Officials said that the marathon talks between the Lebanese and American diplomats ended Wednesday on a collision course over the dispute of how the two countries view Hizbollah resistance movement.
The Lebanese speaker Nabih Berri and the American ambassador unveiled a clear dispute in how each country viewed Hizbollah and other Arab groups fighting to liberate their land from Israeli occupation, said The Daily Star.
In one of the fiercest criticism against US policy in the region, Berri blamed anti-American sentiment on Washington’s bias toward Israel and reluctance to rein in the Jewish state, and admitted that his meeting with the US envoy, Vincent Battle, had been “marred by a deep misunderstanding.”
According to the Beirut-based paper, Berri insisted that his country would not revoke its request for “cooperation in freezing financial assets” of groups his government deemed as terrorists, and indicated that Washington was not all that satisfied with Lebanon’s position.
The US diplomat later headed to Koraytem, where he met Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Political sources said he heard the same view from the prime minister.
Berri said that he had made it clear to the American diplomat that “Lebanon rejected the so-called new terrorist list,” in reference to the recent list released by the United States which included 22 organizations which the superpower has demanded that their assets be frozen – Albawaba.com
