Lebanese Former Premiers Criticize Aoun’s Tone Towards Hariri

Lebanese President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri meet at the presidential palace on Thursday. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri meet at the presidential palace on Thursday. (Dalati & Nohra)
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Lebanese Former Premiers Criticize Aoun’s Tone Towards Hariri

Lebanese President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri meet at the presidential palace on Thursday. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri meet at the presidential palace on Thursday. (Dalati & Nohra)

Lebanese former Prime Ministers Najib Mikati, Fouad Siniora and Tammam Salam deplored President Michel Aoun’s behavior towards Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, accusing him of “distorting the constitution”.

They instead underlined the need to form a government that enjoys the confidence of the Lebanese people.

In a statement following a meeting held in the absence of Hariri, the former premiers expressed their regret over “the method adopted by His Excellency the President of the Republic, who is the head of state and a symbol of the nation’s unity, in addressing the Prime Minister-designate through a televised statement, while the agreed principles require direct communication between them, especially as the country is going through a fateful crisis.”

The former premiers emphasized the “sense of high responsibility expressed by Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri… by countering repeated attempts to drag him into quarrels and media disputes, which could have destroyed the remaining credibility of the falling state.”

Calling on Aoun to abide by the constitution, they said that Article 53 pertaining to the powers of the President of the Republic to form the government, stipulates that the president “shall issue the decree forming the government in agreement with the prime minister.”

“It did not say ‘form’, but rather ‘issue’,” they emphasized.

The former premiers underlined that the task of formation was “entrusted, according to the second paragraph of Article 64, to the designated prime minister based on the confidence granted to him by the parliamentary majority…”

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Aoun asked Hariri to form a new government immediately or make way for someone else.

A meeting was held between the two top officials the following day, after which the premier-designate expressed a more positive tone, saying another meeting was scheduled for Monday and that he saw “an opportunity to be seized”.



Türkiye Backing Syria’s Military and Has No Immediate Withdrawal Plans, Defense Minister Says 

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attends a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a mine countermeasures naval group in the Black Sea, aimed at clearing mines floating there as a result of the war in Ukraine, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 11, 2024. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attends a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a mine countermeasures naval group in the Black Sea, aimed at clearing mines floating there as a result of the war in Ukraine, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 11, 2024. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Backing Syria’s Military and Has No Immediate Withdrawal Plans, Defense Minister Says 

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attends a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a mine countermeasures naval group in the Black Sea, aimed at clearing mines floating there as a result of the war in Ukraine, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 11, 2024. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler attends a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on establishing a mine countermeasures naval group in the Black Sea, aimed at clearing mines floating there as a result of the war in Ukraine, in Istanbul, Türkiye, January 11, 2024. (Reuters)

Türkiye is training and advising Syria's armed forces and helping improve its defenses, and has no immediate plans for the withdrawal or relocation of its troops stationed there, Defense Minister Yasar Guler told Reuters.

Türkiye has emerged as a key foreign ally of Syria's new government since opposition groups - some of them backed for years by Ankara - ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December to end his family's five-decade rule.

It has promised to help rebuild neighboring Syria and facilitate the return of millions of Syrian civil war refugees, and played a key role last month getting US and European sanctions on Syria lifted.

The newfound Turkish influence in Damascus has raised Israeli concerns and risked a standoff or worse in Syria between the regional powers.

In written answers to questions from Reuters, Guler said Türkiye and Israel, which carried out its latest airstrikes on southern Syria late on Tuesday, are continuing de-confliction talks to avoid military accidents in the country.

Türkiye’s overall priority in Syria is preserving its territorial integrity and unity, and ridding it of terrorism, he said, adding Ankara was supporting Damascus in these efforts.

"We have started providing military training and consultancy services, while taking steps to increase Syria's defense capacity," Guler said, without elaborating on those steps.

Named to the post by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan two years ago, Guler said it was too early to discuss possible withdrawal or relocation of the more than 20,000 Turkish troops in Syria.

Ankara controlled swathes of northern Syria and established dozens of bases there after several cross-border operations in recent years against Kurdish militants it deems terrorists.

This can "only be re-evaluated when Syria achieves peace and stability, when the threat of terrorism in the region is fully removed, when our border security is fully ensured, and when the honorable return of people who had to flee is done," he said.

NATO member Türkiye has accused Israel of undermining Syrian peace and rebuilding with its military operations there in recent months and, since late 2023, has also fiercely criticized Israel's assault on Gaza.

But the two regional powers have been quietly working to establish a de-confliction mechanism in Syria.

Guler described the talks as "technical level meetings to establish a de-confliction mechanism to prevent unwanted events" or direct conflict, as well as "a communication and coordination structure".

"Our efforts to form this line and make it fully operational continue. Yet it should not be forgotten that the de-confliction mechanism is not a normalization," he told Reuters.