BEIRUT/ CAIRO, 8 March 2005 — The call by Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to hold a demonstration in downtown Beirut today highlighted divisions in Lebanon between pro-Syrian groups and the opposition.
Today’s pro-Syrian demonstration, the Hezbollah chief said, was also to “voice a united rejection of UN Security Council resolution 1559,” which Nasrallah described as a “recipe for sedition”.
The resolution, sponsored by the United States and France and supported by other countries, urges Syria to withdraw its forces and calls on Lebanon to dismantle local and foreign armed groups.
Nasrallah’s remarks irked several opposition figures yesterday, with several describing them as provocative.
“Sheikh Nasrallah is widely respected among the opposition, but I was a bit surprised why Hezbollah decided to speak out when at the same time Syrian President Bashar Assad announced clearly the withdrawal of his troops (from Lebanon),” former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Observers noted that pro-Syrian groups would try to use the situation to show the number of followers they have in the Lebanese arena.
Egyptian analyst Mustafa El-Labbad said Nasrallah’s position was mainly an attempt to maneuver Hezbollah’s positions in Lebanese politics. “The other parties with Nasrallah are small birds and amount to little in internal politics. Hezbollah wants a demonstration for its benefit, to show what a big presence it occupies in Lebanese politics,” El-Labbad told DPA in Cairo.
“Hezbollah cannot accept 1559 because it threatens its existence, so its demonstration is to say: ‘we are very much here’,” El-Labbad said.
What is worrisome, El-Labbad said, is how fragile the current situation has become.
“There is no government and two opposing poles demonstrating several hundred meters away from each other,” he said.
Addressing a massive opposition demonstration yesterday in downtown Beirut, Christian Deputy Ghattas Khoury said, “We will not be scared by any massive demonstrations. We are calling for our freedom and we know we are right.”
One Lebanese analyst believes that both the pro-Syrian and the opposition have missed “the big picture”.
Sateh Noureddine, an analyst working at As-Safir daily, told DPA that the demonstrators on both sides are wrong to believe that they have influenced Syria’s decision to maintain or withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
Noureddine said that slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri represented all Lebanese who wanted to see an end to Syria’s interference in all aspects of daily life.
Meanwhile Rajeh Khoury, an analyst at the independent An-Nahar, was more cautious, saying, “the important thing is to avoid violence and keep the stability in the country, and I think that is what everybody is after.”
A Western diplomatic source told DPA that “Syria should realize that it is in its interest to have a stable Lebanon, while Lebanon should realize that enmity toward Syria is hardly to its advantage.”
