dramatic development only. i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical. and tom. welcome to. shevardnadze political divisions risk shaking their fragile balance in lebanon can the country stand firm with this syrian war still raging right across the border today i talked to the former prime minister of lebanon. war hatred deep in a months long political stalemate and while trying to balance

a bigger game of middle eastern rivalries will it lead to further conflict or example for its neighbors that compromise is achievable and will the neutral country try to help put out the flames of war raging beyond its borders. what's in your are former prime minister of lebanon welcome to the show it is great to have you with us today sir so mr siniora after five months of political deadlock lebanon is close to forming a new government has bought less allies have made significant gains in the last parliamentary elections prime minister hariri has said many times that has is not the main player and they do not control things in lebanon but they are backed by the christians by the president so is the prime minister just putting on a brave face here trying to play down has well this role. well actually. there's nothing actually to be to be had than about the role that hezbollah is

playing and the interference that they are really having in all of us and making sure that they are the ones who are calling the shots. effectively they have created. a new problem that was not there actually in which they were insisting and they are still insisting that some of the sanai sect who are really very much abiding by their instructions hizbullah instructions and by the syrian regime instructions that they want to be represented in the new cabinet although actually on the one hand they did not really appear after being elected as being one block to the concert they are part of other blocs so in fact what they are doing they are being considered

twice one as being members of their own blocs the mental blocks and the other time as combining themselves to be as you one unit which is not the case but at this point at this point you can we cannot wake ignore their presence right there in the government united states has rolled out sanctions targeting individuals and organizations doing business what has so what's going to happen to lebanon now that has bollox is kind of present in the government well definitely lebanon is facing quite a number of issues nowadays not only. in this because there are plenty of many things but one of them is the tsunami coming from the sanctions that are being let's say imposed by the united states and this in fact will affect

iran will affect hezbollah and all the agencies of iran all over the world and besides that in lebanon so that's why it requires a great deal of of. these. thinking and trying to really. this so she ate lebanon from what's happening in the region otherwise it will that it will appear as if lebanon is putting itself in the passage of the elephants and this definitely there is nothing that can save lebanon in this regard that's why we believe that even even hezbollah and the iranians this should really make sure not to rock the boat in this regard and make and cause more problems for lebanon but i believe that the situation is very delicate and sensitive and this was

a great deal of of forward looking and making sure to avoid furthering problems in the rain and otherwise actually everybody i would argue would suffer like you said the situation is very fragile for washington has bali one of many terrorist groups and i mean from the other side of the world you can see that makes sense because these people blow things up take hostages attack civilians except for a but for levanon has ball eyes part and parcel of the land and inevitable part of the fragile balance like you said part of could existence is the lebanese government trying to explain this new wants to the americans are you getting your point across in washington. well definitely the situation is fragile and i don't tie that i mean it's known and the finitely lebanon is attempting to to clarify its position but it has to be made more clear and definitely.

putting lebanon in such a situation it will be it will be. unable to convince the people in washington about the importance of keeping lebanon away from being subject to major shocks that will come out of these sanctions. hence hence it is something that has to start one on one hand by lebanon and particularly hezbollah has to be more cautious and aware and not to cause more problems than what what we can take in our plate and do the same time more diplomatic if the has to be made by the dominie's government the people who are in charge that it's not in the interest of any for rocking the boat in lebanon so israel has recently announced that has is using hideouts in the lebanese capital to

make missiles and that if need be israel is ready to fight a war with lebanon over this you last lebanon through a war with israel you know israel's methods is this just a regular netanyahu brags i don't know or is he really ready to strike beirut again it is no secret i told anybody that hezbollah has plenty of rockets and with high precision as as. i say it has on this role has said. but i don't think it is really wise. for. giving israel any excuse in attacking lebanon and in fact i i i really blame say it

has on the stroller for saying all these statements that in fact with give an excuse for for israel to attack lebanon mind you is that is that during the past thirty years lebanon has been subject to six invasions from israel six invasions. practically every every every five years we are having. one and this is definitely cannot really help lebanon you said yourself you said yourself everyone knows that hezbollah has rockets it's no secret how riri sat that one israel's troops lebanon and hezbollah as part of the same entity it feeds has ball of propaganda and making it actually stronger but in a situation like this one has well it is stashing me silas and they you know dungeons below beirut how well should israel be seeing this situation i think i mean i mean

