US source and demonstration in Lebanon
Lebanon-Israel-USA, Politics, 2/21/2000

A US source told Monte Carlo Radio on Saturday that the US has confidence in the ability of the Lebanese government to ensure the safety and protection of the diplomatic corps.

The source commented on the demonstrations which took place in Lebanon on February 18 in protest against the US silence towards the Israeli raids against Lebanon as well as the demands pronounced by the demonstrators to take the US ambassador from Lebanon, saying that the US ambassador in Beirut represents President Bill Clinton in Lebanon and that the ambassador is in continuous contact with the Lebanese government at top levels.

The source added that the comments made by the spokesman for the US State Department, in which he said that the Israeli air strike against the Lebanese infrastructure will not help the situation in Lebanon, were a result of pressure and criticism made in the recent days against the US government by several congressmen and the Lebanese and Arab organizations in the US and following the popular anger throughout Lebanon following these Israeli raids.

The American source added that there are voices in the US official circles calling for taking a position more sympathetic to the suffering of the Lebanese people and having a distance between Washington and Israel because the US credibility as an honest broker for the Middle East peace is weakening in the region.

The US source added that from now on, Washington will concentrate on the following points: to hold the Hizbullah responsible for the escalation and to say that striking the infrastructure will not solve the problem but that it will increase the suffering of the Lebanese people, as well as to continue clinging to the mechanism of the April Understanding committee of 1996.

Previous Stories:
  Walker: Israel violated April Understanding provisions   (2/14/2000)
  Al-Hoss asks Washington to prevent Israel from shelling civil targets in Lebanon   (2/12/2000)
  Israel informed the US on its operations in Lebanon   (2/9/2000)

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