President George W. Bush on Friday banned entry to the United States by Syrian and Lebanese officials whom Washington accuses of undermining the Lebanese government, the White House said.
The list of Syrian officials the United States considers to have meddled in Lebanon includes Assef Shawkat, Syria's director of military intelligence ( brother-in-law of president Bashar el-Assad), Hisham Ikhtiyar, adviser to President Assad and the former head of Syria's security apparatus in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazali , Juma'a Juma'a, top Syrian military intelligence official, according to information provided by the White House. The list of the Lebanese who are banned entry includes the four former Lebanese ministers - Abdel-Rahim Mrad, Assad Hardan, Assem Qanso and Michel Samaha, Wiam Wahhab and former MP Nasser Qandil The U.S. move followed repeated calls by Washington for Damascus to stop fomenting instability in Lebanon. |