BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance group has signed an accord with some local Sunni factions to defuse sectarian tension. More than 100 people have died in sectarian fighting in Lebanon so far this year.
Yesterday’s agreement prohibits any Muslim group from attacking fellow Muslims. It was signed by Hezbollah and some Salafist groups.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said yesterday he would visit Iraq this week to discuss energy and trade, in another sign of improving ties between the Arab world and the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.
The trip will be the first by a Lebanese prime minister since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and underlines the growing willingness of Arab countries to re-engage with the country.
“I will travel to Iraq after two days,” Siniora told a news conference, adding that Iraq’s oil resources and Lebanon’s services and commodities offered the chance for a mutually beneficial relationship.
King Abdallah of Jordan visited Iraq on Aug. 11, becoming the first Arab head of state to do so since the invasion that toppled former President Saddam Hussein. Washington has urged Iraq’s Arab neighbors to do more to embrace Baghdad, whose Shiite-dominated government complains of cool treatment by an overwhelmingly Sunni-led Arab world.
Siniora, a Sunni politician, heads a new Lebanese national unity government which includes Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite group backed by Iran. Last month, senior Lebanese politician Saad Al-Hariri met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki in Baghdad.
In another development, Lebanon’s foreign minister said he expects diplomatic ties with Syria to be fully established and ambassadors to be exchanged within two months. Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said the Cabinet will give its approval on the diplomatic ties Thursday. Later, it will issue a separate decree for an embassy in Syria, he said.
