Lebanon unhappy over US sanction move
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri has said that the US-proposed sanctions on Syria would also “harm” his country and the “entire Arab nation”.
They would “harm Syria and Lebanon and the entire Arab nation and are part of the (Israeli) hegemony on Syria and Lebanon,” Hariri told reporters at a briefing in the Jordanian capital Amman on Sunday on the sidelines of an economic forum meeting.
He was answering a question on the Syria Accountability Act and Israel’s 5 October attack on Syria.
The Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act proposed in the US Congress, threatening sanctions, also seeks to force Damascus to withdraw the 20,000 Syrian troops deployed in its smaller neighbour, Lebanon.
Phone calls
Israel launched an air strike on an alleged military training camp for Palestinian resistance fighters near Damascus in the wake of a Palestinian human bombing that killed 20 people.
Hariri said he met Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb earlier on Sunday and they both placed telephone calls to their Syrian counterpart Naji al-Otri to discuss the latest developments in the region.
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“The Iraqi market is important and we know the problems they are facing” Rafic Hariri |
“We agreed to hold a three-way meeting,” at an undisclosed date to discuss issues of mutual interest, Hariri said.
The Lebanese prime minister said he likewise held a series of meetings in Amman with members of Iraq’s US-backed interim government and businessmen taking part in the Amman forum.
The Iraqi delegation asked him to help provide Iraqi nationals visas to enter Lebanon and he promised to look into their requests.
“The Iraqi market is important and we know the problems they are facing but we also believe that Iraq will get back on its feet in a few years thanks to its human and natural resources,” Hariri said.