Feltman: We Are Keen on Seeing Lebanese Commitment to International Resolutions

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman stressed that U.N. Security Council members have expressed their keenness on seeing a Lebanese commitment to international resolutions following the formation of a new government led by Caretaker PM Najib Miqati.

Feltman told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Friday that his talks with French officials in Paris touched on the developments in Lebanon. Security Council members have expressed to him their keenness on Lebanon’s commitment to resolutions 1701 and 1757, he said.

Washington does not interfere in the cabinet formation process but it is very interested in seeing the next government’s commitment to 1701 and 1757, the former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon said.

He said a meeting that will be held on Friday between the directors of the U.S., French, Russian, Turkish, Qatari, Saudi and Egyptian foreign ministries reflects those countries’ keenness on Lebanon’s commitment to the Security Council resolutions.

Feltman unveiled that the U.S. wants to cooperate with the Lebanese government if it stresses commitment to the resolutions and said it was premature to make any steps because Miqati hasn’t yet made his stance clear from the issue.

About the collapse of the government of former premier Saad Hariri, Feltman said there was mutual French-U.S. concern on how the Hariri cabinet was “toppled under threat and intimidation.”

Meanwhile, western diplomatic sources told al-Hayat that the cancellation of a visit by the French parliament speaker was a sign of deterioration in French-Syrian ties.