Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on Sunday insisted that Lebanon was not a “potential target” of US President George Bush’s anti-terror drive, saying his country was willing to cooperate with the campaign.
Hariri’s statement came as he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday and French President Jacques Chirac on Saturday to assess international tension in the wake of the recent suicide attacks in the United States, reported the Beirut-based Daily Star.
Hariri and Assad discussed the implications for their countries of the attacks in the US, as well as the need to coordinate with other Arab states before making any decision, it said.
The premier said after meeting Chirac that the Lebanese had suffered more than their share of terrorism-associated trouble and that they, too, had lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 suicide attacks.
“We have suffered much because of the terrorism that targeted our country for the past 20 years. Therefore, it is only natural we should be part of the international anti-terrorism drive,” he told the Star.
Asked if Chirac had given him any assurances with regard to the threat of US reprisals, Hariri said the issue was not on the table right now.
“I do not know why some people insist on making us and the Syrians a part of this,” he said. Both countries “have nothing to do with this, and only the Arab media keeps associating them with it.”
He stressed that US Ambassador Vincent Battle had also failed to suggest that an attack here was likely.
Battle “spoke to us about cooperation with the Americans,” said Hariri. “We were the first Arab country to condemn the suicide attacks, and the third country to do so internationally, after Britain and France. We condemn terrorism and we are ready to cooperate, at all levels, with the Americans and Europeans.”
The premier refused to speculate if the country would join the international anti-terrorism alliance, but added that the majority of Arab countries were opposed to terrorism.
Meanwhile, other government officials said that if Washington hoped to win support for its international coalition, it should distinguish between “terrorism” and the legitimate anti-Israeli resistance of Palestinian and Lebanese groups, according to the paper.
“I am not going to make statements in advance. But when an official request is submitted to us, whether concerning individuals or organizations, we shall say our piece clearly,” Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said Saturday.
Aridi added that the government did not consider anti-Israeli resistance to be terrorism.
Israeli occupation forces withdrew from south Lebanon in May 2000, leaving in their wake countless orphans, ruined infrastructure and fields of landmines.
Israel still occupies an area claimed by Lebanon known as the Shabaa Farms, and Hizbollah resistance fighters have occasionally attacked the garrison there – Albawaba.com
