World powers support stability in Lebanon

Despite the turmoil in neighboring Syria and popular upheavals in other Arab countries, Lebanon has managed to maintain stability, thanks to an international decision to isolate the country from the turbulence in the region, according to Western diplomats accredited in Beirut. The diplomats cited Sunday’s two rival rallies in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square by supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad which passed peacefully as a proof that Lebanon is still immune to the repercussions of the year-long uprising in Syria. It is essential to insulate Lebanon and its institutions as much as possible from the Arab, regional and international conflicts which are seeking to impose a foreign tutelage on this country instead of concentrating on attempts to improve the entire internal situation in Lebanon which is still a victim of sectarian and confessional contradictions, the diplomats said. Most security incidents that have taken place in Lebanon recently cannot be classified as “dangerous,” Western diplomatic sources said. They pointed to efforts made at the internal political levels to keep the Lebanese arena distant from the ramifications of the ongoing battle in Syria. According to the sources, messages have been sent to Lebanese leaders and officials saying that there is no international will to destabilize Lebanon, while stressing the need not to amend the Taif Accord or the Lebanese sectarian balance. The sources warned that if this balance is upset, it will plunge the country into a whirlpoolof violence with unknown consequences. While the internationalization of the Syrian crisis is under discussion in U.N. diplomatic corridors, the West’s stance on Lebanon’s sovereignty and stability is known beforehand, and does not permit any kind of bargaining or trade-off, the sources said. Despite the escalation of the situation in Syria and the predominance of the military solution, the Lebanese arena will continue to be governed by an understanding among the components of the country’s national fabric, even between allies brought together out of necessity and whose alliance depends on the outcome of the fast-moving developments in Syria, the sources said. Meanwhile, the same sources indicated that there is confirmed information that Saudi King Abdullah has taken a final decision on the need to topple Assad. Abdullah has conveyed this decision to influential regional and international powers, the sources said. The planned meeting between Gulf states and Russia Wednesday will try to reach common ground between the two sides with a view to promoting a political solution for the Syrian crisis, they added. Arab and Western states can count on Prime Minister Najib Mikati who, as a result of his moderate policy, has succeeded in neutralizing Lebanon from the regional earthquakes around it through the government’s policy of dissociation, which has proved its usefulness, the sources said. They added that Mikati, despite all obstacles and difficulties facing him, has managed to make achievements and progress on serious thorny issues like the financing of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon and renewing its mandate, in addition to raising the minimum wage along with the education and transportation allowances. Based on this assessment, Mikati has imposed himself as a man of dialogue par excellence with both internal and external parties, the sources said, adding that the only reservations they have about his performance involve the amount of time that is required for Mikati to reach a decision on certain matters.