Frederic C. Hof: Syrian dictator al-Assad dismissed Hezbollah’s entire basis for being a “Lebanese resistance” in unsuccessful negotiations over a decade ago. I know because I was there.
Diplomat in Residence Frederic C. Hof, who served as ambassador and special adviser for transition in Syria under Barack Obama, revisits his one-on-one meeting with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in February 2011: “One of the more memorable things I experienced during my attempt to mediate Syria-Israel peace a decade ago was listening to the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, explain to me why Hezbollah’s post-May 2000 justification for keeping its arms—its claim that Israel was still occupying Lebanese land in the ‘Shebaa Farms’ and ‘Kfar Shuba Hills’—was false. His explanation was straightforward: The land in question was Syrian.”
Post Date: 04-18-2021
Post Date: 04-18-2021