Hezbollah imposes fighting on Lebanon while Syria holds negotiations
March 14 General Coordinator and former MP Fares Soueid said that the exchange of diplomatic ties between Lebanon and Syria had been a Lebanese demand for some time.
He also commented on the controversy over recognizing Lebanon as a final entity. “This [Syrian] recognition – even though it came late – is a positive one,” Soueid told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation on Friday.
Soueid said Hezbollah imposed the task of fighting on Lebanon – a task that extended beyond the Israeli withdrawal – while, in the meantime, Syria was negotiating with Israel.
“How can there be coordination in foreign policy while Lebanon maintains a fighting function? Must Lebanon pay the price alone?” he told LBC.
He also said that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem had blurred the line between the issue of Lebanese detainees in Syria and those who disappeared during the Lebanese civil war in an attempt to eradicate Syria’s responsibilities.
While Soueid also accused the Syrian regime of “breaking away from its responsibility in drawing a border,” he conceded that “some consider that part of the bilateral agreements between Lebanon and Syria are acceptable.”
On the fate of the Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council, the birthplace of some “bilateral” agreements, Soueid said the council was no longer of any political use, as Syria was headed toward negotiations.
“There is nothing called a Higher Council if Lebanon and Syria are taking opposite directions on the issue of peace,” he commented.
Soueid also noted that the March 14 alliance was satisfied with President Michel Sleiman’s performance.