Friday, November 16, 2018

UANI Resource: Perspectives on Lebanon and Hezbollah



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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,
Al-Joumhouria reported.

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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