Pompeo’s visit ’changed nothing’ – Lebanese Parliament Speaker
By Staff, Agencies
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri downplayed the impact of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the country, dismissing it as just another visit from an American official biased toward ‘Israeli’ interests, in remarks to Al-Joumhouria newspaper published Wednesday.
“Nothing changed or will change. US Secretary Mike Pompeo did not give Lebanon anything. He also did not take anything from Lebanon except for the statement he brought with him,” Berri said.
Pompeo’s first visit to Beirut as secretary of state was part of a regional tour that also took him to Kuwait and the ‘Israeli’-occupied Palestinian territories and was aimed at ramping up pressure on Iran and Hezbollah.
Pompeo held talks Friday with top Lebanese leaders, including Berri, highlighting US concerns about Hezbollah’s “destabilizing activities” in Lebanon and the region.
The visit, Berri said, echoed many previous visits from American officials, in that Pompeo conveyed a position “harmonious with the ‘Israeli’ position regarding maritime borders or Hezbollah. ... And it won’t be long before the Lebanese people forget it.”
Berri said when he met with Pomeo, it had been important for him to “tell him what he did not want to hear: that Hezbollah is a Lebanese resistance, political, active and strong party.”
Berri, as well as Hezbollah allies President Michel Aoun and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, all stressed in their meetings with Pompeo that Hezbollah was a Lebanese political party that enjoyed wide-ranging popular support.
In his remarks to Al-Joumhouria, Berri also condemned the US’ decision Monday to recognize ‘Israeli’ sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.
The Zionist regime seized the strategic territory from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed it in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community.
Berri warned that now - in light of the US’s decision on the Golan Heights and its December 2017 decision to recognize occupied al-Quds as the capital of the occupation entity - anything could be expected from US President Donald Trump regarding Lebanese territory still occupied by ‘Israel.’
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