March 14 MP Ziad al-Qadiri said in a statement released on Thursday that Lebanon’s decision to abstain from voting on the UN Security Council presidential statement pertaining to the Syrian crisis “is shameful and brings harm to Lebanon’s reputation and relations with the international community.”
Qadiri also said that “the news did not surprise him because he knows that the decision of the Lebanese government is in the hands of the Syrian regime.”
His comments come after UN Security Council on Wednesday condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s brutal crackdown against protesters and called for those responsible for violence to be held “accountable.”
Lebanon did not block the adoption, but disassociated itself from the document.
“Whatever affects Lebanon, affects Syria, whatever affects Syria will also affect Lebanon,” Lebanon’s deputy ambassador Caroline Ziade told the UN Security council meeting.
“Since Lebanon considers that the statement being discussed today does not help address the current situation in Syria, Lebanon therefore disassociates itself from this presidential statement,” Ziade added.
In a related development Mt Lebanon Mufti Mohammad Ali Jouzu criticized Lebanon’s position at the UN security council regarding the condemnation of the the brutal crackdown by saying : “Lebanon does not dare to condemn the crackdown because it has itself been the victim of the crackdown since 36 years or since the days of tutelage till now” stressing” that the Lebanese people reject dictatorships of all kinds”.
He added that the Lebanese Foreign minister should represent the will of the Lebanese people, a possible reference to Syria’s influence over Hezbollah which controls the Lebanese cabinet decisions
Jouzu also criticized the position of China at the security council and warned that this could lead to boycott of Chinese products by the Arab countries
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