Gemayel urges world powers to resolve differences over Syria

Kataeb party leader Amin Gemayel called on the international community to bridge divisions over the crisis in Syria, the National News Agency reported Tuesday. “I call on the international community and the European Union to bridge the divisions over Syria [crisis] with Russia and China to take the country out of its strife,” Gemayel said following a meeting with Italian Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola, the NNA said. Russia and China, which say both sides of the conflict must cease violence simultaneously, have shielded the government of President Bashar Assad from increased international pressure by vetoing three U.N. Security Council resolutions backed by Western and Arab states. Gemayel spoke in Italy where he attended a conference of the International Union of the Center Democratic Parties. “The international community should overcome its inability to protect the Syrian victims, and put an end to their suffering,” Gemayel said. He also said that Lebanon should adopt an “uncompromising stance” on the Syrian crisis to secure Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty. Citing border demarcations between Lebanon and Israel, the Kataeb leader said that Lebanese-Syrian borders should be demarcated at once to prevent violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty. “Sovereignty cannot be partial, and we will not accept any violation to Lebanon, neither in the name of brotherhood nor for the sake of cooperation and coordination,” he added. Lebanon’s borders were defined and delineated under the French mandate in the 1920s, but after Lebanon and Syria gained independence in the 1940s, Beirut and Damascus have failed to take the next step, namely jointly demarcating their shared borders. The Daily Star