Lebanon, Syria clash over UN report

Lebanon’s ambassador to the U.N. Nawaf Salam criticized Syria after a Security Council session on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s report on the implementation of resolution 1701.

There is a clear clause “in resolution 1701 on the issue of the border between Lebanon and Syria,” Salam told reporters when asked about a Syrian letter of complaint to Ban and the Security Council president for this month about the inclusion of Damascus in the U.N. chief’s report on 1701.

“I am surprised by continued references in the Syrian letters to the Cairo agreement as if it still regulates Lebanese-Palestinian ties. Lebanon annulled the Cairo agreement more than 25 years ago,” Salam said.

Syria’s ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari snapped back saying that Ban’s report on the implementation of resolution 1701 should focus on Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty rather than including Syria in it.

“Any condition linked to Lebanese sovereignty is an internal Lebanese issue in which Syria does not interfere,” he said.

When asked to answer a question on Lebanon’s abolishment of the Cairo agreement, Jaafari said: “Lebanese-Palestinian contacts are a Lebanese-Palestinian issue.”

“The situation of Palestinians in Lebanon is governed by agreements” between the two sides, the Syrian ambassador added.

“Things on issues related to Lebanon are now different,” Salam told An Nahar newspaper. “We are now interfering in all issues related to us. This without any doubt influences the nature of discussions in the Council.”