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Perspectives: Lebanon and Hezbollah
January 11, 2019
Perspectives:
Lebanon and Hezbollah, is a UANI weekly
resource highlighting developments in Lebanon and the activities of
the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Lebanon Foreign Relations
Pompeo: U.S. Will No Longer Accept "Status
Quo" of Hezbollah Power in Lebanon
In a speech
at the American University in Cairo, U.S. Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo said the United States would no longer accept the "status
quo" of Hezbollah being a major power in Lebanon, and would
target the group and its leadership as part of the "aggressive
sanctions campaign against Iran." Pompeo said, "Iran thinks
it may own Lebanon. Iran is wrong."
Pompeo added that the U.S. would work to "reduce
the threat" that Hezbollah's missile arsenal posed to Israel,
and said that "many of these rockets are equipped with advanced
guidance systems." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
recently claimed that Hezbollah only possesses a "few
dozen" such missiles, and Maj. Gen. Tamir Hyman - the head
of Israel's Military Intelligence - said the group lacks
the ability to domestically produce them.
Hezbollah, Amal Attempt to Rehabilitate Assad's Syria
Via Arab Economic Summit
Hezbollah's "Loyalty
to the Resistance Bloc" and the Amal Movement are supporting
the idea of inviting Syria to the Arab Economic Summit to be held in
Beirut later this month. Amal Movement MP Ali Khreis even said
that the summit would not occur without Syria's attendance. According
to pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar,
a joint Lebanese-Egyptian effort is under way to explore the
possibility of inviting Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to the
summit, and Beirut is awaiting Saudi Arabia's response before
extending the invitation. Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran
Bassil appeared to deny that Lebanon intended to invite Syria, saying
that the Arab League - and not Beirut - would decide the issue.
However, Bassil
noted that Lebanon "can push and work for Syria's readmission to
the [Arab] League, and our position as a political party [i.e. his
Free Patriotic Movement (FPM)] and the Foreign Ministry is well
known." However, a subsequent report
in Asharq Al-Awsat claimed that Bassil was actively trying to
focus the summit on Arab reconciliation with Bashar al-Assad and
Syria's readmission into the Arab League. Syria's attendance at the
summit would be seen as a step toward granting the Assad regime
renewed Arab legitimacy, and reintegrating Damascus into the Arab
world.
Beirut Arab Economic Summit May be Delayed
Though
Lebanese President Michel Aoun stressed this week that the
Beirut-hosted Arab Economic Summit would be held on time, other
political forces within Lebanon - including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri
and pro-Hezbollah Sunni
MPs - are trying to delay it, tying its timing to the formation
of a government or Arab reconciliation
with Syria.
Hezbollah and Israel
Israel to Give U.S. Intel on Hezbollah's "Civilian
Shields"
A report in Israel
HaYom claimed that Israel intended to provide the U.S.
intelligence on Hezbollah's use of civilian homes and other places in
Lebanon to house military equipment, weapons, and fighters.
Lebanon Complains Over Israeli Border Security
Procedures
Lebanon's
Higher Defense Council met on Thursday
to address Israel's continued building of a separation barrier in
disputed areas along the Blue Line. The Council considered Israel's
actions a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, and
expressed Beirut's desire to diplomatically pressure the Israelis
into halting their activities, including by submitting a complaint to
the Security Council. The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon later hosted
an emergency tripartite meeting
with Lebanese and Israeli military officials to address the matter.
Cabinet Formation
No Breakthrough on Lebanese Government Formation Process
Sources told Al-Hayat
that Lebanon's government formation process was "stagnant,"
despite caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil's recent initiatives
to break the impasse. The sources claimed Bassil's proposal,
supported by
Hezbollah - to expand the government beyond
30 ministers to accommodate pro-Hezbollah Sunni MPs
demanding a cabinet position - had been rejected,
and no solution to this "Sunni impasse" was forthcoming.
Hariri reportedly said he would not accept Bassil's proposal,
"no matter what, because Hezbollah is behind it." Even
sources within Bassil's
own Free Patriotic Movement decried the Foreign Minister's proposal
as "an embarrassment."
Meanwhile,
pro-Hezbollah Sunni MPs doubled
down
on their demand
to have one of their own members, or one of three "compromise
figures," represent them in Hariri's government and otherwise ruled
out the formation of a new government anytime soon. Hezbollah
and Amal Movement representatives reiterated
their support
for the Sunni MPs, and blamed
Hariri for the continued stalemate. Hariri's "Future
Movement" accused
Hezbollah of orchestrating the escalating attacks on Hariri. A report
in Al-Hayat predicted that government formation efforts would
be pushed off until after the upcoming Arab League summit, scheduled
to be held in Tunisia in March.
Joumblatt Accuses "Syrian Regime Mouthpieces"
of Blocking Government Formation, Aoun Blames "Regional
Influences"
Druze
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt tweeted
that it was now "obvious" that a "systematic campaign
by the Syrian regime's mouthpieces" was behind Lebanon's
government formation impasse. Joumblatt implicitly jabbed at the six
pro-Hezbollah MPs demanding a seat in Prime Minister Saad Hariri's
cabinet - who refer to themselves as the Consultative Gathering - saying,
"one day [they concoct the excuse] of a consultation, and
another the invention of adding two ministers, and other
excuses." According to Joumblatt, "this is all aimed
at...destroying the immunity of the Lebanese state, to impose further
hegemony [on Lebanon]." Meanwhile, Lebanese President Michel
Aoun - meeting
with members of the Lebanese consular corps at the Baabda
Presidential Palace - blamed "regional influences" for the
continuing deadlock.
Hezbollah Regionally
Hezbollah Converts Syrian Sunni Mosques into Shiite
Shrines and Centers
Al-Modon reported
that Hezbollah was converting Sunni mosques in Syria's Zabadani
region that were destroyed in the Syrian Civil War into Shiite
religious centers (Husseiniya) and shrines.
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