Syrian President Bashar Assad rebuffed renewed US pressure to rein in Lebanese militant group Hezbollah during an unscheduled visit here by Washingtonâs top Middle East diplomat. Assad told William Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, that Israel and not Hezbollah was the principal source of violence and instability in the region.
| "Nope. Nope. It ain't us. It's them. Always has been, always will be." |
âAppeals for calm and restraint should not be addressed solely to Lebanon, while a blind eye is turned to the massacres and assassinations being carried out by Israel,â the official SANA news agency quoted Assad as saying. The Syrian president questioned whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was even committed to a US-backed road map for Middle East peace, given his rejection of President George W. Bushâs calls for the abandonment of a security fence Israel is constructing through the West Bank. âSharon is continuing to build the wall of discrimination despite the opposition of Bush to the establishment of settlements and his army is launching incursions (into West Bank towns), destroying houses and killing Palestinians,â said Assad. âWisdom compels the United States, the worldâs biggest power, to help the Palestinians to recover their rights and to establish a just and durable peace in the region,â he said, accusing Sharon of a âstrategy of war and not a policy of peace.â |