LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِSeptember
09/2010
Bible Of the Day
Isaiah 55:2/Why do you
spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does
not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight
yourselves in rich food.
Today's Inspiring Thought: Delight Yourself
Through Isaiah, God sends out an invitation to everyone who is dissatisfied with
life apart from him. Are you hungry for bread that truly satisfies? Do you work
hard, but your labor leaves you feeling empty? Do you spend money, but nothing
brings lasting happiness? Maybe you've settled for a substitute? When you
respond by accepting God's invitation for "the real thing"—an intimate
relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ—you receive good, rich,
delightful rewards, and lasting
Free
Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Syria's Strategic Alliance with
Hizbullah/By Jonathan Spyer/September 08/10
Moussa Sadr and the Islamic
Revolution in Iran and Lebanon/By:Tony Badran/September 8/10
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for
September 08/10
Bellemare Appoints Henrietta Aswad
as New Spokesperson/Naharnet
U.N.: Up to Bellemare to Decide How
to Proceed with Tribunal Work/Naharnet
Gaza Mortar Round Narrowly
Misses Israel Kindergarten/Naharnet
Sfeir Calls for Keeping
Army away from Political Bickering/Naharnet
Bellemare Appoints
Henrietta Aswad as New Spokesperson/Naharnet
Gemayel calls for defining
collaboration/Now Lebanon
Report:
Jordan Informs Lebanon About U.S. Efforts to Achieve Comprehensive Solution/Naharnet
IDF Releases More Hezbollah Footage/CBNNews
Syrian influence in Lebanon
on the rise again/Boston Globe
Geagea responds to Aoun/Now Lebanon
Al-Liwaa: ISF-Information Branch to
respond to critics/Now Lebanon
Aoun assigned to incite sectarian
strife between Christians, Marouni says/Now Lebanon
Saqr charges 23 more people over
Beirut clashes/Now Lebanon
Hizbullah, Syria welcome Hariri's
change of heart on accusations/Daily Star
Saqr:
Syria Will Make an Apology after the Announcement of the Indictment/Naharnet
Baabda Sources: No
Mediation between Suleiman, Aoun/Naharnet
U.N.: Up to Bellemare to
Decide How to Proceed with Tribunal Work/Naharnet
Hariri in Mecca to Perform
Omra, Extends Greetings to Lebanese/Naharnet
Report: Israeli
Commissions Confirm Nasrallah's Ansariyeh Footage Authentic/Naharnet
Aoun: Sunday, I Held
Ministers Accountable for Shortcomings, Today I Say they're Guilty of Avoiding
Duties/Naharnet
Salameh: Lebanon Banks
Must Comply With Iran Sanctions/Naharnet
Assad Meets Sayyed/Naharnet
Baroud Announces Immediate
Measures to Deal with Traffic Accidents/Naharnet
Berri Calls for Unity, Says Hariri
Statement 'Window to the Truth'/Naharnet
Baabda Sources: No Mediation
between Suleiman, Aoun/Naharnet
Gemayel calls for defining
collaboration
September 8, 2010/During a press conference on Wednesday, Kataeb bloc MP Sami
Gemayel called for setting criteria to define collaboration following the 1990
end to the Lebanese civil war. Anyone who worked with a foreign country or
arrested Lebanese nationals and handed them over to Syria is a collaborator, he
added. Gemayel also said that anyone considering themselves to be soldiers in
the Wali al-Faqih’s army—a reference to Iran and its supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei—are collaborators along with those who work with Israel to harm
Lebanon’s interests. People should be held accountable for their actions after
1990 because during the war everyone was defending their existence, the MP
added. Gemayel also said that he is not ashamed that the Kataeb Party resorted
to any means possible to defend itself during the civil war. -NOW Lebanon
Bellemare Appoints Henrietta Aswad as
New Spokesperson
Naharnet/Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare announced on
Wednesday the appointment and arrival of Ms. Henrietta Aswad as his new
Spokesperson and Senior Public Information Officer. "Aswad brings an in-depth
knowledge of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and its issues, and
extensive public communication and management experience in the private and
development sectors focused on strategic planning, and business and human
development," said a statement issued from Bellemare's office.
