 French President Jacques Chirac has called on Syria to end all interference in Lebanon's internal affairs, adding he fully supports an international investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Speaking late Wednesday at a joint news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Chirac said: "France has nothing against Syria, but it simply wants Syria to cease any form of interference in Lebanon. It's unacceptable."
| "Unacceptable" means that you won't accept it. Therefore if they do it, there will be consequences. And these consequences are...? |
Chirac also said he backed "full sovereignty" for Lebanon and said "light must be shed" the murder of Hariri," killed in a February 2005 bomb blast. He called on Beirut and Damascus to recognize each other's existence, a clear reference to the establishment of diplomatic relations and demarcation of borders. Chirac also called for the full implementation of Resolution 1559 that calls for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, for free and fair presidential elections and for the disarmament of all militias.
| We will now pause to quibble over whether Hezbollah is a "militia" or a "resistance"... |
He described as "positive" the latest report of UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen on the progress in the implementation of the resolution adopted in 2004. Chirac said he and Mubarak agreed on Middle Eastern issues from aid to the Palestinians, to Iran's nuclear program and the simmering conflict between Lebanon and Syria. Both were opposed to military intervention in Iran, fearing it would destabilize the Middle East and the world as a whole.
| I'm still wrestling with the concept of the Middle East, one of the two most unstable areas of the world, being "destabilized." But now we have some idea of what the consequences we were discussing above aren't. |
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