Editorial: No Plans for Lebanese Intervention

Pro-government Syrian media have denied that a military buildup on the border with Lebanon signifies a plan to send troops into that country.



The United States government and the March 14 Coalition in Lebanon have expressed concern about the 10,000 Syrian troops now on the border, following a buildup that began in late September. Damascus insists the Lebanese president and military have approved its actions.



In an editorial published on October 8, the official newspaper Al-Thawra said Syria did not intend to send troops into Lebanon, but would protect its own security “by all possible means”.



Al-Thawra’s editor-in-chief, Asad Abud, said that Syria lay exposed to terrorist acts launched from “neighbouring countries”.



Abdullah Khan, writing in the government newspaper Tishreen on October 6, maintained that France backs the Syrian troop buildup on the border because it “cannot accept the existence of a terrorist base on the Mediterranean coast”.



As a delegation from the March 14 group visited France, media outlets gave varying assessments of its aims. Before the Lebanese met French officials last week, the pan Arab daily Al-Hayat predicted that France would urge the group to improve its generally frosty relations with Syria.



Pro-government media in Syria put a different spin on the visit, claiming that the Lebanese were disappointed to find that France and Europe generally were becoming more supportive of Syria. The Tishreen newspaper noted that President Nicolas Sarkozy did not meet the Lebanese delegation, and that Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner advised them to embark a new relationship with Syria.



Meanwhile, the pro-government Al-Watan reported on October 8 that the March 14 Coalition wants Washington to intervene in Lebanese politics.