i think i made it clear that nobody is denying the fact that hezbollah has rockets and then said it say it has on the stroller and these are of high precision types but the the thing is that to say it every now and then and so on so forth and really in danger in lebanon in one way or another or giving israel an excuse some people say israel does not need an excuse to attack lebanon well respected but giving it another excuse i think i don't think it is helpful for lebanon that's why we believe that lebanon has to really again make sure to have its policies that are destined to serve lebanon and not to let lebanon fight the battles of other countries i eat too bad to fight divert a lot of iran lebanon cannot afford to to to do that and and and effectively

hezbollah until the year two thousand until the year two thousand hezbollah was fighting for the. let's say for the sake of lebanon in order for israel to withdraw from lebanon and that what really happened again something happened two or six that . it was again something that we dealt with in the best manner possible and when that we navigated in very difficult. waters but ultimately after that is hezbollah is really playing for the interests of of iran and fighting its own battles and at the same time interfering in the in the domestic affairs of other countries and the up plenty of of cases in which hezbollah appear to be really fighting these battles including the interference in syria which is really ultimately led to the this this exodus of large number

of syrian refugees coming to lebanon and we have to do that to the average of becoming about one point two one point three million syrian refugees it is not our duty as not our responsibility to fight on behalf of others or to put lebanon in the in the in a very risky situation in which we will be really suffering a lot from any attack that may be committed by israel all right mr siniora we're going to talk more about the refugee crisis in the syrian war in the second half of the program but now we're going to take a break when we're back we'll continue talking to watch seanie or a former prime minister of lebanon discussing how the situation in the neighboring syria is a fact think the small meter ister nation stay with us. what

politicians do. they put themselves on the line and they get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or somehow want to. have to try to be for us as a white woman for freedom or can't be good. i'm interested always in the waters about how this. question. i've been saying the numbers mean something they matter to us is over one trillion

dollars in debt more than ten leichhardt crimes happen each day. eighty five percent of global wealth you want to be rich eight point six percent market saw thirty percent rise last year some with four hundred to five hundred trade per second per second and bitcoin rose to twenty thousand dollars. china is building a two point one billion dollar a i industrial park but don't let the numbers overwhelm. the only number you need to remember is one one business shows you can't afford to miss the one and only boom but. it's hard to imagine in the decades after the war a nazi don't it was still active and rich in the nineteen seventies great intel had as the chair of its board a man convicted of mass murder and slavery at auschwitz a german company going until it develops and the demise of drug it was promoted as

completely safe even during pregnancy it turned out to have terrible side effects what has happened to my baby is anything but. you know she said she's just got choked up many samina mind victims i have to this day received no compensation they never apologized for the suffering that i did not only want the money i want the. and we're back with the. former prime minister of lebanon talking about the cross sectarian balances inside lebanon and outside its borders mr siniora your prime minister a frequent guest in saudi arabia. of how terry has been there recently as he was

trying to form the government last year he went missing and then showed up in saudi arabia and announced his resignation but then revoked it as soon as he got back to lebanon so some might have the impression that lebanon's crucial decisions are being taken in riyadh what does this strange relationship with saudi arabia all about. well. in fact that's not true not true and not true a toward. prime minister assad had he. was raised in saudi arabia and had lots of business from his father and afterwards in saudi arabia and the relations of of really. did during that say. the times when he was a prime minister was even much closer to saudi arabia and never really

anybody to say that he's being influenced by saudi arabia i i believe that there are that he could do it and in fact forgetting about what really happened a year ago and i think that was a mistake and what and what what what we're working with we can say we close that chapter other than that the relationships throughout the past several decades since the independence of lebanon actually the relationship of saudi arabia with lebanon has been always quartile surrender live never interfere in the domestic affairs of lebanon coming to the support of lebanon every now and then and in all the incidents and definitely the difficult. events that took place in lebanon there was the first country that came to support of lebanon was saudi arabia including actually the the the the agreement that was really the

beginning of putting an end to the lebanese civil war was really done in saudi arabia and the south is played a very important role in that i'm not denying that all of any other on the other country but i mean this is to say that saudi arabia was the main supporter of lebanon and never interfered in the domestic affairs of lebanon. as as some other countries are doing though it is you know last year when spoke to saad hariri and he said that the atmosphere in lebanon reminds seem of that time when his father was assassinated do you have the same see link. well definitely i cannot believe you drew similarities between what really is happening now and what happened on the wake of the assassination of over a few haiti but i can you say that lebanon is passing through very difficult

times at the present time with it is they cannot make and fiscal situation on the one hand whether it has to do with the. states's in the which the the the role and the influence of the state of lebanon over its affairs and i have me to speak about the presence of let's say a party in lebanon that is on to the teeth and interfering in the domestic affairs of the country and calling the shots in every and every issue that is actually causing the this integration of the lebanese state such and the third situation that has to do with the the none none let's say a bidens by the declared policy of lebanon regarding the.

