BEIRUT: In his first comments on the four-month uprising in neighboring Syria, former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned the “massacre” in the Syrian city of Hama and urged other Arab leaders to end their silence on the “bloody” campaign in Syria.

In a statement issued Sunday, Hariri “condemned the massacre that the Syrian city of Hama is being subjected to, and the bloody killings in Homs, Edlib, Deir al-Zour, Deraa and several Syrian towns and areas on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan.”

He considered the bloody events “in conflict with all intentions to see brotherly Syria and its proud people overcome the present ordeal,” the statement said.
Hariri said Lebanon could no longer remain silent on events in the neighboring state and urged other Arab leaders to join the condemnation.

“Silence on the international and Arab levels about what is happening in Syria, and in Hama in particular, whose people witnessed the worst massacre in the 1980s, does not establish the required solutions, but leads to the loss of more Syrian lives,” he said in the statement.

“We in Lebanon cannot, under any circumstances, remain silent regarding the bloody developments taking place in Syria, and we call on all concerned parties to rectify their position in order to enable the Syrian people to define their choices freely and within their humanitarian rights, and to overcome the painful ordeal which they are presently experiencing, as soon as possible.”