Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for your kind invitation. I just want to tell you that I really appreciate your invitation, as a member of Parliament here in Lebanon. We need big support from the international community in order to apply a real independent and sovereign regime in Lebanon, with all that is happening today in the area—especially in Syria, which is trying as much as it can to influence the interior political situation in Lebanon.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, no problem. I'm really sorry for having taken a bit of time.

Foreign Affairs committee  The numbers are not very clear concerning the refugees. The numbers vary from around 30,000 to 50,000 refugees. There is no exact number because the government here didn't want to interfere in any way in trying to control the borders, or even trying to control the refugees. So the numbers we have are mainly from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Foreign Affairs committee  No, we haven't requested that. We have many more important problems, actually. We are facing security problems. We are facing assassination problems. As you know, the last assassination, which happened 15 days ago, removed all kinds of security levels against all kinds of assassinations to come.

Foreign Affairs committee  Can you repeat the question?

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, exactly. This is what they are trying to do. They are trying to export their conflict to the Lebanese one. They've tried several times. The main concrete example was when President Assad requested, not officially but directly, that our ex-minister, Mr. Michel Samaha, transport around 20 bombs to Lebanon in order to explode in several regions.

Foreign Affairs committee  First, there is no official number, and we cannot have an official number. The only way we know, and the only way it became official, that Hezbollah was fighting in Syria was when they buried several Hezbollah fighters and said they were martyrs. No war zone was declared in Lebanon, so where did these martyrs fall?

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure. Iran has been funding Hezbollah for the last 20 years, militarily and economically—all the support. This is why it doesn't want to lose Syria, in order to keep the link present between Hezbollah and Iran and its funding.

Foreign Affairs committee  Until now, I don't think it has changed a lot. However, we've heard a lot of declarations from the Iranian representatives that in the case where Syria will be targeted by the international community or by international forces, it will enter into war. It's a declaration of the Iranians much more than the analysis that we have.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't really think it has influenced President Assad. It makes him maybe only more savage and makes for more terror. He doesn't have anything more than using all of his means in order to eliminate all kinds of revolution.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. There is only one peaceful solution, which is to remove Bashar al-Assad and the Ba'ath regime.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't know if you have peaceful means to remove Bashar al-Assad, but it's the only way to get a solution in this country.

Foreign Affairs committee  Certainly. Thank you. First, I would like to thank you for your kind words and tell you that you will always be welcome in Lebanon. You asked me whether the conflict in Syria had repercussions for politics and the economy in Lebanon. The fact is that in Lebanon, politics is really divided between pro-Syrians and anti-Syrians, that is, between allies of the Syrian regime and sovereignists.

Foreign Affairs committee  Let me start by clarifying one point. The Christians, the Druze, and all the minorities in Syria are not in power. Those who are in power actually are only the Alawites, the confessional group of Bashar al-Assad. They are controlling all the others. I would like to remind all present today that since the accession to power of the Ba'ath regime, Christians in Syria have diminished from 34% to 12% today.