"I am extremely happy to welcome Ms. Aswad to the Office of the Prosecutor as a
senior member of my team," said Bellemare. Before joining Bellemare's office,
Aswad worked as Regional Communications Adviser for the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA), based in Amman. "Her considerable work in the region
has included advising, assisting and building capacity of U.N. staff, NGOs,
professional media, private and government institutions in strategy development,
communication and advocacy matters," the statement said. "She has cooperated
with international, regional and national media across the MENA region to help
promote policy dialogue and public awareness, as well as develop professional
media and NGO capacities," it added. Aswad holds an MBA in International
Business. Her doctoral studies in Public Communication are focused on Media and
Democratization in developing countries. Beirut, 08 Sep 10, 13:58
Sfeir Calls for Keeping Army away from Political Bickering
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Tuesday called for keeping the
Lebanese army away from political bickering "since it is one of the most
important pillars of unity."
Sfeir's remarks came during a meeting with Lebanese army commander Gen. Jean
Qahwaji. Sfeir praised the "national role of the Lebanese army, particularly in
maintaining security of the internal arena and working on implementation of
international resolutions on Lebanon, in cooperation with UNIFIL." Beirut, 07
Sep 10, 19:16
Report: Jordan Informs Lebanon About U.S. Efforts to Achieve Comprehensive
Solution
Naharnet/Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh has reportedly informed Premier
Saad Hariri that Washington was for the first time in 20 years seeking to
achieve comprehensive peace in the region. "This visit comes within the
framework of the continuous consultation between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
and the Lebanese Republic, and the coordination and consultation between the two
governments," Judeh said after meeting Hariri at the Grand Serail on Tuesday. He
said he briefed Hariri "in detail" about King Abdullah's moves "and his
participation to the important meeting that was hosted by President (Barack)
Obama in Washington, and the resumption of direct negotiations between the
Palestinian and the Israeli sides."
Diplomatic sources told An Nahar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday that
the Jordanian message to Lebanon was clear that there was a "U.S. effort to
achieve comprehensive peace as an essential condition for any solution."The
Jordanian move, they said, "is not aimed at reassuring Lebanon and Syria. It is
aimed at stressing a comprehensive solution."
Beirut, 08 Sep 10, 09:43
Baabda Sources: No Mediation between Suleiman, Aoun
Naharnet/There are no mediation efforts between President Michel Suleiman and
Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun who has created controversy after
verbally attacking the head of state and several cabinet ministers, Baabda
sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat. The sources called for calm before
any steps to reconcile the two officials.
"President Suleiman didn't directly respond to Aoun. He didn't mention him in
his statement," they said. "All what he (Suleiman) sought for was dialogue
because it is the only solution to solve differences in view points." When asked
about reports that Aoun was mulling to boycott national dialogue sessions at
Baabda palace, the sources told the newspaper that the presidency hasn't been
officially informed yet about such a decision. Sources close to Suleiman told
pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that Aoun launched a vehement attack on the president
because the FPM chief blames Suleiman for the "losses he suffered at the level
of his leadership" of the movement. Aoun's frustration goes back to the stage of
the municipal elections when several municipal chiefs were elected although the
MP had fought them, the sources said. Aoun's anger turned into rage when
Suleiman met with two FPM officials who had fallen out of the movement, they
told al-Hayat. The officials are former Minister Issam Abu Jamra and Youssef
Saad al-Khoury."However, the president does not care about Aoun's anger," the
sources added. Beirut, 08 Sep 10, 08:53
Aoun: Sunday, I Held Ministers Accountable for Shortcomings, Today I Say they're
Guilty of Avoiding Duties
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated Tuesday that he
did not launch a campaign against President Michel Suleiman last Sunday, instead
saying that "those who defended him are the ones who insulted him."Addressing
the criticism against ministers, he said after the FPM's weekly meeting: "On
Sunday, I held the ministers accountable for shortcomings, but today I say they
are guilty of avoiding their responsibilities." "A minister who is aware of a
mistake and does not do anything against it becomes guilty," he added.
