Beirut, October 10: Lebanese newspapers Friday welcomed the outcome of the Saudi-Syrian summit that encouraged the formation of a unity government in Beirut and stressed that it was now up to the Lebanese to settle their differences.
“Summit of consensus in Damascus: for a national unity government in Lebanon,” said the front-page headline in the daily As-Safir, which is close to the Hezbollah-led opposition.
“The Syrian-Saudi summit shows no Lebanese can overpower another,” read the headline in Al-Akhbar, another pro-opposition daily.
Analyst Saadallah Mazraani dubbed the two-day visit to Syria by Saudi King Abdullah as “the first US failure” in his column for Al-Akhbar.
Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after meeting in Damascus on Thursday urged the formation of a national unity government in Lebanon, saying it would be the “basis for stability, unity and strength.”
Dailies close to the majority, too, welcomed the joint Saudi-Syrian call.
“The majority welcomes the summit and hopes for an end to obstacles in forming the government,” read a headline in the daily Al-Mustaqbal, which is run by the family of prime minister-designate Saad Hariri.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem was quoted by As-Safir on Friday as saying that this week’s summit between the two countries was “a success on all levels.
“The goal of both Syria and Saudi Arabia is the stability of Lebanon, and we feel that forming a national unity government is the key,” he told the Lebanese daily.
“It will be formed by the Lebanese and we support all consensus,” he added. “The ball is now in the Lebanese court.”
“The results of the summit will not be immediately apparent, but … we have overcome our differences and they are behind us now.”
Hariri has endeavoured to form a national unity government since June.
Hariri and his allies won a majority of 71 seats in an election earlier that month, while a rival coalition led by Hezbollah clinched 57.
The Hezbollah opposition had actually secured the majority (52%) of the votes in Lebanon, but could not secure a majority of Parliamentary seats (it won 45%) because of the nature of the sectarian government system in the country.
Lebanon welcomes Saudi-Syria rapprochement
Meanwhile, Lebanese politicians from across the spectrum on Friday welcomed the rapprochement between Damascus and Riyadh but warned it was insufficient to guarantee the formation of a government in Lebanon.
“The Syrian-Saudi summit is not enough,” acting Social Affairs Minister Mario Aoun told local radio on Friday.
“What we see around us does not lead to the hope that we will have a government in the near future as the United States still has not given the green light,” said Aoun, a member of the opposition.
“The Saudi-Syrian meeting was necessary but is not sufficient to form a government,” MP Mustafa Alloush of the ruling alliance, which is led by Saad Hariri, said.
Alloush said “other elements” also affected the formation of a government.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a member of the ruling majority, welcomed the Syrian-Saudi summit but said it would not resolve all of Lebanon’s problems.
—Agencies