It has been almost six years since a brutal bombing in Beirut killed Lebanon's Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others on Valentine's Day 2005. This week, the UN prosecutor overseeing the investigation finally submitted sealed indictments to the criminal court's pre-trial judge as to who was responsible for the bombing. UN investigators and foreign intelligence over the last several years, however, have consistently pointed to senior Syrian and Iranian officials' involvement. While the names of the indicted individuals are not expected to be known for eight weeks, the Obama administration has known for quite some time that senior Syrian and Iranian officials are to blame for the brutal killings.

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South Beirut -- Informed Congressional sources in Washington DC today are confirming that the White House has informed Congressional Committee Chairpersons and American allies that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will indict Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Wali al Faqui (jurisconsult or Supreme Religious Leader) for issuing the order to assassinate Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

 

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By David Schenker and Matthew Levitt
PolicyWatch #1741
January 13, 2011

Yesterday, January 12, as Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri prepared to meet with President Obama in the Oval Office, the Hizballah-led opposition withdrew its support from the Beirut government, forcing its collapse.

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Council on Foreign Relations Blog: Pressure Points
Can Lebanon Escape?
By Elliott Abrams
Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Newspapers today are reporting that Hizbollah-backed members of parliament have withdrawn from the Lebanese government, effectively bringing down  the coalition led by Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

 

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called Saudi King Abdullah on Tuesday, wishing him a speedy recovery from recent surgery and saying he wanted to keep working with Saudi Arabia and others to stabilize the situation in Lebanon, the White House said.

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As ambassador to Lebanon from 2004 to 2008, I was the person whom Al Akhbar’s editorial chairman, Ibrahim al-Amine, hoped to upset every morning with his newspaper’s coverage (“A Rarity in the Region, a Lebanese Paper Dares to Provoke,” news article, Dec. 29).

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Commenting on the recent appointment of a US ambassador to Syria US ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly said on Friday : “President Barack Obama had announced in June of 2009, his intention to restore the U.S. ambassador to Syria. Following the nomination of Robert Ford on February 16, 2010, Obama waited 10 months for the US Senate to take the necessary measures in confirming his nomination .

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U.S. President Barack Obama has used a controversial strategy to appoint the first U.S. ambassador to Syria in nearly six years.

The White House announced Wednesday it had appointed career diplomat Robert Ford to the post.

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President Obama's First Two Years in the Middle East By David Schenker al-Hayat December 27, 2010

President Obama assumed office in 2009 with an ambitious Middle East policy agenda. Atop the list of his campaign pledges, then Senator Obama vowed to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace and re-engage in diplomacy with Tehran and Damascus. Given these grand plans, perhaps not surprisingly the first two years of the Obama Administration Middle East policy have been distinguished more by frustration than accomplishment. This is particularly true in the Levant -- in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Israel -- the focus of much of the Administration's regional efforts.

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Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the incoming chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, isn't wasting any time in pressing for deep cuts to the State Department and U.S. foreign operations around the world.

 

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Middle East Report N°100 2 Dec 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

It is hard to see who can emerge victorious in Lebanon’s latest crisis. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) dealing with the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri soon will issue its first indictments.

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(AFP) –WASHINGTON — Lebanon's government is increasingly "subordinate" to Iran and Syria, who have been helping Hezbollah rearm, a top US lawmaker told UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen on Tuesday.

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WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:

• Maura Connelly, Ambassador to the Republic of Lebanon, Department of State
 

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Hezbollah is running weapons, including surface-to-surface missiles, from secret arms depots in Syria to its bases in Lebanon, according to security sources.

The Times has been shown satellite images of one of the sites, a compound near the town of Adra, northeast of Damascus, where militants have their own living quarters, an arms storage site and a fleet of lorries reportedly used to ferry weapons into Lebanon.

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The President met today with Prime Minister Saad Hariri of Lebanon.  The President commended the Prime Minister for his leadership and for carrying on his father’s legacy, and congratulated him on Lebanon’s term as President of the U.N. Security Council, where Lebanon is contributing to upholding international peace and security.

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