Israel seeks to harm crisis-hit Lebanon

Following the collapse of Lebanon’s government, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Israel is trying to take advantage of Beirut’s current situation.

“The Zionist Regime of [Israel] is seeking to take advantage of Lebanon’s current situation and harming this country and the region,” Ahmadinejad said in a phone conversation with Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday.

Regional countries should find a solution to resolve Lebanon’s issues through cooperation and coordination, the Iranian president added.

On January 12, 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 more than 20 other people were killed on February 14, 2005, when explosives equal to around 1,000 kilograms of TNT went off in downtown Beirut.

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

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

Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah has described the tribunal as part of dangerous US-Israeli plots against the resistance movement.

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

Ahmadinejad and Erdogan expressed regret over Lebanon’s situation and called for making a swift decision irrespective of political considerations and the interference of foreigners for resolving the country’s problem.

Erdogan stressed Tehran’s positive and constructive role in the region and said, “Iran and Turkey can play a role in managing the crisis in Lebanon.”

In a meeting with Sudan’s Minister of Agriculture and President Umar al-Bashir’s special envoy Abdul-Halim Ismail Al-Mutaafi on Saturday, Ahmadinejad called for the expansion of cooperation between the two countries.

The Iranian president stressed that the future belongs to the independent and freedom-seeking countries and said, “Iran will stand beside the Sudanese government and nation until the end.”

“The mutual and revolutionary stances of the two countries on important regional and international issues, is an opportunity for enhancing the level of political, economic and cultural cooperation.”