Lebanon army freezes government moves against Hezbollah

[bemildred]

Source: Yahoo/AFP

BEIRUT8 (AFP) - The Lebanese army said on Saturday it had frozen measures taken by the government against the Shiite Hezbollah movement, and called for all armed militants to withdraw from the streets.

"The army command calls on all parties to (help restore calm) by ending armed protests and withdrawing gunmen from the streets and opening the roads," the military said in a statement.

---

"The head of airport security, Brigadier General Wafiq Shqeir, will remain in his post until appropriate procedural measures have been taken after a probe," the statement said.

"As for the telecommunications network, the army will look into the issue in a manner that is not harmful to the public interest or the security of the resistance" against Israel, it said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080510/ts_afp/lebanonpoliticsunrestarmy

[bemildred]

1. The fruit of victory?

The army command has just announced it is reinstating Wafiq Shuqair as the head of airport security and will investigate Hizbullah’s communications network ‘without harming the resistance’, asking for the withdrawal of all armed men and the reopening of the streets. So some serious negotiating has been going on behind the scenes today, and it looks like Hizbullah’s two main demands have been met. The militias have aleady left Hamra and presumably more if not all of the Hizbullah-occupied areas. Siniora, in his speech, had announced (like Hariri before him on thursday) that the contagious government decisions would be placed in the hands of the army command. After a bout of macho drivel about how they were not impressed by Hizbullah’s arms and would never give in to their demands, he did just that, proposing a five-point reconciliation plan which called for the immediate election of a consensus president (which would be Suleiman), the formation of a national unity government in which ‘the opposition can not block decisions and the majority can not impose them’ (I’m still trying to work out how exactly that differs from a blocking veto for the opposition), the referral of the above-mentioned decisions to the army command and the immediate withdrawal of all militias from the streets. All this may sound to good to be true, as it resolves a lot of the contentious issues of the last year and a half in one fell swoop. But seeing as the armed men have already been evacuating their positions, we can only assume that the opposition has agreed to the proposals, which pretty much give them everything they want anyway.

Hariri has just announced he is accepting the army command’s decisions, which is pretty duh as he’s not in a position to reject or accept anything anyway, with his militia being completely defeated, his propaganda channels neutralized, and his very palace besieged and shot at.

Junblatt has joined Hariri in accepting.

http://middeno.wordpress.com/

[ohio2007]

5. The normal procedure that yields the desired results

The minority is intimidating their will upon others.

A mini EU test bed?
nah,
But maybe the Turks will report this Lebanon story with interesting OpEd spins in the comming weeks. Govt of Turkey doesn't know which way to fall in thier MSM coverage I bet.

[bemildred]

7. Lebanon army takes steps to end violence

The Lebanese army said on Saturday that it was revoking measures taken by the government against the Shiite Hezbollah movement and called for all armed militants to withdraw from the streets.

It said that the head of airport security, who had been reassigned from his job, would remain in his post and that the army would look into a communications network set up by the militant group.

The military said it had taken these decisions in the light of a government wish that it rule on these matters. The army's statement came shortly after Prime Minister Fuad Siniora made a televised address to the nation.

Tuesday's government decision to reassign the head of airport security and launch a judicial probe into the communications network sparked bloody clashes between supporters of the Hezbollah-led opposition and the Western-backed ruling bloc.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=230338

[ohio2007]

15. Hezbollah rocks eastern villages

Control of several villages loyal to Lebanon's pro-government Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has been handed to the army after an attack by Hezbollah.
The group's fighters used heavy weapons and small arms to attack the mountain settlements south-east of Beirut.

A truce was called after the Druze capitulated to avoid bloodshed, a BBC correspondent reports.


snip
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7394853.stm

yes
....game of intimidation

[The Stranger]

16. Which group are you calling the minority?

[ohio2007]

17. ?

Why,

the violent minority that used car bombs over the past several years to downsize and remove the opposition. How many more elected officials will they deal with ?
Can't be many left to point out.