disassociation of lebanon from the affairs of the region these are leading stormy issues and would require a very strong position in order to be cased in these troubling waters in the right manner and to avoid really having any accident so this is a situation on the other hand let's say for sure that those who want to needed to make a trouble in lebanon definitely they may they may cause a problem we have. to close the windows and the witch from which some people may interfere in this regard lebanon the good part actually with the. security situation and in order to fight terrorism from

coming into lebanon and all that have any is in fact was united in this regard they don't want terrorism they don't want to that's the allies the palestinian refugees or the senior refugees they are all united and there is no need that should it to create problems out of that like to say that lebanon is in a very difficult situation also economically because it's currently hosting more than a million of syrian refugees sounds have started to return to areas which are sought to be relatively safe but the war is still not over until many still remain in lebanon how much further can your country sustain this refugee population well definitely if you want to compare the size of lebanon its. size it would support pollution lebanon has posed bost. all or

let's say the numbers that are available in any other country lebanon has received. probably about between syrian and and and palestinians and iraqis and so on about one point five million which is more than thirty five percent of its total population which i don't think that any other country in the world has ever had and something similar to this doesn't it is this is causing a great and the problem to to to lebanon and lebanon has to really seek the help of of all its sister countries as well as the international community and in fact what lebanon has been leading receiving in sounds of support is definitely not at all commensurate with the with the size of this of this exodus of people and at the

same time lebanon has to say be able to continue serving these people in the best manner possible in the most to you mainly possible particularly that the situation in syria is not still ready for finding a solution to the to the scene of a few g.'s and in fact we want them to to leave to morrow and yesterday instead but i mean this is something lebanon cannot do you force them to leave and this is not the way that we wish should really deal with them it is it is it has to be voluntary and humanely and. safely actually for the seated if you g.'s we have to really find a solution it is. not actually asking the international community to help lebanon

so that it's can keep this in if you just and lebanon and this is definitely something that we want and then the short term but in the medium term and every day there should be an effort in order to find a solution a permanent solution to end the war in syria this is the solution for for the city refugees and this is the way i believe that this tendency that that in my understanding what is happening in syria we have heard about the summit that took place in. and istanbul and what the four countries have already expressed their views but they are still disagreeing on prioritizes the proud their own power it is this doesn't help in finding a solution i believe that all the players in that engine are getting tired and really fatigued is zealously creeping in and something has to really be done in

order to. have a joint effort among all the consigned and the players in finding a real solution otherwise this is going to to add up into further and further into six. so last time we spoke to me and you you said that assad should step down five years on and even the western leaders who were first adamant about toppling assad now say that no political solution is possible in syria without assad what about you what do you think today well let me let me tell you something i. like to be very frank with you i have i have to draw i have to draw an example from my background in the field of finance and they say that the manager who drove his company those bankruptcy must be appointed to be in charge of of

forming the company or in charge of the bankruptcy proceedings. effectively president assad has not been able to manage syria properly he could have avoided the whole problem altogether had he had the real vision and thorough thinking and able to embrace his own people this was into eleven and since then he has been actually responsible for the destruction of most parts of syria for the death of over five hundred thousand people and actually they did a few g's that are fifty percent of the syrians at least are in within syria and outside syria and besides that who is going to the build syria do you think that assad can really create the confidence that is necessity among all the donor

countries to really help in and in the building syria i don't think that i don't want to actually take any revenge of small to the contrary i believe that we have to really come to times into one important fact which is. that there is no military solution in syria this has been really. the most important conclusion that we have to do to understand and to work according to mr siniora saying very much for this interview thank you for your thoughts and for your insights on the situation in your country and around it. it was great having you on our program we were talking to you your other former lebanese prime minister discussing the situation in lebanon and its complex political and religious tensions that's it for this edition of. next time.

when the ruling closes a project. with the prime. nor middle room sit. room.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race. spearing dramatic development only. exist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk. but with the distance of those two syllables. i feel for sun three and this is their. role is going to say boy a business with a must be so it looks. this is an english. lot of fellows a lot of help us out of a social media. and

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this hour's headlines stories. italy hosts a peace conference aimed at putting an end to the years long conflict in libya with the country's going reserves acting as a magnet for those vying for a share of the resources. polish nationalists marched through warsaw to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of their country's reestablishment as an independent state their joint for the first time by the nation's president. a u.s. judge orders a state prison service to consider if a transgender woman can be held in an all female.