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Abdollahian from Beirut: Truce in Gaza is a Good Thing

Speaker Nabih Berri meets with Abdollahian and his accompanying delegation. (Lebanese parliament)
Speaker Nabih Berri meets with Abdollahian and his accompanying delegation. (Lebanese parliament)
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Abdollahian from Beirut: Truce in Gaza is a Good Thing

Speaker Nabih Berri meets with Abdollahian and his accompanying delegation. (Lebanese parliament)
Speaker Nabih Berri meets with Abdollahian and his accompanying delegation. (Lebanese parliament)

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian arrived in Beirut on Wednesday, leading an Iranian delegation.

He was received at the airport by Amal Movement representative Khalil Hamdan, Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, and MPs Ibrahim Al-Musawi and Amin Sherri from Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc.

Abdollahian and his accompanying delegation were received by House Speaker Nabih Berri at his Ain el-Tineh residence.

The talks focused on the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and the border clashes between Lebanon and Israel, as well as the general state of affairs in Lebanon and the region.

Moreover, Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with Abdollahian, with whom he discussed bilateral relations and the situation in Lebanon and Gaza.

Mikati underlined "the need to intensify efforts to reach a comprehensive ceasefire and stop the Israeli aggression against Gaza, and then move to search for a sustainable peaceful solution."

He also called on "influential countries to exert pressure on Israel to stop its aggression against southern Lebanon and to stop targeting civilians and journalists in particular."

For his part, the Iranian FM said: "The four-day truce in Gaza is a good thing, but what is more important is working to reach a permanent ceasefire."

"If there is no sustainable ceasefire, things will get worse, and the region will not return to what it was before the war,” he warned.

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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”