Hezbollah militiamen stabbed a knife into the head of anti-Syrian leader Walid Jumblatt inside the home of one of his supporters in Choueifat

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2008/05/war_in_lebanon_4.php

The Lebanese army may have their trial by fire after their self proclaimed tuesdays deadline passes and it's showtime

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL1250503820080512?feedType=nl&feedName=ustopnewsevening

So which side are you wanting to win in Lebanon?

http://blacksmithsoflebanon.blogspot.com/

[bemildred]

2. Hooman Majd: Beirut Is Burning

If there were ever a perfect example of the Bush administration's utterly bankrupt, and provably impotent, foreign policy, it would have to be the State Department's reaction to events in Beirut over the last few days. The laughably weak U.S.-backed Lebanese government, in what can only be described as a moment of insanity, decided last week to take on Hezbollah by cutting off their private telephone network, an act that Hassan Nasrallah, perhaps the Arab world's most popular leader, described as an act of war. And war he brought, completely taking over West Beirut in a matter of hours, and humiliating the hapless pro-Western government and its allies. And what was the U.S. up to as Beirut burned? This, according to the New York Times:

"Ms. Rice and other Bush administration officials were on the phone Friday with their counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon. A senior administration official said the United States, which barely talks to Syria, Iran or Hezbollah, which the Bush administration considers a terrorist organization, was trying to use its Arab allies to send a message to Iran and Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon."

Trying to use its Arab allies to send a message to Iran and Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon. Hmm. I'm sure Supreme Leader Khamenei is quaking in his slippers, and President Assad in his bespoke brogues. Hezbollah was indeed created by Iran in the early eighties, and has been supported by her and Syria ever since (and it might be good to remember that one of Sheikh Nasrallah's official titles, perhaps his most important, is "Representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in Lebanon." That would be Ayatollah Khamenei. And Hezbollah's flag shares a symbol with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, their mentors.) But Hezbollah, which in the minds of at least most of the Muslim World handed Israel it's first real military defeat, this week proved what everyone, except the Bush administration and the Lebanese government, already knew: there will be no peace in Lebanon, nor will there be real peace between Lebanon and Israel, without Hezbollah. And yet our government will not speak to Hezbollah, nor will it speak to its creator, Iran. It can pick up the phone, however, and beg its Arab allies to ask Iran and Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon. Does that message come with a please? Does America still really believe that Iran is afraid of her?

---

A couple of months ago, after the latest UN resolution on Iran's nuclear program passed, I was chatting with a senior Iranian diplomat. He asked me if I thought America really believed that Iran, or Iranians, were afraid of the U.S. "Don't they know us?" he asked. He asked another diplomat in the room to tell me how old he was when he went to the front during Iran-Iraq war. "Sixteen," replied the other diplomat. "And how old was your brother when he was martyred at the front?" continued the first diplomat. "Fourteen," was the soft reply, and I saw the diplomat fight back tears. "This," said the first diplomat, making a gesture, "is who we are. We have seen the worst. Do you think we're now afraid of anything? Do the Americans really think that threats will work on us?"

Send a message...stop interfering in Lebanon. And this is what American foreign policy has come to. There are still three candidates in the U.S. presidential race, and two of them would continue the Bush foreign policy with respect to Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas. Senator Barack Obama, however, who has indicated that he would at least speak to our adversaries, might be able to do more than just beg, through intermediaries, that they stop embarrassing us.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hooman-majd/beirut-is-burning_b_101104.html

[ohio2007]

19. Beirut Isn't Burning...yet

Security Council Resolution 1559
On September 2, 2004, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1559 calling for the disbanding of all Lebanese militias, among other things, and an armed Hezbollah in South Lebanon is seen by many to be a contravention of the resolution, though the Lebanese government differs on its interpretation.


Military and economic aid in the 2006 Lebanon War

Hezbollah

Military aid from Iran
snip

Military aid from Syria
snip


Israel

Military aid from the United States
snip

Lebanon

Military aid from the United States
snip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_and_economic_aid_in_the_2006_Israel-Lebanon_conflict


Almost two years later and militias are still armed and will be the primary danger to the Lebanese army this summer.