"I want to know who in the Lebanese state is responsible for controlling media
leaks. Why has no one responded to the questions I asked on Sunday?" he asked.
"Crying has never been wrong, and we are repeating today what we said on Sunday
because we are not ashamed of it. What concerns us is always telling the truth,"
the MP stressed.
Turning to Prime Minister Saad Hariri's recent apology to Syria over accusing it
of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Aoun said: "We hope
the rest of the officials will apologize for the wrongs they committed against
us."Regarding his participation in future national dialogue sessions, the MP
stated: "I will announce whether I will participate in the national dialogue or
not at the appropriate time." Beirut, 07 Sep 10, 18:09
Gaza Mortar Round Narrowly Misses Israel Kindergarten
Naharnet/Palestinian militants fired a mortar round from the Gaza Strip on
Wednesday narrowly missing a kindergarten in a kibbutz in southern Israel, the
military said, as Jews prepared to mark their New Year. There were no casualties
or damage from the mortar fire against the collective settlement several
kilometers (a few miles) from Gaza's northeastern border with Israel. "A mortar
shell fired from the Gaza Strip fell near a nursery school in a kibbutz in the
Shaar HaNegev region," a spokeswoman said. "There were no injuries or damage."
It was the third such incident of rocket fire in as many days and came as Israel
imposed a precautionary closure on the Palestinian territories ahead of
celebrations for Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashana, which starts at sundown.
Israel frequently closes the main transit points into the West Bank during major
holidays, although Gaza, which was seized by the radical Islamist Hamas movement
in 2007, is under a permanent blockade. Earlier on Wednesday, the Palestinian
Authority said it had arrested an unspecified number of Hamas activists believed
to be responsible for two shooting attacks in the West Bank last week, one of
which left four Jewish settlers dead. The first attack, which took place near
the settlement of Kiryat Arba in the southern city of Hebron, killed four,
including a pregnant woman. A second shooting attack near Ramallah wounded
another two people. The shootings occurred as Israeli and Palestinian leaders
were in Washington for the relaunch of direct talks after a 20-month break.
Hamas, which is vehemently opposed to the talks, claimed responsibility for both
shooting attacks.(AFP) Beirut, 08 Sep 10, 11:10
Saqr charges 23 more people over Beirut clashes
September 8, 2010 /Government Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr
charged 23 more people over their involvement in the Bourj Abi Haidar clashes,
the National News Agency (NNA) reported on Wednesday. Saqr charged 84 people
over the clashes on Monday. Three people died in the fighting on August 24 in
the Bourj Abi Haidar area of Beirut between supporters of Hezbollah and those of
the Sunni group Al-Ahbash. The NNA also reported that those charged today are on
the run from the law. -NOW Lebanon
Aoun assigned to incite sectarian
strife between Christians, Marouni says
September 8, 2010 /Kataeb bloc MP Elie Marouni said that Change and Reform bloc
leader MP Michel Aoun is assigned to incite sectarian strife between Lebanese
Christians, As-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported on Wednesday. However, he did
not say who is tasking the Change and Reform bloc leader. In a fiery speech on
Sunday, Aoun criticized the government and asked what Sleiman “is doing after
his constitutional speech besides weeping?”It is unacceptable to address Sleiman
in this manner, Marouni also said, adding that Aoun still yearns to be
president.-NOW Lebanon
Geagea responds to Aoun
September 8, 2010 /Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that the Change and
Reform bloc no longer support the goals spelled out in its name, according to a
statement issued Wednesday by Geagea’s press office. The bloc is now politically
bankrupt, he added. In a fiery speech on Sunday, Change and Reform bloc leader
MP Michel Aoun criticized the government—including ministers Ziad Baroud,
Ibrahim Najjar, Tarek Mitri and Elias al-Murr—and President Michel Sleiman,
asking if the president has done anything other than weeping. “I agree with Aoun
that if a minister does not [fix a mistake], then he becomes guilty,” Geagea
said, adding that the education, interior and justice ministers have all pointed
out defects in their ministries. “How come no one was fired because of
water, electricity and telecommunications failures?” he asked, referring to
Energy Minister Gebran Bassil and Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas.
