Lebanese defiance: The anti-Syrian Lebanese coalition will not surrender to Hizbullah, pro-government leader Saad al-Hariri said at a Beirut press conference Tuesday afternoon. Al-Hariri said that “Hizbullah asks us to surrender, they want Beirut to raise a white flag, but this will not occur.”
Addressing Syria's and
Iran’s involvement in Lebanon,
Hariri said: “Syria and Iran are compelling Lebanon to abide by their wishes by means of Hizbullah. We are not interested in a civil war, we won’t participate in one.”
He also blamed the Lebanese army for not intervening in the conflict aside from deploying soldiers on the capital’s streets. “The army did not defend its citizens, the same citizens who defended it with their firm stand. What happened in Lebanon is a Sunni-Shiite civil war, whose cause is not political,” he said
A diatribe against Hizbullah was also issued by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal during an Arab League conference that took place Sunday.
“Iran is
managing this war and Hizbullah is looking to impose Islamic rule on all of Lebanon, like in Iran," al-Faisal said. "We must do whatever it takes in order to stop this war and save Lebanon, even if this requires the establishment of an Arab force that will quickly be deployed there, thus protecting the existing legitimate government."
The Arab League did not accept Al-Faisal’s request to deploy forces in Lebanon.
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