Lebanese lawmakers call on FM to take action against US envoy’s anti-Hezbollah comments

A group of Lebanese legislators have called on Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti to take proper measures against the US ambassador to Beirut over her comments against the Hezbollah resistance movement.

News ID: 450455

Date: 14 July 2020 - 17:58

Rasa - Members of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, led by Mohammad Raad, met with Hitti on Monday and submitted a formal protest to him. They highlighted that American Ambassador Dorothy Shea, ever since she assumed office on March 11, has been infringing upon diplomatic principles and international conventions, and pitting strata of the Lebanese society against each other through her statements and actions.

“Such a behavior prompted us to voice our protest and condemnation, and to demand the minister of foreign affairs to regulate the activities of the ambassador in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, which obliges diplomats to respect the laws and regulations of the country accredited to it, and not to interfere in the internal affairs of that country as per Article 41 of the Convention,” Raad said after the meeting.

He added, “Financial and other appointments in our country are a purely domestic Lebanese issue. It is very reprehensible that the US ambassador to Lebanon intervenes to make statements about these issues.”

“Blaming a national group for Lebanon’s ongoing economic crisis, and falsely accusing it of controlling the government is a tremendous offense, since the [Hezbollah] resistance movement liberated the Lebanese territories from the clutches of the occupying Israeli regime and rejects US' arrogant policies as well as its unfair and arbitrary practices,” the Lebanese parliamentarian pointed out.

Raad noted, “These sweeping statements by Ambassador Shea must be stopped. The state has its sovereignty and so does the nation as regards its dignity. It is never permissible to be inactive towards such disparaging remarks, which … are meant to create rifts within the Lebanese nation.”

In an interview with Saudi-owned al-Hadath television news network aired on June 26, Shea said Washington has “great concerns” over Hezbollah’s role in the Lebanese government.

Shea was later summoned to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry for her meddlesome remarks.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun also condemned the US envoy’s anti-Hezbollah criticism, stating that Washington is continuously meddling in the internal affairs of the country.

“The Americans are directly interfering in the Lebanese domestic affairs; and this is unacceptable,” Aoun said in an exclusive interview with Beirut-based and Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network on June 28.

On Friday, dozens of protesters converged outside the US embassy in the Awkar neighborhood of Beirut on Friday, waving Hezbollah flags and chanting slogans in support of Hezbollah and against US policies in the Middle East region.

The participants also burnt US flags and mock-up dollar bills, calling the United States the “mother of terrorism.”

It was the second anti-US protest in Beirut and its suburbs in the wake of Shea’s anti-Hezbollah remarks.