“[Reform] yourself before criticizing others,” Geagea added. Lebanon’s biggest
threat is that the strategic military and security decisions are not in the
government’s hands, the LF leader also said.
-NOW Lebanon
Sleiman discusses latest developments with Berri
September 8, 2010 /President Michel Sleiman met with Speaker Nabih Berri on
Wednesday at the Baabda Presidential Palace and discussed with him the latest
political and security issues, NOW Lebanon’s correspondent reported.-NOW Lebanon
Fayyad wants Hariri to contain
“attempts to sabotage Lebanese-Syrian relations”
September 7, 2010 /Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Ali Fayyad told New TV on
Tuesday that Prime Minister Saad Hariri is required to contain the attempt to
sabotage Lebanese-Syrian relations. He also said that the PM’s statement to As-Sharq
al-Awsat newspaper “should be a window to prevent any accusation of the
Resistance [in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri].”Hariri told the paper this week that the accusations of Syria’s
involvement in the assassination of his father were political in nature.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said last month that the
Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) –probing the Rafik Hariri murder – will
indict Hezbollah members.
-NOW Lebanon
Al-Liwaa: ISF-Information Branch to
respond to critics
September 8, 2010 /Al-Liwaa newspaper quoted on Wednesday an unnamed security
source as saying that the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch will
make a strong response against those trying to frighten the agency. In a fiery
speech on Sunday, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said that the
ISF-Information Branch is an “illegitimate branch that has no law,” “kidnaps
people for months,” and “spreads rumors about people.” Aoun’s attacks against
the ISF-Information Branch began after the August arrest of retired Brigadier
General Fayez Karam—an FPM official—on charges of spying for Israel. The ISF
General Directorate is preparing a detailed response to Aoun’s accusations, Al-Liwaa
reported, adding that the rejoinder might be issued later on Wednesday. The
directorate’s response will show that the ISF-Information Branch has a legal
basis for its operations, the daily also reported. Al-Liwaa said that Karam’s
lawyer might sue the ISF-Information Branch over the arrest, adding that the
lawyer attended Karam’s interrogation session with Military Investigative Judge
Riad Abu Ghida and heard the detainee’s confession, which he did not sign under
duress. -NOW Lebanon
Syria's Strategic Alliance with
Hizbullah
By Jonathan Spyer*
September 7, 2010
http://www.gloria-center.org/gloria/2010/9/syria-strategic-alliance-hizballah
President Bashar Assad of Syria this week reiterated his country's firm
strategic alliance with Hizbullah. The occasion for the dictator's remarks was
the latest visit by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to the Syrian capital.
Assad's statement was particularly noteworthy because some in Lebanon and
further afield have claimed to discern in recent weeks a growing distance
between Syria and Hizbullah. The Syrian president's latest verbal endorsement of
the "resistance" was followed by reports in a Kuwaiti newspaper of a military
alliance between Syria and Hizbullah which if correct would make Syrian
involvement a certainty in a future conflict between the Shi'ite Islamist
movement and Israel.
Hariri's visit came against the backdrop of the latest mini-crisis to have swept
through Lebanon. The clash between Hizbullah members and militants of the small
Sunni al- Ahbash group in the neighborhood of Bourj Abi Haidar, which led to
three deaths, has raised once again the issue of privately held weapons. Some
observers identified in the fighting a coded message of the type through which
Syria sometimes communicates.
