| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria calls for Arab summit after UN resolution |
| 2005-10-31 |
| DAMASCUS - Syria called for an emergency Arab League summit in a bid on Monday to rally regional support in the face of stern UN Security Council action that would force greater cooperation from Damascus in the probe of the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister. But Arab diplomats, already hedging against a lack of broad support for a summit of all 22 members, suggested a smaller gathering of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon and Egypt might be organized should others decline out of concern over harming ties to the UN resolutionâs prime sponsors - the United States, France and Britain. Speaking at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, the diplomats said Secretary-General Amr Moussa had sent a special envoy to Gulf countries informing them of the Syrian request. The diplomats, who were not authorized to speak for publication, said Syria hoped for the meeting after Eid. Anti-Syrian Lebanese political leader Walid Jumblatt, meanwhile, warned that Damascus could face chaos and instability like that now roiling Iraq should Assad fail to cooperate with the UN probe into the Feb. 14 assassination of Minister Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister who was killed along with 20 other people in a huge bombing on a Beirut street. âIf (he) acts like Saddam did, yes, we are heading to a situation similar to what happened in Iraq,â Jumblatt said in an interview with the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite television channel late Sunday. âBut if he acts in order to preserve Syriaâs national unity and Syriaâs interest before (serving) the brother-in-law, a brother or anyone, he can save Syria.â Jumblatt was referring to Assadâs brother, Maher Assad, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, the chief of military intelligence, whose names were listed in an initial report submitted by UN investigator Detlev Mehlis on Oct. 28. The Syrian media maintained the drumbeat against UN action on Monday, with the English-language Syria Times saying the resolution as drafted was âopenly politicisedâ and too heavily influenced by the United States. âItâs immoral and totally unacceptable that the will of the (international) community remains captive to a unilateral diktat and ... accepts tyranny and hegemony,â the paper said. Tishrin, another government newspaper, criticized the proposed UN document as âtough and unbalancedâ and urged the Security Council to adopt âa balanced and objectiveâ resolution âthat would not be a clear translation of the US administrationâs will.â Al Thawra daily said the United States wants Syria to âbe stripped of its skin, abandon its regional and national role and be turned into a marginal state that carries out orders,â the paper said. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 yeah baby Assad is on his way to civil war choas. I see Zark and boys moving to Syria were a weak Assad would be alot easier target than the Big Satan and their new friends the Iraqi's Kurds/Shia. That move would cause some good chaos for many reasons imagine Assad wont go down real fast so the US will hold back on getting involved, Zark already has formed a base of supporters and the infastructure with his campain in Iraq coming from Syria, their is huge terrorist base already thier Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Palestinian Fatah, Hezbollah, ect... while not allies they too would be more than happy to make a power grab in the chaos, in lebanon a nation on the verge control and choas such campain would quickly flow across the border dragging them into it with all of thier divides becoming pronounced, all of this with Iranian financing to thier Hezbollah boys and of course all other parties at the same time to keep chaos rolling. This situation would be a ugly thing for the US to jump in the middle of but the chaos would spill across the border into Iraq would continue maybe N. Jordan and not to mention Isreal will they stand by with attacks coming across the border for how long and until how big of a attack? Cleaning up that mess will make Iraq look like a cake walk the UN I am sure with France may show up but the first car bomb and they will retreat and blame the US/Iraq war for it all, even thou the whole middle east has been balancing on a freekin wire since the 80's when radical Islam really took off and the western style strongmen who everyone hated radical or not hated just were holding on by thier teeth all the while following the Soudi model pay off the Radicals as long as they take thier Radical violence out of country. |
| Posted by: C-Low 2005-10-31 21:03 |