Arabist: Situation in Lebanon bears the imprints of Syria

• Tuesday, October 23, 12:31

The current crisis in Lebanon bears the imprints of Syria. The crisis in Lebanon is, at least, the result of the ongoing Syrian crisis. Lilit Haroutiunyan, senior research fellow for Arab states, Oriental Studies Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Candidate of Science in Historical Sciences,
made such statement when commenting on the growing tension in Lebanon to ArmInfo. 

She recalled about the death of Internal Security Forces Information Branch chief Wissam al-Hassan, one of the supporters of the former premier and current opposition leader Saad Hariri. Wissam al-Hassan was killed on Friday in the huge explosion that rocked the Christian quarter in Beirut. Considering that in 2005 then premier, father of Saad Hariri, Rafik Hariri was killed in Beirut on the same scenario, the latest blast aroused acute political crisis in Lebanon, Lilit Haroutiunyan said.

The Arabist believes that the Lebanese opposition sees Syrian imprints in his death given that a couple of months ago Wissam al-Hassan led the so-called  "Syrian plot" against Lebanon. In this light, Leader of the Lebanese Opposition Saad Hariri demanded resignation of premier
Mikati blaming the Lebanese authorities for failure to provide security in the country. She said that something similar happened in 2004 when then premier Rafik Hariri declared on the threshold of elections that Syrian troops should be withdrawn from Lebanon.

Afterwards he was killed. That is why Syria was blamed for that murder then. 

Commenting on the statement by Hezbollah Mass Media Director Ibrahim Moussawi who blamed Israel for an attempt to turn Lebanon into a
staging area for attacking Syria and the terrorist act in Beirut, the Arabist called the statement quite logical given that Hezbollah enjoys sympathies of the current Government of Lebanon. 

"The given situation is not within the interests of the Armenian community of Lebanon, indeed. This will probably lead to a new wave of migration of Armenians from that country. It is not a secret that the Armenian community in Lebanon was over 250,000 people in the 70s of the last century, while today there are some 50,000-60,000 Armenians in Lebanon," Lilit Haroutiunyan said.