Lebanese PM blames Iran, Syria for deadly protest

AFP: Lebanon’s embattled premier has pinned the blame on Iran and Syria for a Hezbollah-backed nationwide opposition strike during which three people died, in remarks published here Wednesday. TOKYO, Jan 24, 2007 (AFP) – Lebanon’s embattled premier has pinned the blame on Iran and Syria for a Hezbollah-backed nationwide opposition strike during which three people died, in remarks published here Wednesday.

Lebanon has “been paying the price of imposed decisions coming from outside countries, like Iran and Syria,” Prime Minister Fuad Siniora told Japan’s Kyodo News.

“The decisions made by the opposition in Lebanon are decisions coming from outside like Iran and Syria,” he was quoted as saying.

In the interview, conducted in Beirut on Tuesday, Siniora also criticized Hezbollah over the summer war with Israel, which launched raids on Lebanon in response to rocket attacks by the Shiite Muslim militia.

“When Hezbollah went into war with Israel, it didn’t ask for our opinion,” Siniora said.

Hezbollah, which is supported by Syria and Iran, led Tuesday’s one-day nationwide strike in a bid to bring down Siniora’s Western-backed government.

Three people were killed and 133 others were wounded in armed clashes, fistfights and stone-throwing in various areas of the country.

Siniora denounced the protests as “an undemocratic way of expressing one’s opinion.”

“If they say they have the majority of people supporting them, then they shouldn’t resort to such an action,” he said.