عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Derian Hails Saudi Arabia’s Insistence Not To Abandon Lebanon

Derian received on Tuesday Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)
Derian received on Tuesday Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)
TT
TT

Derian Hails Saudi Arabia’s Insistence Not To Abandon Lebanon

Derian received on Tuesday Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)
Derian received on Tuesday Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari. (NNA)

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdullatif Derian expressed gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its unwavering insistence not to abandon Lebanon despite "preferential" positions made by some Lebanese parties.

Derian expressed “great appreciation to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for the insistence of the wise leadership not to abandon Lebanon and its people, despite some unfair stances against the Kingdom issued by some Lebanese parties."

Derian’s remarks came during his Tuesday meeting with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari.

Bukhari underlined the Kingdom’s keenness on Lebanon’s security and stability.

He said seditious rhetoric does not gain legitimacy, nor does any attempt to change Lebanon’s Arab identity.

Bukhari stressed the importance of permanent communication with Dar Al-Fatwa.

"The Ambassador stressed that Dar el-Fatwa is the moderate religious and national reference, which maintains its unifying role during the crises that Lebanon is witnessing,” the media office of Dar Al-Fatwa said in a statement.

The ambassador affirmed the Kingdom’s keenness on the security and stability of Lebanon and its institutions, and on the consolidation of Muslim-Christian coexistence.

Derian noted that relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia “were and will remain firm because the Kingdom continues to view Lebanon and its people as a brotherly Arab country.”

Bukhari also visited on Tuesday Druze Sheikh Al-Aql, Sheikh Sami Abi Al-Mona.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

US Troops Need to Stay in Syria to Counter ISIS, Austin Says

FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
TT
TT

US Troops Need to Stay in Syria to Counter ISIS, Austin Says

FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

The US needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the ISIS group from reconstituting as a major threat following the ouster of Bashar Assad's government, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press.
American forces are still needed there, particularly to ensure the security of detention camps holding tens of thousands of former ISIS fighters and family members, Austin said Wednesday in one of his final interviews before he leaves office.
According to estimates, there are as many as 8,000-10,000 ISIS fighters in the camps, and at least 2,000 of them are considered to be very dangerous.
If Syria is left unprotected, “I think ISIS fighters would enter back into the mainstream,” Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he traveled to discuss military aid for Ukraine with about 50 partner nations.
“I think that we still have some work to do in terms of keeping a foot on the throat of ISIS," he said.
President-elect Donald Trump tried to withdraw all forces from Syria in 2018 during his first term, which prompted the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. As the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, advanced against Assad last month, Trump posted on social media that the US military needed to stay out of the conflict.
The US has about 2,000 troops in Syria to counter ISIS, up significantly from the 900 forces that officials said for years was the total number there. They were sent in 2015 after the militant group had conquered a large swath of Syria.
The continued presence of US troops was put into question after a lightning insurgency ousted Assad on Dec. 8, ending his family’s decades long rule.
US forces have worked with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on operations against ISIS, providing cover for the group that Türkiye considers an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it identifies as a terror organization.
The Syrian transitional government is still taking shape, and uncertainty remains on what that will mean going forward.
The SDF “have been good partners. At some point, the SDF may very well be absorbed into the Syrian military and then Syria would own all the (ISIS detention) camps and hopefully keep control of them,” Austin said. "But for now I think we have to protect our interests there.”