Hezbollah To Protest U.S. Stance On Lebanon
By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 7, 2005; Page A01
BEIRUT, March 6 -- The leader of Hezbollah, the militant Shiite Muslim movement that for weeks has stood on the sidelines of Lebanon's political upheaval, called Sunday for national demonstrations against what he characterized as foreign influences seeking to expel Syria, a key sponsor of the party, from the country.
Hassan Nasrallah, a Shiite cleric who serves as Hezbollah's secretary general, was critical in particular of the United States and France. His announcement dashed the hopes of Lebanese opposition leaders that the large, disciplined movement would join their cause to drive Syrian troops and intelligence services from Lebanon.
This will make Hizbollah more unpopular amongs the Druze, Maronite, Orthodox and Sunni groups which is why Nasrallah frames it as a 'anti US' rather than a 'pro Syria' event. We'll watch the arab media over the next few days to see if this scam works. In the meantime, Hiz needs Syria to deliver weapons. Without weapons, which are mostly paid for by Iran, Hizbollah becomes less powerful over time. Also Syria has been the one supplying tech assistance for the Hizbollah surface to surface rocket force. However, Syria really needed Hizbollah support in the 48 hours after Hariri's death and I think Syria is ticked at Hizbollah for being neutral at that critical time. |