Politique arabe de la France

Suite aux révélations selon lesquelles le chef des Renseignements militaires syriens et beau-frère de Bachar Assad a rejoint Paris avec sa famille, la Syrie prétend qu'il n'y effectue qu'une visite privée.

Selon An-Nahar :

The head of Syria's military intelligence service, General Assef Shawkat, has been conducting a private visit in Paris, a Syrian diplomat in the French capital said. (...) The diplomat said Shawkat was "making a short private visit to Paris. He is about to return to Damascus." He did not say when the intelligence chief had arrived in France but An Nahar said he arrived with his wife Boushra and children on Tuesday.

An-Nahar said Thursday Shawkat was handling inheritance problems arising from the death of Jamil Assad, the current president's elder uncle and he is returning to Damascus Thursday evening.

Peut-être... mais c'est quand même une bien curieuse coïncidence que cette affaire d'héritage tombe juste maintenant alors que Chaoukat est un des principaux suspects de l'assassinat de Rafic Hariri et que l'enquêteur onusien Detlev Mehlis est bien décidé à l'interroger lorsqu'il se rendra à Damas.

On va avoir très vite le fin mot de cette histoire, croyez-moi.

Par ailleurs, un blogueur libanais pose la question suivante :

What in the world is going on in Paris?
- Chirac didn't go to the UN events in New York, supposedly because of his recent illness
- many major figures of Levantine politics have been going through there: Saad, Jumblatt, Geagea, Nayla Moawad, Asef Shawkat, Hikmat Shihabi, Khaddam, that Syrian colonel the websites keep mentioning

On peut trouver des éléments de réponse fascinants sur Ya Libnan :

It seems that the top leaders in this country know something about Lahoud that the rest of the country doesn't. They may be aware of the details of the final report that UN chief investigator Mehlis will present to the UN.

This could explain the reason for the meeting that took place Monday evening at Hotel Chateau Frontenable in Paris between MP Saad Hariri, MP Walid Jumblatt, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, former MP Ghattas Khoury and U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman.

According to the Lebanese Newspapers the main subject of the meeting was Lahoud's replacement and the specifications required of the new president.

Il y a peu de chances que ce soit Michel Aoun : ni Hariri ni Joumblatt ni Chirac n'en veulent :

General Aoun's attacks against Jumblatt and Hariri wrote him off as the 12th president of the republic, unless the US and France insist . Since UN resolution 1559 is viewed by the US as the most important objective to be achieved as a result of Syria's withdrawal, the US may want to see Aoun as Lahoud's replacement, since Aoun is viewed as the strongest candidate that can enforce the resolution. On the other hand the French president Jacques Chirac is known to dislike Aoun and never met him during his 15 years of exile in Paris. It will be interesting to watch what happens between now and mid October. One thing is for sure: There will be more meetings in Paris, since no one trusts the security in Lebanon.

Voici donc (j'en mettrais ma main à couper) ce que Chirac et son conseiller diplomatique Gourdault-Montagne avaient de si important à se dire lors de l'hospitalisation du président : il fallait préparer la réunion du Château Frontenable qui s'en venait quelques jours plus tard! J'en suis maintenant convaincu!