The Ahbash group is Sunni Islamist by ideology, but it is also staunchly
pro-Syrian. Some Lebanese analysts concluded that last week's events were much
more than simply a squalid brawl between two sets of local Islamist toughs.
According to this view, Syria deliberately activated its Sunni Islamist friends
against its Shi'ite Islamist ones to make clear to Hizbullah that its
unquestioned domination of Lebanon at street level was now open to question.
This contention forms part of a larger view that has emerged in recent weeks,
which sees Syria moving away from its close alliance with Iran, in order to
reestablish its dominance of Lebanon with the blessing of the West and the Arab
world. Whatever the precise reasons for the brawl at Bourj Abi Haidar, however,
this larger view is mainly the product of wishful thinking.
Re-domination of Lebanon is certainly a goal of the Syrian regime.
Syria's agenda by no means coincides with Hizbullah's in every way, and the
record shows past moments of disagreement and tension between them. But as
Assad's ringing endorsement of the "resistance" makes clear, the strategic link
between Syria and Iran, and hence Syria and Hizbullah rests on foundations too
firm to be disturbed by any momentary or tactical differences.
This is so for two main reasons: Firstly, Syria benefits directly and very
significantly from its alliance with Hizbullah and Iran.
Secondly, Syria does not have the power to move back into Lebanon except in
cooperation with Hizbullah.
THE 30-YEAR-OLD alliance between Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran has
served Syria well - particularly in the last half decade. There were many in its
early days who saw the link as a marriage of convenience against the
jointly-hated neighboring regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Yet the alliance
survived the fall of Saddam and indeed has proved at its most useful to Syria in
the post-2003 period.
Five years ago, following the US invasion of Iraq, and Syria's subsequent
expulsion from Lebanon, the Ba'athist regime in Damascus looked on the ropes.
Its demise was being predicted by many Western and regional pro-Western
commentators. Yet today, Syria is riding high. The alliance with Iran, and the
cover it brings Syria to engage in subverting its neighbors and supporting
proxies against them, is the instrument which has enabled the Syrians to
engineer their return to strength. It has been said that Syria is a strategic
tool, rather than a strategic ally, of Iran. If this is so, Syria is a rare kind
of tool which knows how to make its masters work to its benefit.
The Syrian power of disruption in Iraq, in Lebanon and among the Palestinians
meant the regime had either to be engaged with or pushed back. The alliance with
Iran, with its region-wide ambitions and reach, has given the regime the
strategic partner necessary to pursue the path of subversion and confrontation,
and deterred those who might have objected to it from putting Syria back in its
place.
If Syria is to return to dominate Lebanon, it will do so in partnership with the
Iranian power on the ground represented by Hizbullah, not instead of it. This is
not a matter of sentiment for Damascus. The Ba'athist regime simply lacks the
power to enforce any decision in Lebanon to which Hizbullah is opposed.
Syrian agents have skillfully succeeded in undermining civil order and
confidence in Lebanon over the last half decade. But it is Hizbullah which
possesses the real power on the ground. The days when Syria could dictate terms
to all the players in Lebanon are long gone.
Hizbullah, as a client and instrument of Iran, has effectively outgrown the
Lebanese context. Assad's declaration reflects his awareness of this reality.
It appears that other internal Lebanese elements are aware of it too.
As a result, the initial outcry over the possession of weapons by Hizbullah in
Beirut predictably led nowhere.
Interior Minister Zaid Baroud and Defense Minister Michel Murr met with Hariri
on Monday, following his return from Damascus. The subject they were scheduled
to discuss was an agreement on the control of possession of arms in Beirut. The
ministers were quick to state that of course Hizbullah's arsenal would not be
discussed. The weapons of the "resistance" are out of bounds for discussion
whether they are being used to strike at Israel, or to defend parking spaces
against Sunni Islamists in residential neighborhoods of Beirut. This stance
reflects an acknowledgement of reality.
