Forget the demonstrations that toppled the Lebanese government demanding that Syrian forces get out of their country: Hezbollah, the militant Shiite Muslim movement, is calling for demonstrations to keep the hated Syrians in:
BEIRUT, March 6 — The leader of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite Muslim movement that for weeks has stood on the sidelines of Lebanon’s political upheaval, called Sunday for national demonstrations against what he characterized as foreign influences seeking to expel Syria, a key sponsor of the party, from the country.
Hassan Nasrallah, a Shiite cleric who serves as Hezbollah’s secretary general, was critical in particular of the United States and France. His announcement dashed the hopes of Lebanese opposition leaders that the large, disciplined movement would join their cause to drive Syrian troops and intelligence services from Lebanon.
Ironic, but now the U.S. and France are both being reviled. A sign of the underlying strength of the alliance? The Washington Post article goes on:
The first demonstration is scheduled for Tuesday in Beirut, along an avenue near the central square where Lebanon’s anti-Syrian opposition movement has staged round-the-clock protests since the Feb. 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Nasrallah appeared after what he called an “emergency meeting” of more than 30 political parties aligned with the Syrian government, which is facing international pressure and a popular uprising here to end its 30-year presence in Lebanon. The meeting was convened hours after Syrian President Bashar Assad outlined a gradual shift of Syria’s 15,000 troops in Lebanon to the countries’ common border, a plan criticized by U.S. and French officials who have demanded an immediate withdrawal of Syrian forces.
Lebanese officials said Sunday that the redeployment would begin after a meeting on Monday between Assad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud in Damascus, the Syrian capital, to set a timetable.
“Freedom means that we decide for ourselves the best way to address what we see today as clear intervention of the United States and France in Lebanese internal affairs,” Nasrallah said at a news conference in the Shiite suburbs of south Beirut. “The opposition must give us explanations regarding the foreign intervention. We must convince each other that only true sovereignty means independence.”
Nasrallah’s defiant position comes as an emerging Lebanese alliance of Christian, Druze and Sunni Muslim parties has turned its attention to winning parliamentary elections scheduled for this spring in the hopes of forming a government free of Syrian influence. Nasrallah appeared to serve notice that Hezbollah and a variety of smaller pro-Syrian parties intended to mount a unified campaign to prevent a government hostile to Syrian interests from emerging after the elections.
So there you have it:
- It boils down to power politics.
- It boils down to making sure that a pro-Syrian government stays in power (and we are sure we will be hearing lots of things about Zionist machinations, etc. etc.).
- It pits Hezbollah directly against the thousands who poured out into the streets last week to clamor for the government to take a hike.
Will European nations now be a bit more inclined to classify it as a terrorist organization? Will all of this mean more internal bloodshed in Lebanon? Is this why Assad is still smiling? Stay tuned…
Be sure to read David Adesnik’s and Daniel Drezner’s takes on this issue.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.