BEIRUT: Sectarian violence in north Lebanon could provide Syria with a new pretext to intervene in its neighbor, anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said yesterday.
Jumblatt also stressed the need for reconciliation among followers of rival leaders whose power struggle pushed the country to the brink of a new civil war in May. Steps taken to that end were “not enough,” even if Lebanon was far more stable now than four months ago, Jumblatt told Reuters in an interview.
A protracted power struggle between Jumblatt’s “March 14” alliance and a rival coalition led by the Syria— and Iran-backed Hezbollah was ended in May by a Qatari-mediated settlement. The deal drew both camps into a unity government and led to the election of a new president. But leaders have yet to deal with sectarian tensions unleashed by a power struggle that led to armed conflict between Sunnis, Shiites and Druze.
Sectarian tension still hangs over the northern city of Tripoli, where more than 20 people have been killed since June in clashes between gunmen from the city’s majority Sunni community and Alawites who have close ties to Syria.
Syria dominated Lebanon until 2005. The assassination of statesman Rafik Hariri that year triggered pressure on Damascus to withdraw troops that had first entered the country in 1976. “Why should we give the Syrians a pretext to intervene like in ‘76 when some Christian villages were surrounded ... and the Christians went to Damascus and asked for Syrian protection? It could happen again now with the Alawites,” Jumblatt said.
“They feel like a minority and they know they could be protected,” he said, speaking of “confessional cleansing” in Tripoli, where Sunni politician Saad Al-Hariri, a Jumblatt ally, yields wide influence.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday rejected the idea that Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon might be forced to stay there permanently, saying they should have the right to return home.
About 400,000 Palestinian refugees and their descendants live in a dozen refugee camps in Lebanon, which were set up for those who fled or were pushed out during fighting around Israel’s creation in 1948.
“The refugees should have the right of return to their homeland and we are negotiating this with the Israelis. I have to say we are not with permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. We are against permanent resettlement,” Abbas told reporters after meeting Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on a visit to Beirut.
Abbas later met with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. The fate of millions of Palestinian refugees is one of the most difficult issues in Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. Israel has refused to accept the return of refugees, believing that they should be resettled in a future Palestinian state or the places where they now live. Israel has also offered compensation.
In another incident, attackers opened fire at a military helicopter as it flew over a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon yesterday, killing a navigator and forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing, the army said.
An army statement said the helicopter was on a training mission when it came under fire from “armed elements” and was forced down in the highlands of the Iqlim Al-Tuffah province. The statement said 1st Lt. Samer Hanna was killed and that the aircraft was damaged. No other crew were hurt.
Hezbollah did not comment on the shooting. The group has not clashed with the Lebanese military in recent years and their forces often coordinate their activities. It is likely, for example, that the army would have informed Hezbollah that one of its helicopters would be flying over the area.
