US President Barack Obama on Monday discussed with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri the threat posed by illegal arms smuggled into Lebanon.
Regional tensions have been mounting over claims the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which is based in southern Lebanon just across the border from Israel, is stockpiling sophisticated weaponry in anticipation of war.
Analysts said before Hariri arrived that he was expected to seek US assurances during his five-day trip that the Obama administration will use its influence with Israel to dial down tensions.
Obama stressed “the threat posed by the transfer of weapons into Lebanon” in violation of UN resolutions, the White House said in a statement issued after the talks, which did not feature the usual joint press appearance.
The White House also appeared to pressure Hariri to back growing moves to impose new sanctions on Iran over its refusal to rein in its suspect nuclear program.
“The president stressed the importance of efforts to ensure Iran complies with its international nonproliferation obligations,” the White House statement said.
Lebanon, which has two members from the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in its government, is perceived to be one of the countries on the 15-member UN Security Council opposed to new sanctions. The others are Turkey and Brazil.
Obama said Washington would continue its efforts “to support and strengthen Lebanese institutions such as the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces.”
Hezbollah, which fought a devastating war with Israel in 2006 and is blacklisted by Washington as a terrorist organization, is the only faction that refused to disarm following the 1975-1990 civil war.
In recent months Israel has repeatedly accused Syria of arming Hezbollah with Scud missiles and other weaponry and warned that in the event of a new conflict it will consider Lebanon, rather than just Hezbollah, its enemy.
The threats have sparked war jitters and prompted a flurry of diplomatic activity to ease tensions in the region.
Hariri urged called for US support “to help Lebanon’s defense capability and to help our security institutions exercise control over all Lebanese territories.”
He added that Beirut believed stability in Lebanon, which has seen decades of political upheaval and civil unrest, “depends ultimately on the attainment of a just peaceful settlement in the region.”
“The clock is ticking. And it is ticking against us. Against all those who believe in a just peace ... Failure will nurture more extremism and give birth to new forms of violence. This poses great dangers to everyone in the Middle East and to the world at large,” Hariri said.
The Arab-Israeli peace process was also discussed in Hariri’s talks with top US officials ahead of the White House meeting.
“We discussed the key role of Lebanon in the long-term effort to build a lasting, comprehensive peace in the Middle East,” assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, Jeffrey Feltman said
“Realizing this goal will help the region move forward and enjoy greater prosperity and stability. The importance of achieving this is clear to everyone,” Feltman said.
The US has focused its regional diplomacy efforts on reviving direct Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations while at the same time pressing for a resumption of Israel’s negotiations with Syria and Lebanon.
A senior State Department official also told reporters on condition of anonymity that Feltman and Hariri talked about “the importance of the upcoming vote on the resolution” for new UN Security Council sanctions against Iran.
The UN force in Lebanon has about 13,000 troops from various countries stationed in southern Lebanon. The force, set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon, was considerably beefed up in the wake of the devastating 2006 war.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
‘PLAINLY ERRONEOUS’: The justice department appealed a Trump-appointed judge’s blocking of the release of a report into election interference by the incoming president US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal cases against US president-elect Donald Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents, has resigned after submitting his investigative report on Trump, an expected move that came amid legal wrangling over how much of that document can be made public in the days ahead. The US Department of Justice disclosed Smith’s departure in a footnote of a court filing on Saturday, saying he had resigned one day earlier. The resignation, 10 days before Trump is inaugurated, follows the conclusion of two unsuccessful criminal prosecutions
RSS