Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri is due in Paris over the weekend for talks with French President Jacques Chirac ahead of the crucial December 27 UN-imposed deadline for countries to account for their share of the fight against terrorism.
Political sources were quoted by The Daily Star as saying that Hariri’s agenda was topped by UN Security Resolution 1373, which has demanded 13 specific actions by the international community to eliminate terrorists and throttle their sources of funding.
However, the resolution has also exposed the disagreement between the United States and Arab governments over what constitutes terrorism, the Beirut-based paper said.
Washington has demanded that Beirut freeze the assets of the Hizbollah resistance movement, which US sees it as a terrorist group. But the Lebanese government has adamantly rejected any crackdown on the movement, which would divide the nation.
Hizbollah spearheaded the Lebanese campaign to force out Israeli occupation troops, which withdrew from south Lebanon in May 2000, leaving behind minefields, ruined infrastructure and countless orphans.
Hariri’s trip to the French capital is the third since the September 11 suicide attacks in the United States, which sparked the global campaign to stamp out terrorism – Albawaba.com
