From Beirut to the Beltway

This is from Kuwait's al-Seyassah, translation courtesy of mideastwire.com.

Al Seyassah, an independent Kuwaiti newspaper, reported on September 1 that: “While the arrests of heads of Lebanese and Syrian security apparatuses were being made by ... Detlev Mehlis ... meetings of the highest levels were being held in Damascus to look over the current situation and form expectations for the future. The meetings also consisted of numerous calls being made to Beirut in more attempts to try to figure out the nature of the next step, and what it will consist of.”

Prominent sources told Al Seyassah that what pressured the congregation and made them worry even more was information they received that the “highest head in Lebanon will depart, and he will be brought to stand trial in front of an international court to be assembled especially for the Hariri assassination case.” The information also pointed out that Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and Syrian President Bashar Assad will not survive for long, and if they do, they will not survive in power past October 2005.

The officials at the meeting linked this information to previous information where French President Jacques Chirac asked an Arab acquaintance to tell his friend to leave "because we know who was behind Hariri’s assassination."Sources close to the officials who met in Damascus told Al Seyassah that after considering what may happen in the future, they decided to advise the Syrian President not to travel to New York for the international summit celebrating the United Nations’ 60th anniversary, for fear of internal developments that may occur during his trip. Others also agreed to this advice because of international condemnation and isolation Assad is facing.