Bukhari Hails Rai’s Calls to ‘Neutralize Lebanon’

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai met Tuesday with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari in Diman (NNA)
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai met Tuesday with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari in Diman (NNA)
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Bukhari Hails Rai’s Calls to ‘Neutralize Lebanon’

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai met Tuesday with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari in Diman (NNA)
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai met Tuesday with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari in Diman (NNA)

Saudi Ambassador to Beirut Walid Bukhari hailed Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai’s Sunday sermon which focused on the importance of abiding to Lebanon's dissociation policy.

The diplomat made his stance during a visit on Tuesday to the Patriarch at his summer residence in Diman, where they discussed the general situation and relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

Bukhari said the Patriarch's remarks restored the Arab and international communities' faith in Lebanon.

He also highlighted Saudi Arabia's willingness to support Lebanon.

The Saudi Ambassador discussed with the Patriarch the social and humanitarian aid offered by “King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.”

Bukhari confirmed that this aid would continue with an aim to reduce the burden of the economic crisis on Lebanese citizens from all sects.

On Sunday, al-Rai accused politicians of thinking only of their own vested interests and urged the president to “break the siege against the legitimacy” and declare Lebanon’s neutrality.

After his meeting with the Saudi Ambassador, the Patriarch received a delegation from the "Strong Republic" parliamentary bloc, which informed him of the support of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to his stance.

Speaking to reporters following the meeting, MP Shawki Daccache said Lebanon cannot overcome its economic, political and social crises unless it adopts a “dissociation policy.”

“The Lebanese Forces similar to the Patriarch urges the president to break the siege against the legitimacy and announce Lebanon’s neutrality,” he said.

Daccache indicated that the delegation presented the Patriarch with an invitation to chair the mass service commemorating the Lebanese Forces' martyrs.

For his part, MP Marwan Hamade said at the Parliament Tuesday that Rai’s statements became a roadmap for the salvation of Lebanon.

“The Patriarch’s calls became clearer and more detailed,” Hamade said, indicating that Rai’s statements propose a roadmap for the salvation of Lebanon in its final borders, its historic value, its pluralism, its freedom of expression, its Arabism and its relations with the Arab and international communities, its constitutional institutions, and its absolute neutrality.



French Prosecutors Seek New Arrest Warrant against Bashar Assad

A bullet-riddled portrait of Syria's Bashar al-Assad adorns Hama's municipality following the city's capture by opposition forces on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
A bullet-riddled portrait of Syria's Bashar al-Assad adorns Hama's municipality following the city's capture by opposition forces on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
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French Prosecutors Seek New Arrest Warrant against Bashar Assad

A bullet-riddled portrait of Syria's Bashar al-Assad adorns Hama's municipality following the city's capture by opposition forces on December 6, 2024. (AFP)
A bullet-riddled portrait of Syria's Bashar al-Assad adorns Hama's municipality following the city's capture by opposition forces on December 6, 2024. (AFP)

French prosecutors said Monday they have requested a new arrest warrant against Syria's ousted President Bashar al-Assad over a deadly 2013 chemical attacks after a previous one was cancelled, AFP reported.

It is now up to investigating magistrates to decide whether to issue the new warrant.

French investigators have since 2021 been looking into a suspected Syrian government sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013, in the areas of Adra and Douma outside Damascus.

The Court of Cassation, France’s highest court, on Friday ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, annulling a French warrant against Assad issued in 2023 when he was still leader.

It however added that, as Assad, who was toppled in December, was no longer president, new warrants could be issued and the French investigation could continue.

In November 2023, the French judiciary issued an arrest warrant against Assad on charges of complicity in crimes against humanity and war crimes, in connection with the chemical attacks attributed to the Syrian government under his rule.

The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries.

An investigation – based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage – led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher – then head of the Syrian army's fourth division – and two generals, Ghassan Abbas and Bassam al-Hassan.

Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state.

The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed.

Assad and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after opposition fighters seized power on December 8.

Another French warrant is already out for Assad's arrest, issued in January for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Daraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian.