Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Moqdad said on Thursday that Syria’s relations with the next Lebanese government will be based on the government’s stance toward Syria and Hezbollah’s arms.

Stressing that relations will be based on two key issues, he said, “The first is the way this government deals with Syria and its view of Lebanese- Syrian relations. The second is the way it deals with Hezbollah’s arms, which Syria sees as a necessity to Lebanon in the face of the Israeli occupation.”

In a political seminar in Damascus, Moqdad said that the Israeli spy networks in Lebanon and the Der Spiegel article show that whoever committed the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri wants to sabotage the Arab-Arab and the Lebanese-Syrian relations.

-NOW Staff