08 December 2016•Update: 08 December 2016
By Wassim Seifeddin
BEIRUT
Lebanon must abandon its policy of fence-sitting regarding the conflict in next-door Syria, Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad said Thursday.
In an interview carried by semi-official Syrian daily Al-Watan, al-Assad also said that recently-elected Lebanese President Michel Aoun had not yet been invited to visit Damascus due to Beirut’s current preoccupation with drawing up a new government.
Since the Syria conflict erupted in 2011, Lebanon’s political establishment has largely pursued a policy of neutrality vis-à-vis the conflict in Syria.
Lebanon’s Shia Hezbollah group, however, has sent militiamen to Syria to fight alongside Assad, drawing criticism from Lebanese political forces opposed to the Syrian regime and its allies.
In the interview, Assad described Aoun’s election as president in late October -- following a two-year presidential vacuum -- as a "victory for Lebanon".
"When you have someone like General Michel Aoun [as president], who understands the scourge of terrorism threatening his country and people, this is a victory for both Lebanon and Syria," Assad was quoted as saying.
On Wednesday, Ahmad Bader Hassoun, Syria’s regime-appointed mufti, and Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim visited Beirut, where they met with Aoun and Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which had erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.
