Lebanon, Austria discuss repercussions of Syrian crisis on region

Lebanese Minister of Foreign and Expatriates Affairs Adnan Mansour and his Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger discussed the situation in the region, specially in Syria and its repercussions on the region.The two sides also discussed the issue of the Syrians displaced in Lebanon and the neighboring countries."Austrian Foreign Minister expressed his country's willingness to provide more support to Lebanon, and appreciated Lebanon over it's aid to the displaced Syrians," Mansour said, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.Mansour said that Lebanon relies on the assistance offered by the international community and other countries to ensure the basic and necessary requirements of the Syrians displaced.For his part, Spindelegger expressed his country's rejection of arming the opposition in Syria, and called for finding appropriate frameworks to hold dialogue among all Syrian parties to find a political solution to the current crisis."We agreed on further efforts to reach a political solution to the crisis in Syria. I believe sending more weapons is not a solution," the Austrian minister said.The Austrian official stressed, "We are concerned about the situation in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.He warned against France and Britain's calls to arm the Syrian opposition as it constitutes big risks on the future of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the occupied Golan, particularly the Austrian force.Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against the Syrian police, border guards, statesmen, army and the civilians being reported across the country.Thousands of people have been killed since terrorist and armed groups turned protest rallies into armed clashes.The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.