UANI Resource: Perspectives on Lebanon and Hezbollah

Perspectives: Lebanon and Hezbollah  March 29, 2019 Perspectives: Lebanon and Hezbollah, is a UANI weekly resource highlighting developments in Lebanon and the activities of the terrorist group Hezbollah.   Hezbollah Internationally Pompeo's Lebanon Visit Focused on Hezbollah and Iran U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo concluded a visit to Lebanon this past week, during which he expressed a more robust U.S. stance regarding the ambitions of Hezbollah and Iran. Castigating the group, Pompeo stressed, however, that any additional U.S. actions or sanctions against Hezbollah would not affect the Lebanese economy. Several Lebanese officials - including President Michel Aoun, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri - rejected Pompeo's characterization of Hezbollah as a terror group, including in their personal meetings with the Secretary of State. However, Bassil praised Pompeo's position, stated in Congressional testimony, in which the Secretary of State expressed support for repatriating Syrian refugees in Lebanon and recognized the economic and social strain they place on the country. However, in an interview with news channel Russia Today, he said - regarding Hezbollah - the U.S. was asking Lebanon to do things beyond its capacity. He stressed that Hezbollah was not a terrorist group, and that "Washington's laws are its concern alone." Berri dismissed Pompeo's visit as "not beneficial" for Lebanon and "consistent" with Israel's positions on Hezbollah and the maritime border dispute between the two countries. However, sources close to Berri did say the visit was important in terms of "putting an end" to a former U.S. official's suggestion for demarcating the Israeli-Lebanese maritime border that would have required Lebanon to "renounce its right to the maritime Block 8, which covers over 800 square kilometers of its Exclusive Economic Zone," and which contains oil and gas deposits. Instead, Berri said, Pompeo's visit revived hopes for a U.N.-mediated solution to the maritime demarcation issue. In contrast, Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Future Movement praised Pompeo's visit, saying it expressed the U.S. desire to increase pressure on Iran, while simultaneously expressing its intention to continue supporting the Lebanese State and its institutions. Hezbollah Reacts to Pompeo's Visit Several Hezbollah officials reacted to the statements made by Pompeo during his Lebanon trip. Chief among them was Hassan Nasrallah, the group's Secretary General, who in a special speech on Tuesday said Pompeo's visit sought to "incite the Lebanese against one another." Nasrallah, attempting to cover for his group, called on the Lebanese to be united in the face of Pompeo's attacks on Hezbollah, which he said aimed to "manipulate our situation or spark a civil war." Nasrallah also condemned the recent U.S. decision to recognize Israel's assertion of sovereignty the portion of the Syrian Golan Heights it has controlled since June of 1967. Two days earlier, Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, a member of Hezbollah's central council, slammed Pompeo's visit for expressing a "hostile U.S. stance" and blamed "U.S. President Donald Trump's racist speech" for "the massacre against [Muslim] worshippers in New Zealand." Lebanon Foreign Affairs Aoun Visits Moscow On Tuesday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, thanking him for "defending" the Christians of the Middle East, and expressing the hope that such Russian help "will continue." Aoun and Putin also reportedly agreed to activate a tripartite Lebanese-Russian-Syrian mechanism to repatriate Syrian refugees living in Lebanon.       Following the trip, Aoun is now scheduled to head the Lebanese delegation to Tunisia for the annual Arab League summit, scheduled for March 31. Bassil Wants to Emulate Eastern European Hardline Stance on Refugees Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil expressed Beirut's desire to emulate the hardline stance adopted by Eastern European countries on refugees. Bassil said these states "were acting in their national interest" when they refused to accept the European Union's refugee distribution quotas proposed in the wake of the 2015-16 migrant crisis. "I would like this attitude to be an inspiration for Lebanon, because every state must make national interests its top priority and at this moment Lebanon's key national interest is the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland," he added. Eight Lebanese Facing Terrorism Trials in the UAE Eight Lebanese citizens, all Shiite Muslims, have been charged with committing terrorism in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The charges against the eight have not been made public, but UAE media reported the men are linked to Hezbollah. Family members of the men allege they have been denied legal representation. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons.