The Wire

Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has angered lobby groups with comments he made on the ABC’s Four Corners last week. Discussing the current tensions in Syria, Senator Carr said a major military defection and the assassination of Bashar al-Assad seem to be pre-conditions of movement towards peace. He said that he was aware of no plans of this kind, and his office issued a statement saying that he was not advocating such a plan.

But the United Australian Lebanese Movement warn that such an action would only further destabilise the country and the region, including neighbouring countries such as Lebanon.They condemned Senator Carr’s comments last week, saying “he has no idea what is happening in Syria”.