This piece was reprinted by OpEdNews with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
The dispute between the Hariri camp and Hezbollah paralyzed Lebanon's government for months, raising concerns of sectarian violence spinning out of control. Current friction pits Hezbollah against the so-called March 14 coalition, composed of Sunni Muslim parties, Walid Jumblatt's Druze party, and Phalangist Christian groups.
The immediate trigger for dissolving the government stemmed from failure by Syria (supporting Hezbollah) and Saudi Arabia (backing the opposition) to negotiate a settlement, preventing a wrongful STL indictment. Among other concerns is using "false witness" testimonies as evidence to implicate Syria and a group four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals for Hariri's assassination. In fact, a released WikiLeaks cable quoted senior STL judge, Daniel Bellemare, admitting there's "no case" against Syria. Nor against Hezbollah.
Moreover, Druze leader Jumblatt told AFP that "Saad Hariri was on the brink of making a major concession" to soften STL's conclusions, "but occult forces (mainly Washington) prevented him from doing so." Former Hezbollah Energy Minister Jibran Bassil agreed, telling Lebanon's Daily Star:
"The other side bowed to external, especially American pressure, ignoring the advice and wishes of the Saudi and Syrian sides."
Hezbollah Minister Mohammed Fneish said:
"There was an Arab effort which we dealt with positively. We even bargained on it. However, as a result of US interference and the inability of the other side to deal with it, this effort reached a deadlock."
Hezbollah emerged out of Israel's 1982 war. On January 25, 1995, the Annex to Clinton's Executive Order (EO) 12947 listed it as a Specially Designated Terrorist (SDT). Then in 1997, the State Department designated it a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and on October 31, 2001, it was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Bush's EO 13224.
In fact, Hezbollah is a legitimate resistance/political organization, and was part of Lebanon's government until pulling out. Moreover, in a country with no state-provided social services, it's offered an array of its own, including medical care, education, micro-finance, reconstruction after Israeli wars and frequent assaults, and other forms of charity.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
2
