Mansour Refuses to be a False Witness, Warns Syrian Fire Could Enflame Lebanon
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour rejected to be a false witness in the meetings of Arab foreign ministers, warning that Lebanon would be harmed if Syria was engulfed by fire.
In an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Rai daily published Sunday, Mansour said: “If we have remarks then we will say them boldly particularly if that decision would threaten the security and stability of Syria.”
His comment came after he was asked if he would heed the call of Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat to keep his “silence” during the meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers that will be held in Cairo to discuss their next move over the Syrian crisis.
“We won’t remain silent; we are not false witnesses as we have the right to express our opinion openly and frankly,” he stressed.
The Cairo meeting comes after Gulf Cooperation Council states said they would withdraw their envoys from Syria and expel Damascus' ambassadors, joining mounting international pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad over the killings of civilians.
Asked about the GCC move, Mansour said: “That’s the issue of the Gulf countries. What we want to do is to help Syria in finding a solution and ending its crisis and not to complicate things on the ground.”
“The security of Lebanon and Syria are interconnected and if fire engulfs Syria then its flames would reach Lebanon,” he warned, saying “what happened in the north is a proof.”
Gunbattles between the dominant Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and mainly Sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh in the northern city of Tripoli have left at least three people dead.
The fighting underscored how the Syrian regime’s 11-month-old crackdown on protestors, is enflaming emotions in Lebanon. Alawites make up the majority of the Syrian regime's leadership and to which Assad himself belongs.
Mansour reiterated on Saturday that Lebanon rejects “to shove itself in the decisions taken by the Arab League on Syria given the special ties between the two countries.”
Lebanon should continue to adhere to its policy of steering itself clear of the developments in Syria that Premier Najib Miqati had called for, he said.
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