Bogdanov arrived in Beirut on Thursday and met with Lebanese leaders, including Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, parliament speaker Nabih
KnobbyBerri
Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, a member of AMAL, a not very subtle Hizbullah sock puppet...
, and former president Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
. The Russian diplomat pledged that Russia would help arm Leb against Syrian rebel groups, and said Moscow was working to restart negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition without preconditions.
Both Russia and Hezbollah back the Syrian regime of
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
, and both have condemned the US
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
. Hezbollah has dispatched fighters to Syria to bolster Assad?s forces.
Bogdanov arrived at the invitation of the Lebanese government to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
During his visit, Bogdanov said Russia was prepared to ?help Leb?s army, police and security forces to effectively combat terrorist groups,? according to the Russian TASS news agency.
He called on Leb ?to join forces to fight terrorism, which poses a threat not only to the Middle East but to the whole world.?
Bogdanov termed the situation ?dangerous and alarming,? and called for dialogue between the Syrian opposition and government to resolve the four-year civil war that has claimed over 200,000 lives.
?It is impossible to find any fundamental solution to the problems without a dialogue involving all concerned parties,? he said.
The Russian diplomat said Moscow was negotiating with the rebel groups in an effort to restart peace talks.
?Our task is to improve consultations for preparing serious talks without preconditions,? he said.
?The Syrians should gather together and start a dialogue. This will make it possible to bring together views on all issues,? he said, noting that ?the Syrian people will determine the fate of Syria and its future.?