Politicians from the ruling coalition on Monday responded to accusations from Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of "scheming" and "taking orders from the United States." Nasrallah said in a lengthy speech on Sunday that a national dialogue had failed and Hizbullah had "given up" on its demand for 11 ministers in a proposed 30-member national unity government. MP Walid Jumblatt, a senior member of the ruling coalition, responded on Monday, describing Nasrallah as "the president of the republic of Hizbullah.""Enough lies about the government, as the real problem is with UN Security Resolution 1701 and the seven-point plan and the deployment of the Lebanese Army in the South ... and the international peacekeepers," Jumblatt told Kuwaiti daily Al-Anbaa. "All these things prevent the Syrian and Iranian regimes from holding military exercises in the South."
Addressing a description of Lebanon as a "weak" state, Jumblatt said the "presence of [Hizbullah's] arms is one of the main reasons the state hasn't been able to become strong."
"When you become a strong state, then come and talk to us about us becoming a state within a state," Nasrallah had said.
The Druze leader said Nasrallah was "covering up" for his Syrian and Iranian allies by criticizing the draft of an international tribunal to try those accused of the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Jumblatt said he was "very surprised" that Nasrallah has made a "strange defense of the four generals" suspected in involvement of the Hariri assassination and other crimes. "Did Nasrallah forget that he was part of this government that he criticizes so strongly, and did he forget he was part of the agreement for the cease-fire and the seven-point plan?" he asked.
Jumblatt said a referendum to decide the way forward proposed by Nasrallah was "against the democracy of consensus that prevails in Lebanon." He also again accused Hizbullah of smuggling weapons from Syria, and questioned the presence of "a large number" of Syrian workers in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Aley and Choueifat, where "there isn't much construction going on." In comments made over the weekend, Jumblatt accused Hizbullah of erecting "a state within a state," and urged the Lebanese Army to control tunnels allegedly used to smuggle weapons into Lebanon from Syria.