Syria too is unable to ignore this reality. Neither does it wish to.
The Saudi role in backing the government of Lebanon and the growing friendship
between Syria and Turkey do not in any way contradict this.
The deep, long-standing alliance with Iran is the cornerstone of Syrian
strategy. The latest indications suggest that Syria is with the Iranian alliance
until the end.
*Dr. Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in
International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Herzliya, Israel
IDF Releases More Hezbollah Footage
CBNNews.com /Tuesday, September 07, 2010RSS
JERUSALEM, Israel – The Israel Defense Forces released additional footage
of Hezbollah operatives removing weapons following an explosion in one of their
storage facilities in a south Lebanese village.
Following the explosion, which occurred last Friday, September 3, in the village
of al-Shahabiya. Hezbollah gunmen held UNIFIL and Lebanese Army forces at bay
while their men carried weaponry from the building.
IDF Spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich noted that last Friday’s explosion was
the third this year.
Leibovich said Hezbollah has set up weapons facilities and other terror
infrastructure in more than 150 villages in southern Lebanon.
“This incident is only one of many that clearly show that Hezbollah
systematically violates United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which
stipulates that Hezbollah should be disarmed and that no paramilitary groups
will be active south of the Litani river,” the IDF stated in a blog on its
website.
The video, shot from an IDF drone, shows Hezbollah operatives loading the
weapons into trucks and follows the drive to a nearby village where the men
carry their cache into a mosque.
Billowing black smoke from the explosion can be seen engulfing the building as
the men rescue their armaments. Click here to watch the video.
Billowing black smoke from the explosion can be seen
engulfing the building as the men rescue their armaments.
Click
here to
watch the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUzs-4GM8k
Moussa
Sadr and the Islamic Revolution in Iran… and Lebanon
Tony Badran, September 8, 2010
Now Lebanon
While blame for Moussa Sadr’s disappearance in 1978 is usually placed
exclusively on Libya, Iranian cadres may also have played a role. (AFP photo)
Last Tuesday marked the anniversary of the disappearance of Shia cleric Moussa
as-Sadr—often dubbed the father of the Shia resurgence in Lebanon—during a visit
to Libya in 1978. While the view assigning responsibility for his disappearance
to the regime of Moammar Kaddafi is a matter of general consensus, another
less-discussed angle involving early factional infighting among Iran’s Islamic
revolutionary cadres deserves attention for its critical impact on the outcome
of the Islamic Revolution, both in Iran and in Lebanon.
The consensus view rightly holds that Sadr’s relations with the Palestinian
Liberation movement in Lebanon and its allies (both local and regional) and
weapons suppliers (such as Libya), had become irreparable by 1978, especially
after Israel’s Operation Litani against the Palestinians had inflicted much
damage on the Shia residents of southern Lebanon who were stuck in the middle.
By then, Sadr’s pronouncements against the Palestinians had become regular, and
the Libyan-funded press in Beirut attacked him constantly. Consequently, they
had every motive to eliminate him.
Nevertheless, reference to the possible involvement (often characterized as
indirect) or collusion of Ayatollah Khomeini and some of his closest associates
in Sadr’s disappearance can be found in the relevant literature, ranging from
personal memoirs of former Iranian officials, such as Shapur Bakhtiar, to books
and articles on the Amal Movement (established by Sadr, and whose existence was
made public in 1975), on Sadr himself, as well as on Iranian-Lebanese and
Iranian-Syrian relations.
For example, in Syria and Iran, Jubin Goodarzi cites a former Iranian official
“intimately involved with Lebanese affairs” to corroborate his statement that
“Khomeini had had an indirect role in the elimination of Musa Sadr, whom he
despised.” Khomeini, according to Goodarzi’s source, “intentionally misinformed
Qadhafi that Musa Sadr had used financial aid provided by Libya for his own
personal gain.”