A tinderbox waiting for a spark from matches that have been provided by ..........many

[bemildred]

3. Lebanon's ruling majority welcomes army statement (Extra)

Beirut - Lebanon's ruling majority welcomed Saturday a statement by the army command that it would keep Beirut airport's security chief, who is close to the Hezbollah militant movement, in his post until after an investigation into the movement's communication network at the airport is completed.

Four days of clashes which have so far killed more than 20 people was sparked by the government's decision to probe a communication network set up by Hezbollah and to sack Wafik Choukair over his alleged links with the militant group.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Seniora said earlier that the government is ready to put the decision in the hands of the army.

Shortly after Seniora made his speech, the army command issued a statement saying it had 'decided to keep Colonel Choukair in his post as the head of security at Beirut international airport until all technical investigations are finished.'

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1404622.php/Lebanons_ruling_majority_welcomes_army_statement__Extra_

[bemildred]

4. Hezbollah cedes control of Beirut to army

Hezbollah and its allies will end all armed presence in Beirut after the Lebanese army overturned government measures against the group, an opposition statement said on Saturday. "The Lebanese opposition will end all armed presence in Beirut so that the capital will be in the hands of the army," the statement said.

The army said in a statement it was keeping the head of the security at Beirut airport in his post and that it would handle Hezbollah's communications network in a way "that would not harm public interest and the security of the resistance."

Lebanon's U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said earlier on Saturday that he was putting the two issues, which have sparked the worst fighting in Lebanon since the 1975-90 civil war, into the hands of the Lebanese army.

Hezbollah's takeover of Beirut in three days of fighting left Mr. Siniora's U.S.-backed government reeling and strengthened Hezbollah's position as the most powerful group in Lebanon after a 17-month power struggle with the governing coalition.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=507265

[bemildred]

6. Beirut on the Brink

“If we wanted to stage a coup, you would have woken up this morning in prison, or in the middle of the sea. We do not want that. It is a political issue, with a political solution through early elections.”

- Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, in comments directed tothe U.S.-backed Lebanese government, Al-ManarTV, 8 May 2008.

As Hezbollah’s men returned to their neighborhoods after Friday’s show of force when their authority was extended over the whole of West Beirut, many residents began to realize just how close to the precipice of civil war their country stood. And fears of it have yet to recede.

The events of the past several days were intended to send a clear message from Lebanon’s opposition to the ruling March 14 Coalition government led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and allies Walid Jumblatt, Rafiq Hariri and Samir Geagea: our patience with you is wearing thin.

http://www.counterpunch.org/amiri05102008.html

[ohio2007]

8. They don't want to provoke the Arab League that meets tomorrow

They have raised alarms in the Arab world and were told to stand down.

[bemildred]

9. Breaking News: Army Command Intervenes

Update 6:40 pm: Speaking in a televised press conference Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil confirmed that his group, along with Hizballah and other Syrian-backed groups, would withdraw their militants from the streets and hand control of the capital to the Army, while declaring a "continuation of civil disobedience".

Update 6:20 pm: Hizballah mouthpiece, Al Manar TV (via NOWLebanon), has declared the group's rejection of an end to "civil disobedience". Meanwhile the Lebanese news/rumor website, LebanonFiles has reported that Hizballah has agreed to the withdrawal of gunmen from the streets and the Army's assumption of control of the capital - without a suspension of "civil disobedience" activities. The website also quoted sources as saying that the Army could open the airport road within 24 hrs.

News sources in Lebanon are reporting a statement issued by Army Command calling for the withdrawal of all armed elements from the street. The Army's statement also declared the establishment of an internal probe into the airport security affair, without the removal of Brigadier General Wafik Shoukair as head of airport security; and the establishment of its own study into the Hizballah communication network, along lines that "would not harm the resistance’s integrity and security".

