Rifi Calls for 'Expelling' Syrian Ambassador, 'Withdrawing' Lebanon's from Syria
Ex-minister and Tripoli parliamentary candidate Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi called on Wednesday for “expelling” the Syrian ambassador from Lebanon, and “withdrawing” Lebanon's ambassador from the neighboring country.
Rifi has urged President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri to “withdraw Lebanon's newly appointed ambassador to Damascus, and to expel the Syrian diplomat against the backdrop of the Syrian regime's chemical weapons attack at Douma,” he said in a tweet.
The ex-minister added saying: “Hariri should not have agreed on the appointment of a Lebanese ambassador in the first place. He is demanded today to withdraw Lebanon's ambassador after the crimes of the (Syrian) regime."
On Saturday more than 40 people died in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma in an alleged chemical attack, which left victims struggling to breathe, foaming at the mouth and with discolored skin.
The United States, Britain and France have argued the incident bears all the hallmarks of a strike ordered by the regime of Russia's ally Assad, which has been blamed for previous attacks by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
In the face of intense world outrage, the United Nations Security Council failed to agree a global response to the incident on Tuesday, after Washington and Moscow opposed each other's rival motions to set up an international investigation into chemical weapons use in the seven-year-old conflict.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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