Iran urges Lebanon to maintain unity

Following the collapse of Lebanon’s government, Iran’s caretaker foreign minister has urged the Lebanese factions to maintain their vigilance and unity.

It is expected from different Lebanese groups and factions to prevent the country’s enemies from sowing discord and tension by maintaining their vigilance and national unity, a Foreign Ministry statement quoted Ali Akbar Salehi as saying on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Lebanon’s unity government collapsed after 11 ministers led by Hezbollah and its allies resigned over tensions stemming from a US-backed probe into the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri.

Hariri and 20 other people were assassinated on February 14, 2005, when explosives equal to around 1,000 kilogram of TNT were blown up in downtown Beirut.

The Washington-sponsored Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was set up some two years later to look into the deadly incident.

Reports say that the court would likely issue an indictment against some Hezbollah members.

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has vehemently rebuffed the allegations. He has described the tribunal as part of dangerous plots against the resistance movement.

Hezbollah decided to quit the government after its demands for an urgent cabinet session over the row was rejected.

Salehi said the Syria-Saudi Arabia initiative could have helped resolve the existing situation and was supported by the regional countries.

This plan however did not yield any result because of the interferences of countries that do not have Lebanon’s interest at heart, the Iranian official added.

Syria and Saudi Arabia recently entered “strenuous negotiations” aimed at preventing Lebanon from plunging into a political crisis on the back of such indictments.

However, leading Lebanese daily As-Safir wrote last month about “intensive” pressure that Washington had applied under the slogan “No discussions before an indictment is issued.”

On Wednesday, Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun announced that Saudi Arabia and Syria have been unable to resolve the dispute, and quoted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah as saying that the collaboration had drawn a blank.