Wednesday, March 02, 2011
by Hussein Dakroub

The wave of popular uprisings currently sweeping the Arab world demanding a regime change has hit Lebanon, but in a different way. It’s a slogan war between the two rival factions over the two most divisive and explosive issues: Hezbollah’s weapons and the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Inspired by the most popular and striking slogan hoisted by young Arab protesters – “The people want to topple the regime” slogan that has so far led to the overthrow of the Egyptian and Tunisian presidents – the March 14 coalition has decided to adopt this slogan with a minor change in its fierce campaign against Hezbollah’s arsenal.
“The people want to topple the [Hezbollah] arms,” is the slogan to be raised by supporters of the March 14 coalition during a mass rally in central Beirut planned for March 14 to commemorate six years since the coalition was founded. However, the date of the rally could be moved to Sunday, March 13, with the aim of attracting a larger crowd.

The coalition, grouping Muslim and Christian parties, was founded on March 14, 2005, a month after Hariri’s assassination, to defend the cause of Lebanon’s freedom, sovereignty and independence and demand a Syrian troop withdrawal.

In addition to these objectives, the March 14 groups have in past years added to its slogans the STL, which has sharply divided the Lebanese into two rival camps. They have now added Hezbollah’s arms to their targets.
Since the collapse of caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Cabinet on Jan. 12, Hariri, his Future bloc MPs and his March 14 allies have launched a concerted campaign against Hezbollah’s weapons, saying the weapons threatened the country’s security and stability. Some have called for these weapons to be placed under state control.

Hariri, who was the leader of the parliament majority, Monday blamed Hezbollah for his government’s collapse, accusing the party 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.”

In a speech a day after the March 14 coalition announced its opposition against the government to be formed by Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, Hariri launched his most scathing attack yet 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.
Referring to the March 14 coalition’s rally, Hariri said 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.”

Hezbollah’s caretaker Minister of State for Administrative Development Mohammad Fneish refused to comment on Hariri’s fiery speech or on the March 14 coalition’s new slogan targeting Hezbollah’s weapons. “I don’t want to comment on the speech. Hezbollah’s position on the issue of arms is well known,” Fneish told The Daily Star Tuesday.

But Fneish slammed in an earlier statement critics of Hezbollah’s weapons, saying the resistance’s role cannot be terminated under the pretext of the STL.

Taking a direct swipe at Hariri, who accused Hezbollah of using its weapons to influence internal political disputes, Fneish said, “What has changed for some to reject the people, army and resistance equation on which they have previously agreed in the [Hariri’s Cabinet’s] policy statement.”
Another Hezbollah official refused to comment on the March 14 coalition’s new slogan.

Apparently, Hariri’s pitch against Hezbollah’s weapons came in response to his ouster from the government. As-Safir newspaper, which is close to Hezbollah, said Hariri has declared a war on the group’s arms.

“The Future Movement leader Saad Hariri yesterday sent a very clear message that his exit from power will be more costly for the country than his stay in the government and those responsible [for his ouster] must bear the responsibility, even if this led to the country’s destruction,” the paper said. It quoted sources close to Mikati as saying that the way Hariri brought up the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons threatened to plunge the country into renewed sectarian street violence.

In addition to Hariri’s ouster, the March 14 coalition’s slogan against Hezbollah’s arms also came in response to the party’s campaign last year to vilify and abolish the STL which, in the eyes of Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, was established to serve American and Israeli interests rather than revealing the truth in Hariri’s assassination.
But Hariri rejected Hezbollah’s accusation, saying, “This tribunal represents, in our point of view, the highest degree of human justice.”

Responding to Hariri, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech last month that the March 14 coalition’s insistence on launching a battle against his group’s weapons will be “a losing battle that will lead to nowhere.”

Ahmad Hariri, secretary general of the Future Movement, took a tough stance on Hezbollah’s arms. “We will take to the streets on March 14 to say No to the illegitimate arms directed at us. Any arms to confront the Israeli enemy should be placed under the Lebanese army command and in coordination with it,” he said.

“Our battle is with Hezbollah’s arms … March 14 will be a day for a sit-in and strike against these arms.”
The war of slogans between the two sides comes amid media reports that the STL is expected to issue its indictment into Hariri’s assassination this month, further heightening tension and raising fears of sectarian violence, especially if the indictment implicates some Hezbollah members as it is widely assumed.