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Israelis mull war on multiple fronts as STL indictment looms
Possible outbreak of Lebanon strife
will prompt Tel Aviv to react
By The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Israeli Security Cabinet discussed Monday the prospects of an upcoming war on the Lebanese, Syrian and Gaza fronts in anticipation of tensions on the Lebanese domestic
scene, Israeli media reported.
The Israeli reports said an impending indictment by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) against Hizbullah members in former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder could push the group to
take action that would instigate strife in Lebanon, forcing Israel to react to protect its interests.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has condemned the STL as an Israeli project and a plot aimed against Lebanon
and the resistance. He also warned that his party would not accept an indictment against any Hizbullah members.
While Hizbullah officials stressed on Monday the strength of the strategic alliance between Damascus, Iran
and resistance movement, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said the UN-backed tribunal has “political goals.”
“The international tribunal is not seeking to reveal the truth [about the murder] but to achieve political
goals,” Moallem was quoted as saying in local media.
“The international tribunal is a Lebanese matter and we will not deal with this court,” Moallem said at a meeting of Syria’s Baath party late Sunday.
Syria was
widely blamed for Hariri’s murder in 2005, forcing it to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after a 29-year presence. Damascus has consistently denied any part in the killing.
The first reports by a committee of the
tribunal, which is due to give its verdict by the end of this year, concluded there was evidence implicating Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services.
Separately, Hizbullah MP Hussein Moussawi said Monday the resistance
played a key role in protecting Syria’s sovereignty while Syria was concerned with preserving Lebanon’s sovereignty and resistance.”
Moussawi added that all attempts to contain Syria and break Damascus’ engagement with
Iran, Hamas and resistance movements would fail.
Moussawi added that Western reports of an impending indictment against Hizbullah were a “manipulated process … and claims of fake justice based on false witnesses.”
In remarks published Monday by Kuwait’s Al-Rai newspaper, spokesman for Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, Ofir Gendelman said “talking about an Israeli hand in the killing of Hariri is nonsense and based on the principle of a
conspiracy.”
“Of course, circles who are spreading this word want to see Israel in the spotlight, or that the side which is behind the assassination wants to evade responsibility,” he added.
Hizbullah’s
condemnation of the STL raised fears of renewed sectarian strife in Lebanon and prompted Syrian President Bashar Assad and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz to make an unprecedented joint visit to Beirut Friday in a bid to
ease tensions.
Analysts believe that violence similar to the May 7, 2008, events, could break out between Lebanon’s Shiite and Sunni communities if the STL implicates Hizbullah in the murder.
On May 7, 2008,
pro-opposition gunmen overran neighborhoods in the capital after clashing with pro-government fighters following a decision by the Cabinet, led by then-Premier Fouad Siniora, to dismantle Hizbullah’s telecommunications network.
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said Monday that efforts by Syria and Saudi Arabia preserved Lebanon’s stability and distanced the STL from politicization. “We want the STL to be above all
suspicions and what is needed is to protect this equation is to balance between justice and truth away from politicization,” Jumblatt added. – The Daily Star, with agencies
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