Introduction to the evening news 14-02-2012

Three important events marked the February 14th commemoration in Beirut: First, the participation of the Syrian National Council through a letter read by the coordinator of the March 14 secretariat. The letter was a declaration of the inseparability of the Lebanese and Syrian oppositions at a time when the courses taken by the two countries have diverged amid severe political and sectarian divisions in Lebanon.          

Second, the Progressive Socialist Party partially participated in the commemoration ceremony.          

While MP Walid Jumblatt was not personally present, he sent his two sons along with a ministerial, parliamentary and party delegation to the shrine of the late Rafic Hariri. The PSP was represented at the ceremony held at BIEL on Tuesday afternoon by Secretary-General Zafer Nasser. This occurred after an exchange of media messages between Hariri and Jumblatt and after a phone conversation, the first in two years, between Prince Saud Faisal and Jumblatt after Minister Ghazi Aridi managed to ease tension between the parties during his dual visits to Saudi Arabia.           

Third, former PM Saad Hariri tried to make a distinction between Shiites and Hezbollah and advised Hezbollah to disassociate itself from the four accused in the Hariri investigation.         
The festive event held at BIEL stands in contrast with the atmosphere of a government in crisis as Prime Minister Najib Mikati is adamant to suspend the cabinet sessions and General Michel Aoun is rushing to suggest the issue of the procedural authority and the file of the cabinet’s internal system.          

In Syria, since the Arab League suggestion to send a UN-Arab peacekeeping force was met with reservation on the part of the U.S. and Europe in parallel to the Sino-Russian veto, the Arabs are beginning to entertain the idea of arming the opposition. Reuters quoted the ambassador of an Arab country that Qatar and Saudi Arabia were adamant to keep the material support phrase in the final statement of the ministerial meeting, not to exclude armaments. The wire service also quoted the ambassador as saying, “we will support the opposition financially and diplomatically to begin with, but will be obliged to help protect civilians if the killing continues. Two, rather more forthcoming, diplomats said that the resolution allows shipment of arms to the opposition.