Feltman: Washington Pursues Independent Policy on Lebanon

(WASHINGTON, DC)...According to a report by the Lebanese Daily An Nahar, Deputy assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman was quoted Saturday as saying Washington has for the first time ever adopted an independent policy on Lebanon that would persist irrespective of who wins the forthcoming presidential elections. Feltman, who was ambassador to Lebanon for over three years, said such a policy is based on support by both the Republican and Democratic parties for Lebanon as a cornerstone in the foreign policy of the United States. He explained that Washington's stand on Lebanon is based on the nation's "democracy and sovereignty" in contrast with Israel's stand, which is based on a security concept. He accused Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun of carrying out a "Syrian agenda." Aoun' s alliance with the Iranian and Syrian backed Hizbullah group has irritated the Lebanese majority alliance, backed by Feltman who has said "Aoun sounds more and more like Butheina Shaaban," Syria's Expatriates Minister and a regular critic of the US. Hizbullah, according to Feltman, maintains its weapons "in line with a regional Syrian-Iranian agenda." He has said that there was clear evidence the Shiite militant group was still smuggling weapons across the Syrian border, in violation of UN resolutions. "We find the evidence to be strong that arms smuggling is continuing across the Syrian-Lebanese border," Feltman told AFP. He added: "In our view this poses one of the biggest dangers to Lebanon and it is a violation of the spirit and the letter of a number of Security Council resolutions."