BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri criticized Monday the U.S.-led military campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, saying that airstrikes have not changed the battle on the ground.
“The coalition led by the United States to combat ISIS has not been serious [considering] the reality on the ground,” Berri said during a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Ali Larijani in Geneva on the sidelines of the 131st General Assembly meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
“There is a new bid to parititon the already partitioned region. This is the Sykes-Picot agreement ending between Iraq and Syria while the focus now is between Syria and Lebanon, and Lebanon and Palestine.”
Berri referred to the 1916 agreement between Britain and France to slice the Middle East into new countries during the period of European rule over the region.
Many politicians in Lebanon and the region blame the agreement for internal disputes and long-standing issues.
Berri said that Israel was the only beneficiary from regional divisions, and that other purposes for such conflicts were related to oil.
Berri also spoke about the situation in Lebanon, saying that the Lebanese Army needed all the help it could get to fight terrorism.
“If the Lebanese unite and strengthened their unity, there wouldn't be a problem. We have defeated Israel with our resistance and unity,” he said.
He thanked Iran for the grant recently offered by the Islamic Republic to boost the military’s capabilities, saying Lebanon counted on its Army to face terrorism.
For his part, Larijani also criticized the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition that is made up of Arab and Western countries.
“The international coalition led by the United States has not performed any miracles. We can safely say that it has not achieved anything by its airstrikes,” he said during talks with Berri.
He reaffirmed Iran's readiness to offer anything that could strengthen Lebanon's security and stability because Tehran “depends on its role in the region."
“There are no restriction to supporting our brothers in Lebanon.”
Berri also held talks with President of the Syrian Parliament Mohammad Laham, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Sallim al-Jabouri, and the head of the Palestinian delegation.
After the talks with Jabouri, Berri told reporters that he would soon send an official invitation to the Iraqi official to visit Lebanon.
Berri also took part in two meetings on Sunday and Monday where the participants agreed to back two documents provided by the UAE and Ecuador to support the Palestinian cause and combat terrorism.
No comments:
Post a Comment