Al-Jumhuriya: Visitors to Al-Assad: Geagea did it too

Republic: Emad Marmel

The recent meeting between the Lebanese ministerial delegation and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus reaffirmed the problem of sharp internal division over the relationship with Syria, without the shock of the earthquake helping in a new arrangement of priorities and narrowing the differences, even as an exception.

As soon as the Lebanese ministerial delegation left the meeting with Assad, it found waiting for it on the “elbow” a number of opponents of Damascus who accused him of exploiting the human suffering to lift the political siege on the Syrian president and normalize relations with him, which provoked some of Syria’s allies and prompted them to strike back.

Thus, the political forces fell once again under the rubble of the debates, while Prime Minister Najib Mikati took it upon himself, under the horror of the tragedy, to cover the ministerial visit, suspending, even for a while, the implementation of the policy of self-distancing that he was one of its symbols.

The Minister of Social Affairs in the caretaker government, Hector Hajjar, who was among the delegation visiting Assad, asserts that it is not permissible to give the meeting exaggerated dimensions that he cannot bear, telling Al-Jumhuriya: “If you interrupt your neighbor in the building in which you live and then he suffers a serious injury, you exceed All considerations and you go to console him and offer help, so how about if your neighbor is the country that lies directly on your borders and was subjected to a disaster the size of an earthquake.

And he stressed that the visit did not, in essence, go beyond the limits of standing by an afflicted people, “It is natural that any mechanism for assistance and support requires communication with the head of state.”

Hajjar points out, “Those who hear some of the bidders who have objections think that we were the ones who were staying in Anjar, and begging for its approval.” Surprisingly, some people put the meeting with the Syrian president in the context of political normalization, and pointing out that this term should not be used “because there is privacy.” In the relationship between the two countries, which share many ties, social, geographical, commercial and family, taking into account the existence of internal differences or divisions about the pattern of the political approach to this relationship.

Hajjar reveals that he addressed al-Assad in the meeting, saying: “During the July war in 2006, the Syrians opened their doors to the displaced Lebanese and welcomed them warmly. ».

And he continued, addressing Assad: “We are neighboring countries located in a region that is the source of the monotheistic religions, and when major crises occur, one of the weakest faiths is to demonstrate the values ​​aspect in the relationship between those countries.”

Hajjar asserts that this is the ceiling of the visit to Syria, no more and no less. “All of Lebanon is a democratic country, and whoever does not like the matter has the right to object and he can also put a vote of confidence in us in Parliament, but there is no justification for distorting our initiative and distorting it with political interpretations that are not complete.” connection to the truth.

And he adds: “We went to Damascus in broad daylight in order to perform a solidarity and humanitarian mission, and to show all willingness to help within our capabilities, while there are countries communicating with Syria in the dark and under the table, but we have nothing to be ashamed of or be ashamed of, and we did not wait for it to disturb Someone in our ear to give us permission.

And he continues: “When we were preparing to go to Damascus, they started targeting us from the point of view that we would not receive a proper reception, and when Assad received us, they continued to target us, but from the point of view that we contribute to polishing his image.

Hajjar points out that the tragedy that struck Syria requires a response that rises to the required humanitarian level, “and even the United States was forced to suspend the effects of the Caesar Act for a period of 180 days, in order to facilitate the arrival of aid, while Armenia opened a humanitarian corridor with Turkey, and the Greek Foreign Minister visited Istanbul in solidarity, And this is despite all the sharp rivalry between these two countries and Turkey.

And he added, “There is no need for us to go too far.. Didn’t the head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, transcend the enmity between him and the Syrian regime, and take the initiative, in a humanitarian moment, to visit Qardaha and offer condolences to President Hafez al-Assad on the death of his son, Basil?”

Hajjar considers that caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati made the right decision to assign a ministerial delegation to visit Syria to offer its leadership assistance, in line with the principles and rules governing relations between countries, “unless it is required to use carrier pigeons to deliver our message.”