US ambassador in Lebanon

"On Monday, Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry summoned the United States ambassador, Maura Connelly, whom it criticized for “interfering in Lebanon’s internal affairs” after she visited a lawmaker who was undecided about his choice for prime minister. That visit soon became the butt of jokes on Lebanese television. The lawmaker, Nicola Fattoush, is a relatively minor politician; that he warranted a visit by the ambassador illustrated the perception that the next prime minister would not be chosen by Parliament, but by a half-dozen or so foreign embassies in Beirut." Not half-dozen. The US, Saudi Arabia, and Syria are the key ones. (Believe it or not, Hizbullah has more independence in decision-making in Lebanon about internal Lebanese matters than Syrian puppets have vis-a-vis Syrian regime or US puppets or Saudi puppets have vis-a-vis the Saudi or US governments.) The summon of the US ambassador is seen as an unusual humiliation for the US ambassador, and is unprecedented in Lebanese contemporary history (the only other time that I can think of is when Sulayman Franjiyyah got so pissed at the US when his luggage at JFK were inspected by sniffing dogs back in 1974). As-Safir and Al-Akhbar has details about the summon of the ambassador. The entire event was orchestrated by parliament speaker, Nabih Birri who was furious when he saw the ambassador visiting the insignificant MP, Niqula Fattush. Apparently, the ambassador (who received the idea of the visit from Jeffrey Feltman who is closely coordinating the Hariri camp now) told the minister (a Birri Minister) that he does not have the powers to summon her because his cabinet lost the majority vote. He told her that he knows his prerogatives. She tried to bizarrely explain the visit by saying that she had also visited Michel `Awn (the minister should have reminded her that the ambassador regularly visits leaders of parliamentary blocs and never visits insignificant MPs). Also, MP Fattush himself exposed her lies because he talked to the press after the US ambassador's visit and made it clear as to why she visited him.