Future Movement leader, Saad Hariri, and Walid Jumblatt, leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, have outlined their acceptance of the Army's statement in conjunction with their previous calls that the Army assume control of the capital and that it takeover the issues of airport security and Hizballah's communications network as brought up earlier this week by the government.

http://blacksmithsoflebanon.blogspot.com/2008/05/breaking-news-army-command-intervenes.html

[maddezmom]

10. Lebanese opposition to withdraw gunmen from Beirut streets

Lebanese opposition to withdraw gunmen from Beirut streets 1 hour, 1 minute ago



BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah TV says that Hezbollah-led opposition forces will withdraw all their gunmen from Beirut in compliance with an army request.


An opposition statement says the move comes after the army called on gunmen to get off the street and reopen the roads.

But the statement said that a "civil disobedience" campaign will continue until its demands are met.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080510/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon;_ylt=AproUB5nB5AeOm08Bb2XpVALewgF

[maddezmom]

11. Hezbollah to withdraw fighters in Beirut; 12 die in clash in Northern Lebanon

Hezbollah to withdraw fighters in Beirut; 12 die in clash By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago



BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah said Saturday it was withdrawing its gunmen from Beirut neighborhoods seized in sectarian clashes after the army ordered its troops to establish security and called on fighters to clear the streets.


But while tensions in the capital appeared to be defusing, at least 12 people were killed and 20 wounded when pro- and anti-government groups fought in a remote region of northern Lebanon, Lebanese security and hospital officials said. It was the heaviest toll for a single clash since sectarian fighting began on Wednesday.

Hezbollah and its allied seized large swaths of Muslim west Beirut Friday, demonstrating their military might in a power struggle with the government.

Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, in his first public statement since the sectarian violence erupted, said Lebanon can no longer tolerate Hezbollah having weapons. He called on the army to restore law and order and remove gunmen from the streets and accused Hezbollah of staging a coup.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080510/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon;_ylt=AisrH5uf0Z_zbOg.zk7Sf0JvaA8F

[Scurrilous]

12. US warship heads back to Mediterranean

<snip>

"A US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Beirut's political crisis, crossed Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority told AFP.

"The USS Cole has crossed the Suez Canal and is headed to the Mediterranean," the official said, adding he did not know its exact destination.

The United States sent the guided-missile destroyer to waters off the coast of Lebanon on February 28, in what US officials said was "a show of support for regional stability" amid concerns over Lebanon's protracted political crisis.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had defended the earlier deployment saying it was designed to show Washington's readiness to defend the interests of its allies in the region.

In March the USS Cole had left the region for the Gulf."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5isYrZYBto85jZiWMRwdXW9MC0VdA

[saigon68]

13. Puppets in the region

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had defended the earlier deployment saying it was designed to show Washington's readiness to defend the interests of its "PUPPETS" in the region.

[ohio2007]

18. puppets and their masters

Why are they killing Lebanese?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7df_1210617455



Where does Obama stand on regional powers working inside of Lebanon ?


Nasrallah: Hezbollah not to lay down arms - Post Media Reply
Sun, 11 Nov 2007
Press TV, Beirut

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f24_1194871456

Weren't they ( Nasrallah ) supposed to give back those two IDF soldiers when Israel withdrew from Lebanon ? Didn't mention that in his screed.

Don't worry, he can still be trusted Barack.

[ohio2007]

14. Arab foreign ministers split over whom to blame for crisis

CAIRO: Arab foreign ministers holding crisis talks in Cairo on Sunday were divided over a draft resolution that would implicitly condemn Hizbullah for deadly clashes in Lebanon, delegates said.

snip

The text was drawn up by Egypt and put forward with the support of six other pro-Western governments - Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, delegates told AFP.

They said Syria, which was represented by its ambassador to the Arab League instead of Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, was not alone in having objected to the draft.

snip



Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have been strong supporters of Siniora and blamed Hizbullah and its Syrian and Iranian allies for the latest confrontation.

Lebanese soldiers deployed in the northern city of Tripoli on Sunday after fierce overnight battles, as the Hizbullah-led opposition handed over control of West Beirut to the army.

Lebanon's long-running political standoff, which first erupted in November 2006 when six opposition ministers quit the Cabinet, has left it without a president since November, when Damascus protege Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term. The crisis is widely seen as an extension of the confrontation pitting the United States and its Arab allies against Syria and Iran.


http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=91931