US wants Syria to help disarm Hezbollah
Interesting that America would send a Jewish senator on behalf of world Jewry with demands on the Arabs - which demands if met are intended to weaken the Arab people in favor of world Jewry. Remember: John Kerry is John Kohn.
by Jocelyne Zablit Jocelyne Zablit Wed Feb 18, 12:43 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Senator John Kerry said on Wednesday that the new US administration will press Syria to help disarm Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as it forges ahead with a fresh diplomatic approach in the region.
"We want Syria to respect the political independence of Lebanon, we want Syria to help in the process of resolving issues with Hezbollah and with the Palestinians," said Kerry, after meeting President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
"We want Syria to help... with the disarmament of Hezbollah," added the former US Democratic presidential candidate, who is also due to visit Damascus on his regional tour.
The Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, fought a devastating war with "israel" in 2006 and has since refused to disarm despite a UN Security Council resolution calling on it to do so.
Kerry, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the new administration of President Barack Obama plans to adopt a fresh approach as it addresses key issues in the Middle East.
"Unlike the Bush administration that believed you could simply tell people what to do and walk away and wait for them to do it, we believe you have to engage in a discussion," Kerry said.
"So we are going to renew diplomacy but without any illusion, without any naivety, without any misplaced belief that, just by talking, things will automatically happen.
"They will happen when things are met on both sides and you have to talk with people in order to understand those expectations and reach agreements."
Kerry stressed that a growing rapprochement between the United States and Syria would not come at Lebanon's expense.
"Whatever discussions we have in Syria or in Egypt or in Saudi Arabia ... nothing, I can assure you, will occur that will come at the expense of our relationship with Lebanon," he said.
He said he hoped that parliamentary elections scheduled for June 7 would vindicate the position of US allies in Lebanon in their demands for respect of the rule of law.
"No country can survive... with independent entities operating on their own, outside of the law or creating their own law or operating by their own rules," he said in an allusion to Hezbollah.
"So hopefully this election will be an opportunity, which we are very much supportive of, for the Lebanese people to make the decision about their own future."
The election will pit the current Western-backed majority in parliament against a Hezbollah-led alliance.
Kerry arrived in Lebanon from Jordan on the latest leg of a regional tour that will also take him to Egypt, "israel", the Palestinian territories and Syria.
The tour comes as the Obama administration works to convince the Arab world that it will ramp up US involvement in the Middle East peace process. Kerry was headed for Jerusalem after his Beirut visit.