Saudi-owned newspapers flay Syrian vice president over remarks on Lebanon
Saudi-owned newspapers lashed out at Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa on Monday over recent remarks he made on the Lebanese presidential election, particularly his claim that Syria”s influence in Lebanon “is still strong.” The London-based daily Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat said Sharaa “deserves to be called Farouk al-Sharakh,” Arabic for “split,” charging that “each time he speaks about politics he causes a split among Arabs.”
The newspaper said Sharaa”s political rhetoric “is in not in any way that of a politician,” adding that his remarks on Lebanon “show the difference between Sharaa”s thoughts and those of the Saudis in terms of Lebanon”s stability.”
Okaz newspaper, meanwhile, described Sharaa”s comments on Lebanon as “hostile and provocative statements.”
Sharaa “did not conceal his desire to have the Lebanese political impasse and the constitutional vacuum Lebanon is facing continue,” it said.
The daily Al-Watan, in turn, said Sharaa had “exposed his role as well as that of his colleagues in Lebanon when he stressed that he and his allies are stronger than at anytime before, thus exposing the group responsible for sabotaging the election process in Lebanon.”
Syria and Saudi Arabia have been at odds over Lebanon since the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The Syrian vice president affirmed last week his country”s determination to have a “stable and unified” Lebanon, adding that a solution to the one-year old impasse should start at home. “A solution to Lebanon”s crisis should not come from Syria, Iran, France or the United States, he said. “Only the Lebanese are entitled to solve their own problems.”
He also argued that the “US-Israeli project” in the region had failed to achieve its aims because of Hizbullah”s performance in the summer 2006 war with the Jewish state.
According to the official Syrian Arab News Agency, Sharaa said Damascus was trying to improve ties with neighboring countries by finding avenues of cooperation in different fields.
The Syrian official added that Syria”s “allies and friends” in Lebanon were “now even stronger than before.”
“Lebanon and Syria cannot fight, and every Lebanese knows that,” Sharaa added.
He also said that his country did not “have any ambition or wish to have a military presence in Lebanon again.”
The vice president added that Syria supported having the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as Lebanon”s next president, describing him as “a good man.”