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Perspectives: Lebanon and Hezbollah
November 16, 2018
Perspectives:
Lebanon and Hezbollah is a UANI
weekly resource highlighting developments in Lebanon and the
activities of the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah Transnationally
U.S. Treasury and State
Department Target Key Hezbollah Figures
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department added five individuals linked to
Hezbollah to its Specially Designated Nationals List, four of whom
are key Hezbollah representatives in Iraq. One of the designees,
Shibl Muhsin 'Ubayd al-Zaydi, acted
as a key coordinator between Hezbollah, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies in Iraq, and coordinated smuggling
of Iranian oil into Syria. The other three - Yusuf Hashim, Adnan
Hussein Kawtharani, and Muhammad 'Abd al-Hadi Farhat - were also
involved in collecting intelligence and moving funds for Hezbollah in
Iraq. The fifth designee was Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan
Nasrallah's eldest
son, Jawad, accused
by Israel's Shin Bet in 2016 of recruiting a terror cell in the West
Bank. That same day, the U.S. State Department's "Rewards for
Justice Program" offered $5 million for information regarding
two Hezbollah figures: Khalil Yusif Harb, one of Hassan
Nasrallah's advisers who has served as the group's chief military
liaison to Iranian and Palestinian terrorist organizations, and is
now involved in moving funds to the Houthis in Yemen; and Haytham
Ali Tabatabai, a key Hezbollah military leader who has commanded
the group's special forces in both Syria and Yemen.
Argentina Arrests Two Men with
Suspected Links to Hezbollah
Al-Jazeera reports that Argentine authorities arrested two citizens with
suspected links to Hezbollah on Thursday. The two men, ages 23 and
25, were arrested in the capital of Buenos Aires. Upon their arrest,
authorities discovered that the men were carrying weapons, including
a rifle, a shotgun, and several pistols, in addition to evidence that
they had traveled abroad, along with "credentials in Arabic and
an image of the Hezbollah flag."
"Lebanese Connection"
Drug Trial of Hezbollah Agent to Open in Paris
The National reported that a crime ring with links to Hezbollah that is
accused of trafficking cocaine for a Colombian drug cartel and
laundering the profits to buy weapons for Hezbollah fighters in Syria
is to go on trial in Paris on Tuesday. Mohammad Noureddine - a
44-year-old Lebanese businessman with interests in real estate and
jewelry - is accused of being the cell's ringleader, acting as a
middleman for Hezbollah. Police arrested him in France in 2016 after
a tip-off from U.S. counter-narcotics agents. The ring's members are
accused of operating throughout South America, Europe, and the Middle
East since 2012 and using the ancient banking system known as hawala
to transfer drug money without a trace, using trusted brokers.
Lebanese Politics
Lebanese Forces - Marada Hold
Historic Reconciliation
Lebanese Forces (LF) Party Chairman Samir Geagea and
Marada Movement Leader Suleiman Frangieh held a historic reconciliation meeting Wednesday in Bkirki - the seat of the Maronite
Patriarchate - ending a 40-year rift between the two Maronite
Christian parties. The rift occurred during the Lebanese Civil War's
1978 Ehden Massacre, when Lebanese Forces and Kataeb militiamen
attacked the mountain town of Ehden, killing Frangieh's father,
mother, three-year-old sister, and other Marada supporters. Marada
claimed that Geagea led the squad that carried out the killings, but
the LF chief said he had been wounded and taken to a hospital prior
to the massacre.
Lebanese politicians
from across the political and religious spectrum - including
the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), with whom Marada has tense
relations - welcomed the reconciliation as a positive step towards
achieving Lebanese Christian unity. It should be noted, however, that
the Bkirki reconciliation did not address or bridge the gaps in the
political positions of LF or Marada. While LF is aligned with the
March 14 camp - which opposes Hezbollah, Iran, and the Syrian regime,
Marada's leader is a close friend of Bashar al-Assad, an ally of
Hezbollah, and has spoken favorably of Iran's regional activities.
Both Geagea and Frangieh are leading Maronite Christian
figures, and once, presidential hopefuls. They respectively lead two
of Lebanon's most influential Maronite Christian parties, the others
being the FPM, the Kataeb Party (from which Geagea's LF splintered),
and - to a lesser extent - the Ahrar and Independence Parties. The
rift between Geagea and Frangieh, however, was particularly bitter
because it was tainted with blood. The timing of their reconciliation
is also significant. The relations of both leaders with FPM and its
current leader Gebran Bassil - another major Maronite leader and
presidential aspirant - have become tense. Therefore, in addition to
its symbolic significance, the reconciliation could also be
politically significant by putting pressure on Bassil and his FPM, or
even obstructing his future presidential aspirations.
Marada and FPM - both aligned with the pro-Hezbollah and
pro-Syrian regime March 8 movement - were once closer allies. Their
relationship deteriorated when Marada's Frangieh vied against FPM's
Michel Aoun for the presidency. At the time, Samir Geagea - despite
his anti-Syrian and anti-Hezbollah leanings - endorsed Aoun. The
endorsement ended decades of animosity between the two that had
arisen in 1990 when Geagea and Aoun - then still a Lebanese Army
general - had fought a devastating war against each other. Geagea's
endorsement of Aoun's presidential candidacy culminated in the
so-called "Maarab
Understanding" of January 2016, which frayed recently as LF
and FPM vied over positions in the cabinet Prime Minister-designate
Saad Hariri is attempting to form.
Lebanese Parliament Passes Law
to Find Civil War Missing
On Tuesday, Lebanon passed
a landmark and unprecedented law - Law 19 - to investigate the fate
of thousands of individuals who went missing during Lebanon's civil
war (1975-1990), and to hold those responsible accountable. The law
seeks to set up an official commission of inquiry to determine the
fate of the missing.
