By Hussein Dakroub
Saturday, March 12, 2011

BEIRUT: Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri called Friday on the Lebanese to break the barrier of fear by flocking to Downtown Beirut Sunday to raise their voices higher against Hezbollah’s weapons.

In the latest of his speeches targeting Hezbollah’s arsenal since the collapse of his Cabinet in January, Hariri took his campaign against the party’s weapons to a new crescendo, blaming them for the country’s chronic security and economic problems, including a lack of job opportunities and endemic electricity cutoffs.

Hariri said protecting Lebanon against a possible Israeli attack was the sole responsibility of the Lebanese Army, ruling out any role for the party’s well-trained guerrillas who fought Israeli occupation forces in south Lebanon from 1982 to 2000.
Hariri’s speech came two days ahead of a mass rally planned by the March 14 groups to commemorate the sixth anniversary of their movement’s founding in Downtown Beirut.

“The Lebanese know that silence is an ally of fear and violence, and an ally of those who think that they could change the face of our country with the supremacy of weapons. Therefore, your voice will rise Sunday higher than fear, higher than violence, and higher than the supremacy of weapons to silence fear and silence violence so that freedom prevails,” Hariri said.

Hariri, addressing the Lebanese from his residence in Downtown Beirut, in the presence of March 14 officials, lawmakers and supporters, said that from now on the decision to go to war with Israel should be taken by the state, rather than by Hezbollah, which had been accused by many, in and outside Lebanon, of provoking the 2006 devastating Israeli war on Lebanon with its cross border raid to capture Israeli soldiers.

“Dear friends, your decision is in your hands, the decision to go Sunday to Freedom Square to say together in a loud voice: No weapon from now on but the weapon of the state. No decision of war and peace from now on except that taken by the state. And no one will defend Lebanon but the Lebanese Army under the command and the will of the state,” he said, drawing applause from the audience.

“Our legitimate, national, responsible Lebanese Army is now deployed in the beloved south. This army, with our support and that of the state, now confronts the Israeli enemy and will confront any Israeli aggression on any part of our beloved land or on any citizen in the south or any other part of the Lebanese territories,” Hariri added.
He said there was no problem with the weapons pointed toward the Israeli enemy, but they should be placed under the command of the Lebanese Army.

“It is the only guarantee preventing these weapons from turning again against our people in all Lebanon, including the south, [Beirut’s southern] suburbs, and the Bekaa Valley, and from becoming a tutelage over our Constitution and our national life,” he said.

Hariri’s speech came a day after the March 14 coalition launched its political program, which called for putting an end to non-state weapons and the supremacy of Hezbollah’s arms over national and political life in Lebanon.
Hariri’s Future Movement and its allies in the March 14 coalition have been mobilizing their supporters for a heavy turnout at Sunday’s rally to celebrate the anniversary of the movement launched on March 14, 2005, a month after the assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The rally is viewed as a show of force as the political confrontation between the March 14 coalition and the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance heats up, heightening tension ahead of the indictment by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) into Rafik Hariri’s assassination.
Hariri said the tutelage of Hezbollah’s arms had prevented past governments from acting to improve the economic and social conditions.

“Why can’t we have security for all the Lebanese people? Why can’t we have prosperity in all Lebanon? Why can’t we have the best schools and hospitals? Why can’t we have electricity without interruption? Why can’t we have job opportunities in Lebanon for all the Lebanese instead of spending our lives teaching our children and then see them leave Lebanon to work abroad only because their government is unable to take one decision without the tutelage of the weapons,” he said.

Hariri said the decision of Hezbollah’s weapons was not in their hands, “but in the hands of the external forces that provide them with arms, finance them and pressure them to make the weapons dominate our lives, and to control our country, its resources and its future.” Hezbollah is backed by Syria and funded, trained and equipped by Iran.
Referring to Hezbollah’s fierce campaign to try to abolish the STL, Hariri asked why the party’s officials were afraid of revealing the truth. “I ask them directly: Why are you afraid of the truth? Why are you afraid that people would know the truth? The supremacy of weapons will not help you in the face of the truth,” he said.

Hariri reminded Hezbollah that the Lebanese broke the barrier of fear on March 14, 2005, when they demonstrated to demand a Syrian troop withdrawal. “That day, you gathered in Freedom Square and you imposed your will on the world. This year also, you will meet in freedom, in its square, once again, in a peaceful, civilized way, to impose your flag, the flag of Lebanon, to impose your will on the whole world, and on all those who do not want you to have a country, a state, nor a constitution, but instead to be a wild card on the table of deals and trade-offs,” he said.

Release of Tribunal indictment further delayed

AMSTERDAM: Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare expanded Friday the scope of his indictment over the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, delaying the review process by months.
Bellemare filed his original indictment in January, the contents of which are still secret. The STL prosecutor said in a statement that he had expanded the scope of his original indictment after collecting and analyzing further evidence, adding that all documents would remain confidential.

The prosecutors’ office declined to comment when asked if the expanded indictment meant more people were accused or more criminal acts were detailed, or both.

“We are now talking about months rather than weeks for the indictment review process to be completed,” said a spokesman for the STL in a separate statement. – Reuters