France Warns Damascus: Lebanon Instability is Not in Anyone”s Interest
A French delegation headed by Elysee Secretary-General Claude Gueant has cautioned Syrian officials during a recent trip to Damascus that instability in Lebanon is "not in anyone”s interest."
The delegation said Israel is the only beneficiary of instability in Lebanon "since it could use this opportunity to step in and divert global attention to problems that would keep it at a distant from the peace process."
Pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper on Thursday quoted well-informed sources as saying that the French stance stressed the need to leave Lebanese form their own government.
It said the Syrian side responded that "the Lebanese must now bear their own responsibility after the country had consolidated its independence."