Several authors have pointed out the ambiguous relationship between Sadr and
Khomeini and the personal tensions that existed between them (and Khomeini’s
entourage) as well. For example, at the 40-day memorial service of the Iranian
ideologue Ali Shariati in 1977, over which Sadr presided, he did not allow any
pictures of Khomeini to be put up, and only conceded to one small picture after
being pressured by one of Khomeini’s most radical associates, Mohammad Montazeri
– a close ally of Kaddafi and an advocate of strong ties with Libya and the
Palestine Liberation Organization, and whose father was one of the main
architects behind the creation of Hezbollah.
But why would Khomeini and some of his associates have an interest in Sadr’s
removal from the scene, when he had been a supporter of Iranian revolutionary
cadres, having helped provide them with access to training and sanctuary in
Lebanon? The answers may lie in a factional power struggle within the early
revolutionary cadres, which intensified in the immediate years after the success
of the Islamic Revolution, between 1979 and 1981, and the differences they had
regarding the trajectory of the revolution and its alliances abroad.
Sadr had cultivated close ties with leaders of the Islamic Revolution, such as
Sadegh Ghotbzadeh and Mostafa Chamran – who was intimately involved in the
establishment and organization of the Amal Movement. However, these figures, who
would go on to assume leading positions in the new Islamic regime between 1979
and 1981, had belonged to a particular faction within the Iranian Islamic
opposition movement, namely the Liberation Movement of Iran (LMI).
The rival faction – which included students and protégés of Khomeini, such as
the aforementioned Montazeri as well as the operational mastermind of Hezbollah
in Lebanon, Ali Akbar Mohtashami, and a host of radical clerics such as Hadi
Ghaffari – would coalesce under what became known as the Islamic Republican
Party (IRP), which served as Khomeini's task force. They were behind instruments
such as the Association of Combatant Clergy (which also sprung up in Lebanon at
the time in 1978-79, along with the Committees Supportive of the Islamic
Revolution) and the paramilitary Hezbollahi, which served as the IRP's strong
arm and was supervised by the aforementioned Ghaffari. In fact, the IRP-aligned
hardliners officially dubbed themselves “Hezbollah” and referred to their
adversaries in the LMI as “liberals.”
The IRP was concerned with eliminating so-called “liberal” influence over the
revolution. In his book on the Amal Movement, Augustus Richard Norton notes a
belief among “well-informed observers” that “even after the triumph of the
Islamic Revolution, there was real fear that the ‘Amalists would take over the
revolution.’” The ensuing battle was bitter and violent. Sadr’s associates in
the regime would eventually all get either physically liquidated (as happened
with Chamran and Ghotbzadeh) or politically sidelined in a time span of a mere
three years after Sadr’s disappearance.
It can be said, then, that the struggle for control over the Shia of Lebanon was
integral to the power struggle inside Iran itself, especially since figures like
Montazeri and Mohtashami despised and distrusted Amal and its Iranian allies.
For instance, about a year after Sadr’s disappearance, Montazeri tried to
organize the first dispatch of a contingent of Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to
Lebanon to help his allies in the PLO. It was Sadr’s former associates, such as
the aforementioned Ghotbzadeh, who scuttled that effort. Iran’s factionalism was
projected onto the Lebanese arena.
Indeed, the latter half of 1978 and early 1979 was a critical moment in this
struggle. Sadr had been eliminated, and Amal was in disarray. Pro-Khomeini
Lebanese cadres such as Abbas Moussawi and Hassan Nasrallah returned to Lebanon
from Najaf, and there was a systematic infiltration of Amal in order to seize
control over its direction. When that effort failed, Amal splintered, and the
process eventually crystallized in the IRP’s creation of an alternative Shia
movement, directly under Khomeini’s command and fully loyal to him. The
Hezbollah of Iran created the Hezbollah of Lebanon, or, as it called itself, the
Islamic Revolution in Lebanon.
