances will safeguard the country and press the Arab countries and the west to neutralize it from the ongoing turmoil in the region.
The president lashed out during his speech on Thursday at the military interventions in Syria, without naming any side, saying the blood of Lebanese should not be sacrificed to serve the interests of other countries.
“The army's role would be difficult if a party or more get involved in conflicts outside Lebanon,” he said.
Suleiman called for a review of the national defense strategy in light of Hizbullah’s involvement in Syria, while stressing the state should enjoy a monopoly over the use of military force to defend Lebanon’s sovereignty.
But Suleiman said that “true martyrdom is only in the defense of the nation … The Lebanese people want sacrifices for Lebanon.”
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