Beirut, March 01: Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri began his first day in the opposition Monday with a blistering attack on Hezbollah, saying the group’s weapons have become a national problem that was poisoning the political and cultural life in Lebanon and needed a national solution.
Hariri also accused Hezbollah of using its weapons internally in the past three years to influence political disputes in its favor, culminating recently with the ouster of Hariri’s Cabinet and the subsequent appointment of Hezbollah-backed former Prime Minister Najib Mikati to form a new government.
Hariri’s statement was likely to further deepen the split between the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance and Hariri’s March 14 coalition over the problem of the group’s weapons, a major divisive issue among Lebanese.
Shortly after his fiery speech, Hariri spoke by telephone with Saudi King Abdullah to congratulate him on his return home after a three-month absence for back surgeries in the U.S. and a recuperation period in Morocco.
Recalling clashes between Hezbollah fighters and other rival gunmen in Beirut since 2008, Hariri, addressing Hezbollah, said: “We simply decided to tell you what each and every Lebanese is saying everyday: The Lebanese system and the economic, social, cultural, political and constitutional life as well as the right of the Lebanese people to a secure and safe life, will never be achieved as long as these weapons are ready to be used against your countrymen.”
Hariri was speaking to caretaker ministers, lawmakers and officials of his Future Movement at his residence in Downtown Beirut. His speech came a day after the March 14 coalition announced it would not participate in the Cabinet to be formed by Mikati and vowed to confront what it called the Hezbollah-led “coup” that resulted in the ouster of Hariri’s Cabinet on Jan. 12.
Throughout his speech, Hariri emphasized that the Lebanese can no longer put up with the “supremacy” of Hezbollah’s weapons in the national and political life in the country.
“We will continue to reiterate these simple and clear facts calmly and with responsibility, and in a democratic way. We will repeat these facts through all available peaceful means until you confess that this problem has become a national problem par excellence, and needs a national solution par excellence, before anything else, because it is poisoning everything else and we will not allow it from now on to poison the memory of our martyrs,” he said.
Hariri pledged not to allow the supremacy of weapons to poison the sincere will of the Lebanese people who are seeking the truth and justice in the 2005 assassination of his father, statesman Rafik Hariri, and “in their right to a decent, independent living, and in their pacific and noble defense of their future and the future of their children.”
Hariri said the March 14 coalition decided to go to the opposition after Mikati failed to provide answers concerning three points: The government’s commitment to end the supremacy of weapons over political life in Lebanon; its commitment to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon; and its commitment to the Constitution.
“After a full month, the March 14 parties considered the absence of an answer to be an answer in itself, or more explicitly, an absence of decision and an absence of will, and therefore they announced to all the Lebanese that their place was not in this government,” Hariri said.
However, a source close to Mikati rejected Hariri’s statement, saying that the premier-designate had told the Future bloc delegation led by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora during their first meeting with him that he could not provide a written commitment because he did not make any commitment to any party. “Hariri’s speech is an attempt to throw responsibility on Mikati because they [March 14] had already taken a decision not to participate in government,” the source told The Daily Star.
Hariri accused Hezbollah of reneging on its promises not to use its arms internally to settle political differences or withdraw from the government. Hariri’s Cabinet was brought down following the resignations of ministers of Hezbollah and its March 8 allies in a long-running dispute over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon. “The problem is when you say that these weapons will not be used internally, and then we find that they are only used internally, since the ‘glorious day’ on May 7, 2008, and how can we forget the ‘glorious day,’ the bullying day of the people of Beirut and the mountain,” Hariri said.
He was referring to sectarian street clashes between pro-and anti-government gunmen in Beirut and in the mountains after Hezbollah’s fighters briefly took over west Beirut to protest the government’s decision to dismantle the group’s private telecomms network. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah described May 7, 2008, as a “glorious day” because it eventually forced the government to revoke its decision.
The 2008 clashes resulted in the Doha Accord in which the rival factions pledged not to use violence in resolving political differences or withdraw from the Cabinet.
Hariri, who was the leader of the parliament majority, accused Hezbollah of changing the majority “under threat that if some MPs respected the opinion of their voters, then these weapons are ready to be used against your countrymen.”
Hariri rejected the use of weapons to impose a Parliament speaker or a prime minister. “The Lebanese will say ‘it’s ok’ because the weapons are ready to be used against your countrymen. No. It is not ok. We simply decided to tell you: No. It is not ok,” he said.
“We want to tell you [Hezbollah] that just because you have weapons, this doesn’t mean that you are right. The weapons may give control, but they don’t give a majority. The majority is produced by the ballot boxes, without weapons. The majority expresses its views in the Parliament, without weapons,” he said.
He added that the majority of the Lebanese people would take to the streets on March 14 to reject “the tutelage of weapons over the Constitution and national life.”
Meanwhile, Mikati met Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss the government formation efforts. A source close to Mikati said the two men reviewed “ongoing contacts and efforts to overcome the hurdles delaying the government’s formation.”
According to the source, the problem over Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s tough demands for large Christian representation in the government has not yet been solved.
——–Agencies