While Libyan responsibility for Sadr’s disappearance is not under any serious
dispute, the early power struggle among Iran’s revolutionary cadres provides a
critical context to better understand the full impact of the elimination of a
towering figure in Lebanon who was deemed, along with his allies in the Islamic
revolutionary movement, a threatening rival to Khomeini and his hard-line
lieutenants. Perhaps, then, it could be said that Sadr’s elimination was the
first shot in the battle over the Islamic Revolution on two intertwined fronts:
Iran and Lebanon.
**Tony Badran is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Hizbullah, Syria welcome Hariri's change of heart on accusations
Future Movement reiterates demand to rid Beirut of weapons
By Elias Sakr /Daily Star staff
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s remarks to pan-Arab daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat
were welcomed on Tuesday by Damascus and praised by Hizbullah which described
the premier’s condemnation of false witnesses as a step toward uncovering the
truth behind his father’s killing.
On Tuesday, efforts continued to mend fences between Hizbullah and Hariri’s
Future Movement and to preserve a calm political discourse among various
political groups.
Pan-Arab Al-Hayat daily quoted well-informed sources in remarks published
Tuesday saying Hariri’s stances were met with “major comfort and praise in
Damascus in a first reaction to his comments.”
Hariri said Monday he made a mistake when he accused Syria of involvement in his
father’s murder and condemned false witnesses for misleading probes and
“politicizing the murder.”
Hizbullah officials, who praised Hariri’s denunciation of false witnesses and
hailed his re-evaluation of past positions toward Syria, did not however comment
on the premier’s support to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah condemned as an Israeli project.
“All parties seem to agree false witnesses misled investigations and led to an
internal crisis and harmed Lebanese-Syrian ties during the past five years,”
Hizbullah’s official in south Lebanon Nabil Qaouk said. “Thus it is our national
and moral responsibility to put on trial those false witnesses, those who stand
behind them and their operators as a step to resolve the Lebanese crisis because
some still insist on protecting false witnesses to protect higher security,
political and judicial officials behind them.”
Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Qassem Hashem said Hariri’s stances
“enforced demands to probe false witnesses as a national and legal duty to
uncover the truth in former Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder.”
Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan, a Hizbullah ally and a figure
close to Syria, also demanded Hariri declare Hizbullah innocent of involvement
in his father’s murder.
“Which will lead to abolishing Israeli attempts to instigate internal strife,”
Arslan added.
Arslan made his comments in reference to Western media reports saying the STL’s
impending indictment would accuse rogue Hizbullah members of the murder, which
raises fears among analysts of Sunni-Shiite strife in Lebanon.
But Hizbullah’s praise for Hariri’s stances as a step to bolster domestic
stability did not prevent Future Movement MPs from reiterating their demand to
rid Beirut of weapons, a demand Hizbullah earlier labeled as an
attempt to instigate strife aimed against the resistance’s weapons.
“The bloc expresses its relief after arrests made by security and judicial
institutions of a number of wanted individuals for participating in the Burj Abi
Haidar incidents and urges that these steps be followed up … to achieve the
demand to [render] Beirut a city free of illegitimate weapons,” the Future
Movement said.
The deadly Burj Abi Haidar clashes between Hizbullah elements and the
Association of Islamic Charitable projects, known as Al-Ahbash, earlier this
month which killed three individuals provoked heated debate between Hariri and
Nasrallah.
Progressive Socialist Party spokesman Rami Rayess said Monday that his party’s
leader MP Walid Jumblatt would pursue efforts to bolster political calm through
mediating a meeting between Hariri and Nasrallah in a bid to diffuse tensions.
Earlier this week, Speaker Nabih Berri and Jumblatt both mediated a “truce” in
the media between Hizbullah and the Future Movement, which resulted in both
parties expressing their commitment to a calm discourse since Sunday.