There should be no doubt that a strong Lebanese army, especially one aided by the US, is not welcomed by Hizbullah. The Iranian-armed "party" survives on claims that its "resistance" is better equipped to fight the enemy than the state's army.Read Hizbullah's recent threats to the US in that context. Hizbullah threatened Monday that U.S. troops would be treated as "occupation forces" on Lebanese soil. Hizbullah official Nawaf Mussawi made the threat in a statement to Agence France Presse. He was commenting on alleged plans by the United States to set up a military base in Lebanon, a charge that has been made by as-Safir newspaper and denied both by the government and Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman. "It is impossible to accept such a project. American soldiers on Lebanese soil will be considered an occupation force and will be treated as such," Mussawi told AFP. "Let the Americans take (interpret) this message as they wish."
Finger-waving Naim Qassem delivered a similar threat:
On Sunday, Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said the creation of U.S. military bases in Lebanon would be considered a "hostile act".Hizbullah's religious ally, Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, sent a fax to AP laying down the "choice" before the Lebanese:
The report of an army base first surfaced on Debka, and was propagated by Iranian media, before landing in As-Safir. Denials by the Lebanese army, the US ambassador to Lebanon and the Lebanese cabinet did not stop Hizbullah from issuing the above threats. "Let them interpret this as they wish" means the Iranian-created party would not hesitate to kill American soldiers as they or their pals did in 1983. It remains to be seen whether Hizbullah's threat also applies to visiting US officials working with the Lebanese army on training missions.
"We warn that the U.S. administration is offering the Lebanese a choice either to accept their country being turned into a (U.S.) military, security and political base, or to expect a new strife," Fadlallah said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press.Unlike their Iranian counterparts, US defense officials have not been smuggling weapons or secretly building military structures in downtown Beirut. They also have not been shy about their feeling towards the Iranian-armed militia. They very well may be seeking to turn Lebanon into a strategic ally in the region. However, the rejection of this partnership is not based on a desire for an independent Lebanon. What Hizbullah wants is not a country free of American hegemony-- that is just a cover for their existential battle against March 14. They want an Iranian satellite state with a weak army and fertile ground for terrorists and their fixers.
He said the Lebanese army was aware of attempts to link U.S. military aid to Lebanon to confronting the guerrilla group and was determined in "rejecting strife and rejecting any restrictions on its armament."
"The Lebanese, who have seen the American failure in Iraq and felt the American involvement with Israel in last year's war against Lebanon ... must be aware that what the administration of President Bush is aiming at is something else other than supporting the Lebanese army," Fadlallah said.
"It (U.S. Administration) is working to make Lebanon a new base for chaos and another position for NATO in order to exert pressure on regional and international powers which disobeyed its decisions and policies," the cleric added in a clear reference to Iran and Syria.
For that, the real target of these threats is not just US-Lebanese military co-operation, but also any prospects of the Lebanese army gaining strength and a clear sense of purpose, which would come at the expense of the Iranian-funded militia. Hizbullah, after all, is used to the Syrian-run army of ushers, whose job was to clean beaches, put out forest fires, and turn a blind eye to arms smuggling and Syrian-sponsored terrorist attacks.
Perhaps Army Commander General Michel Suleiman, who denied the As-Safir report in a statement, can now pause and ponder about how the militia that grew under his blind eye is unashamedly calling him a liar and threatening the livelihood of his forces, and those of a supposedly friendly state.