U.S. Ambassador: American
Companies Want to Invest in Lebanon
In remarks delivered
during "GE Day," U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth
Richard addressed Lebanon's ongoing energy problems and noted the
U.S. role in solving them. Richard highlighted the
"significant" contribution of U.S.-based energy companies
to date in helping solve Lebanon's energy crisis, including
rehabilitating a "power plant in North Lebanon, which, along
with a twin plant in the South, produces half of the electricity on
Lebanon's grid and represents the largest-ever U.S. private sector
contract with the Lebanese government." Despite the progress,
Richard noted that, "there is much more work to be done, and
American firms are best positioned to help." The Ambassador
stressed, however, that several important reforms to Lebanon's
electricity sector were required before progress could be made, in addition
to broader reforms to eliminate the "corruption and opaque
procurement processes" that frustrate - and sometimes deter -
American private-sector investment in Lebanon.
Cabinet Formation
Nasrallah Doubles Down on
Demands
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Prime
Minister Saad Hariri delivered competing speeches this week on the
continuing impediment to cabinet formation - the representation of
the so-called "Independent Sunnis," - part of the
Hezbollah-aligned, anti-Hariri "March 8" Alliance - in
Hariri's government. In his speech on Saturday,
Nasrallah reemphasized Hezbollah's support for the demands of
"Independent Sunnis," and lashed out at other Lebanese
political factions and leaders - including Walid
Joumblatt and his Progressive Socialist Party, the Lebanese
Forced party, and Hariri - as the real reasons for the delay in the
government's formation.
Hariri Accuses Hezbollah of Not
Wanting a Government
Hariri responded defiantly
on Tuesday, saying Hezbollah fabricated the Sunni representation
obstacle in order to obstruct the government's formation. Hariri
accused Hezbollah of "screaming and intimidation" and not
wanting either a "government [or] state institutions,"
preferring sectarianism over national interests. He said Hezbollah's
current stance was in "defiance of all Lebanese, including
President Michel Aoun," and implicitly accused the group of
hypocrisy for claiming he monopolized his entire Sunni sect's
representation, while Hezbollah often claims to speak for all
Shiites. He continued that Hezbollah would not "dictate to me
whom I should represent," and that - constitutionally - he and
president Aoun alone were tasked with forming a new government.
"There is no third person with [us]. Period." Hariri noted
that if Hezbollah was so adamant about representing the March 8-aligned
"Independent Sunnis," then the group should provide them a
seat from its own share in the cabinet.
Reactions to Hariri's Speech
Hariri's remarks received broad support from several
political figures, including Lebanese Forces chairman Samir
Geagea, and March 8-aligned Najib Miqati.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri chose to take an optimistic
view of the speeches of both men, saying
they "left the door open for solutions." Even Faisal
Karameh - one of the so-called "Independent Sunnis" - said
he viewed Hariri's speech "positively,"
even as his belatedly-formed group doubled down on their demands.
However, anonymous Hezbollah sources responded to
Hariri's speech via Al-Joumhouria,
saying the
ball was now in the premier's court and that Nasrallah's speech
"stressed we are not the party with whom [he needs] to negotiate
over the demands of the [March 8-aligned Sunnis]. They alone are the
relevant party, and we'll support whatever they choose." An
additional hurdle to the formation of a government may be emerging,
as the March 8-aligned Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party appeared to
signal a new demand to be included in Hariri's cabinet,
Bassil Tries and Fails to Reach
Compromise on Cabinet Formation Impasse
Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil this
past week held talks with a number of Lebanese religious and
political figures - including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri,
Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Sunni Grand Mufti
Abdullatif
Daryan, and Walid Joumblatt,
in an effort to try and overcome the "Independent Sunni"
impasse to government formation. Bassil also held a meeting with
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah prior to his Saturday
speech, a meeting described
by pro-Hezbollah mouthpiece Al-Akhbar as "not good."
According to Al-Akhbar, "Nasrallah addressed Bassil
sternly, in a tone similar to the one," the Hezbollah leader
used in his speech.
Bassil has been attempting to gain support for a compromise solution
to the government impasse, calling for naming a "centrist"
Sunni as a minister, rather than one of the six pro-Hezbollah Sunni
MPs. However, Al-Joumhouria reported on
Thursday that - encouraged by Nasrallah's aggressive speech
- the March 8-aligned Sunnis rejected any compromise that would
involve representing them in Hariri's cabinet via a figure from
outside their belatedly-formed grouping. Pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar commented on
the "Independent Sunni" stance and implicitly jabbed at
both Bassil's and Berri's recent optimism, writing, "Despite all
doors being left open by both the prime-minister designate and
Hezbollah...the position of [the March 8 Sunnis] remains [unchanged]:
the Minister [will be] from among us!"
Lebanese Security
UK Ambassador Meets with Lebanon
ISF Security Chief, Reaffirms Importance of Partnership
British Ambassador to Lebanon Chris Rampling this
week discussed
a British-funded project to develop a modern and professional
Lebanese police force with the Director General of Lebanon's Internal
Security Forces. In its third year, the British Policing Support
Project (BPSP) seeks to improve internal and external police
accountability, enhance respect for human rights, and build the
capacity and professionalism of the ISF. The program is also
partially funded by the United States. Rampling lauded the
ISF's "ambition and progress" towards becoming "a
modern, professional, and accountable police force," and also
highlighted the UK's assistance to the ISF in implementing its
Strategic Plan 2018-2022, launched at the recent Rome II conference,
which is aimed at strengthening Lebanon's ability to respond to its
domestic security needs.
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