A number of Lebanese officials condemned on Saturday the US-led strikes against Syrian regime chemical and military installations at a time when military sources denied claims that Lebanon’s airspace was used in the attack.
No foreign jets were detected over Lebanon, they told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, meanwhile, said that the western strike by Washington, Paris and London “does not serve in reaching a political solution to the Syria crisis.”
“Lebanon opposes foreign attacks against any Arab country regardless of the reasons that prompted them,” he continued.
He expressed pessimism that the recent developments in Syria are a sign that major powers will become further involved in the crisis.
Some Lebanese officials said that the condemnation of the strike was a violation of their country’s policy of disassociation from regional crises.
Ministerial sources from the Free Patriotic Movement told Asharq Al-Awsat that Aoun’s stance does not violate the policy, but instead underlines Lebanese principles that oppose attacks against any Arab country.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri did not issue a statement on the strike.
The Defense Ministry condemned the raid, with Minister Yaacoub al-Sarraf saying that Lebanon “categorically” refuses to have its sovereignty violated by allowing its airspace to be used to attack Syria.
The Foreign Ministry said that the raid is a “blatant violation of a fraternal state’s sovereignty and a violation of international treaties and norms.”
It noted that a transparent international investigation by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons should have been carried out before the raid was staged.
The western strike in Syria came in response to the regime’s chemical attack against the town of Douma on April 7.
The Foreign Ministry stressed Lebanon’s rejection of the use of chemical arms and the need to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.
