Beirut |
July 22, 2007
Beirut asked Sarkozy to Pressure Khadafy into Aborting Lebanon Destabilization Scheme
Beirut - July 22, 2007
Libya has provided a pro-Syrian Palestinian Guerrilla group with financial backing to destabilize Lebanon, and Beirut authorities responded by asking French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Pressure Moammar Khadafy into aborting the scheme.
Sarkozy is to visit Libya in the next few days for talks with Khadafy.
According to credible information received by Naharnet, the Lebanese request was made through diplomatic channels following confirmed reports of recent meetings between Khadafy and leader of the pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrilla group which is active in Lebanon.
The information said Khadafy provided the group, which was not named, with enough financial backing to recruit Sunni political factions in Lebanon.
The majority of Lebanon's Sunni sect backs al-Moustaqbal movement which has been at loggerheads with Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime since the Feb. 14 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
Al-Moustaqbal, headed by MP Saad Hariri, the slain premier's son and political heir, is part of the March 14 majority alliance that backs Premier Fouad Saniora's government and blames the serial crimes that have targeted anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon on the Assad regime.
Damascus denies the charges.
According to information received by Naharnet, Syria and Iran succeeded recently in convincing Khadafy of joining their allies in Lebanon, represented by the Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition.
Libya was known to have backed certain Palestinian and Lebanese factions during the 15-year-old civil war which came to an end in Oct. 1990.
Khadafy, according to the information, was convinced by Syria and Iran to revive his backing of such Palestinian and Sunni Lebanese factions in the northern city of Tripoli, the southern city of Sidon as well as the capital Beirut and the western sector of the Bekaa valley.
Libyan efforts were underway to reactivate "dormant" groups in an effort to destabilize the anti-Syrian Sunni sect after the perceived collapse of the so-called Fatah-al-Islam group in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, according to the information.
The Syrian-Iranian plan to reinstall Libyan interference in Lebanon and penetrate the nation's Sunni sect aims at marshalling Arab backing after their allies, led by Hizbullah, failed to enjoy Arab support.
Major Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council –with the exception of Qatar- back the Saniora government and the March 14 alliance.
The Syrian-Iranian effort to get Libya involved in Lebanon coincided with recently reported efforts by Damascus and Tehran with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to settle the issue of Lebanese supreme Shiite Leader Moussa al-Sadre who went missing during a visit to Khadafy nearly three decades ago.
Berri, a ranking member of the Syrian-backed opposition, heads the Shiite AMAL movement which was founded by Sadre in the 1970s.
AMAL blamed Khadafy for Sadre's mysterious disappearance.
Reports published recently spoke of a deal proposed by Tehran to settle the Sadre case based on an agreement between Lebanon's Shiite leaders and Khadafy on a "compensation" for the lost Shiite spiritual leader similar to what had been paid to relatives of the Lockerby and la Belle Disco terror attacks blamed on Libyan intelligence.
Berri also denied reports about an alleged meeting he had held recently with Seif al-Islam Khadafy, the Libyan Leader's son who had negotiated with relatives of Libyan Terror victims on compensations that were paid to normalize Libya's relations with the west.
Libya also dismantled its Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Program and renounced violence in return for normalizing relations with the west and ending its decades-long Isolation.
Libya has provided a pro-Syrian Palestinian Guerrilla group with financial backing to destabilize Lebanon, and Beirut authorities responded by asking French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Pressure Moammar Khadafy into aborting the scheme.
Sarkozy is to visit Libya in the next few days for talks with Khadafy.
According to credible information received by Naharnet, the Lebanese request was made through diplomatic channels following confirmed reports of recent meetings between Khadafy and leader of the pro-Syrian Palestinian guerrilla group which is active in Lebanon.
The information said Khadafy provided the group, which was not named, with enough financial backing to recruit Sunni political factions in Lebanon.
The majority of Lebanon's Sunni sect backs al-Moustaqbal movement which has been at loggerheads with Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime since the Feb. 14 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
Al-Moustaqbal, headed by MP Saad Hariri, the slain premier's son and political heir, is part of the March 14 majority alliance that backs Premier Fouad Saniora's government and blames the serial crimes that have targeted anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon on the Assad regime.
Damascus denies the charges.
According to information received by Naharnet, Syria and Iran succeeded recently in convincing Khadafy of joining their allies in Lebanon, represented by the Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition.
Libya was known to have backed certain Palestinian and Lebanese factions during the 15-year-old civil war which came to an end in Oct. 1990.
Khadafy, according to the information, was convinced by Syria and Iran to revive his backing of such Palestinian and Sunni Lebanese factions in the northern city of Tripoli, the southern city of Sidon as well as the capital Beirut and the western sector of the Bekaa valley.
Libyan efforts were underway to reactivate "dormant" groups in an effort to destabilize the anti-Syrian Sunni sect after the perceived collapse of the so-called Fatah-al-Islam group in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, according to the information.
The Syrian-Iranian plan to reinstall Libyan interference in Lebanon and penetrate the nation's Sunni sect aims at marshalling Arab backing after their allies, led by Hizbullah, failed to enjoy Arab support.
Major Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council –with the exception of Qatar- back the Saniora government and the March 14 alliance.
The Syrian-Iranian effort to get Libya involved in Lebanon coincided with recently reported efforts by Damascus and Tehran with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to settle the issue of Lebanese supreme Shiite Leader Moussa al-Sadre who went missing during a visit to Khadafy nearly three decades ago.
Berri, a ranking member of the Syrian-backed opposition, heads the Shiite AMAL movement which was founded by Sadre in the 1970s.
AMAL blamed Khadafy for Sadre's mysterious disappearance.
Reports published recently spoke of a deal proposed by Tehran to settle the Sadre case based on an agreement between Lebanon's Shiite leaders and Khadafy on a "compensation" for the lost Shiite spiritual leader similar to what had been paid to relatives of the Lockerby and la Belle Disco terror attacks blamed on Libyan intelligence.
Berri also denied reports about an alleged meeting he had held recently with Seif al-Islam Khadafy, the Libyan Leader's son who had negotiated with relatives of Libyan Terror victims on compensations that were paid to normalize Libya's relations with the west.
Libya also dismantled its Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Program and renounced violence in return for normalizing relations with the west and ending its decades-long Isolation.
