No stranger to controversial remarks, Barrack said last September, “there is no Middle East. There are only tribes”.
Recent remarks by US envoy Tom Barrack where for many Lebanese he seemed to advocate the integration of Lebanon into Syria prompted an angry reaction from Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah.
Speaking in Doha a few days ago, Barrack suggested to “bring Lebanon and Syria closer, align these two ancient and beautiful civilisations.”
“It is totally inconceivable to talk to the Lebanese in this way, especially by diplomats,” Berri told the Lebanese Press Syndicate on Thursday.
The Lebanese parliament’s speaker further described the comments as a “major mistake that is absolutely unacceptable.”
Last July, Barrack had warned that “if Lebanon does not move, it will return to Bilad al-Sham,” using the name of greater Syria before the French mandate.
The relations between the two states have been consistently fraught with the Lebanese resenting Syrian designs over their country.
The Assad regime occupied Lebanon from 1976 to 2005.
Lebanon a Failed state, a Hezbollah state
A few weeks ago, Barrack called Lebanon “a failed state” in remarks reflecting US frustration with what it sees as with Beirut’s “paralysed government”.
Lebanon, he pointed out, is the only state in the region “not jumping in line” with the new Middle East realignments. “The state is Hezbollah,” he said.
“It is really up to the Lebanese. America is not going to get deeper involved in the situation with a foreign terrorist organization and a failed state dictating the pace and asking for more resources and more money and more help,” he said.
Barrack also said Washington would support its ally “if Israel becomes more aggressive toward Lebanon.”
The US envoy has been more positive towards Syria and expressed confidence in a security agreement being struck between Israel and the Ahmed al-Sharaa regime in Damascus.
Barrack said the United States could “volunteer to be the peacekeeping force” to support the arrangement.
I’m convinced that the Syrian regime knows that their future is based upon finding a security and border agreement with Israel,” he asserted during remarks in Washington.
“My belief is we’ll get there because it helps Israel. Israel right now, the softest play is Syria. Syria’s incentive is non-aggressive to Israel. They have no intent in being an adversary to Israel,” he added.
No stranger to controversial remarks, Barrack said last September, “there is no Middle East. There are only tribes.”
“Nation-states were created by the British and French in 1916. But the Middle East doesn’t work that way … Everything starts with the individual, the family, the village, then the tribe, the community, the religion… finally, the nation,” he told US reporters.
(The Arab Weekly)