Hariri’s widow
White House spokesman Tony Snow said that the White House believes that Hizbullah, Iran and Syria are trying to ‘topple’ the democratically elected government of Lebanon.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the United States is “increasingly concerned by mounting evidence that the Syrian and Iranian governments, Hezbollah and their Lebanese allies are preparing plans to topple Lebanon’s democratically elected government.”
Snow warned that any attempt to destabilize Lebanon through “manufactured demonstrations” or “physically threatening its leaders” would constitute clear violations of U.N. resolutions. He singled out Syria, charging that it has devised a plan “to prevent” the Lebanese government from approving a U.N. tribunal to try the killers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, who was assassinated in February 2005.
Anyone who actually takes the time to read up on Lebanon / watches the news etc. suspects this as well of course. It is something the West cannot allow to happen.
The question is, of course, whether they – if true (which seems to be quite likely to me – are willing to use force or not:
White House and State Department spokesmen declined to characterize the evidence used to support the claim, implying that it was based on classified information. And some U.S. intelligence officials and U.N. diplomats said privately that there was no sign that an armed overthrow of the government is in the works.
So, there does not seem to be any good evidence for that, but there are other ways of toppling a government for instance:
The announcement came just one day after Hezbollah’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, said in a television interview that he is prepared to organize protests if his movement is not given a larger say in Lebanon’s affairs. It followed the report of a new diplomatic initiative by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sent a senior adviser, Nigel Sheinwald, to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Next week, Lebanon’s leading political figures will discuss a demand by a political alliance, headed by Hezbollah, that it be granted 30 percent of the Lebanese cabinet seats in a new national unity government, U.N. diplomats said. That would give them the power to veto any major decision by the government.
Simply demand more and more power until one has arrived at the point that one can take over without using force. Note that the only thing that – seemingly – is “not in the works” is an “armed overthrow”. That does not rule out the possibility of a somewhat peaceful overthrow (if necessary threatening to use violence, throw the country into chaos, withdrawing all possible support for the government, etc.).
Intelligence officials said they think the White House statement was referring to Nasrallah’s threat of widespread protests if Lebanese leaders fail to create a unity government. One official said that although U.S. intelligence officials think Nasrallah would like more power and Syria would like a friendlier Lebanese government, there are no signs of an impending coup.
Again, it’s all about how one defines a coup. A coup could also, mostly, be ‘peaceful’.
Although, of course, it’s quite difficult to call the murder of Hariri ‘peaceful’ huh?
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