BEIRUT: Hezbollah appears to be backing the Free Patriotic Movement’s street protests as MP Michel Aoun prepares to mobilize his supporters this week against the government for refusing to address the issue of military and security appointments, a senior March 8 source said Sunday. The source dismissed as “baseless” media reports that Hezbollah was not happy with Aoun’s escalatory moves against the Cabinet for passing a decree last week before discussing the appointment of senior military and security officers.

“These are tendentious rumors aimed at undermining the understanding between Hezbollah and Gen. Michel Aoun,” the source said, referring to the 2006 memorandum of understanding signed by Aoun and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, which eventually turned into a strategic political alliance between the two sides.

“Hezbollah is aware of any steps or decisions taken by Gen. Aoun. These steps are taken in understanding with Hezbollah,” the source said. He added that Aoun’s decision to resort to street protests was based on his vision and analysis of the political situation.

According to the source, Aoun had discussed with Hezbollah officials escalatory measures, including street protests, he might take to regain what he terms “Christian rights” in the country’s power-sharing system.

“It is Gen. Aoun’s right to take any step for what he sees as the restoration of rights to their real owners,” the source said.

Asked whether Aoun’s planned street protests would affect the country’s stability, which Hezbollah has persistently said it is keen on preserving, the source said: “Gen. Aoun’s street protests will be peaceful. The Future Movement’s ministers are pushing Aoun for a bitter choice.”

“Prime Minister Tammam Salam, backed by the Future Movement’s ministers, is refusing to include the issue of security appointments on the Cabinet agenda as demanded by the FPM,” the source said.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas, who is close to Salam, rejected Aoun’s resort to street protests, saying all political parties can also mobilize their supporters in the street.

“The threat to take to the street is unacceptable. All parties have supporters to mobilize in the street,” Derbas told MTV Sunday. “Under the circumstances Lebanon is experiencing today, this method cannot be used.”

Responding to Aoun’s call to restore “Christian rights,” he said: “Entering the game of ‘where are the Christian rights’ might lead to others to enter the game of ‘where are the rights of other sects.’”

Derbas added that the FPM ministers’ objection to the Cabinet agenda was unprecedented.

Salam has scheduled a Cabinet meeting for next Thursday despite the conflict that erupted with the FPM’s ministers after the government passed a decree, ignoring the issue of military and security appointments.

Aoun threatened to take action shortly after the Cabinet, in its first session last Thursday in nearly a month, passed a proposal allotting $21 million to help export agricultural and industrial products by sea.

The FPM chief said his group has commenced preparations for street protests in Mount and north Lebanon. “The Christians in the Levant are being eliminated by the sword, and some want to eliminate us in politics,” Aoun told supporters from south Lebanon at his Rabieh residence Saturday.

“This is why we started preparing for popular movements and demonstrations in the districts of Mount Lebanon, Baabda and Koura,” he added.

Asked how far can Aoun go in his planned street protests against the government, Speaker Nabih Berri was quoted as saying by visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence Sunday night: “Gen. Aoun is the son of the [political] system. I don’t think he will tamper with it.”

Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law, vowed to defend the Christian right to partnership by force.

“If we are faced with a difficult choice, we will take our right to partnership by force,” Bassil said in a speech during a development meeting in the northern district of Batroun Saturday.

He also pledged to defend the president’s powers inside the Cabinet with “our nails and teeth.”

“We are entrusted with the president’s powers. We will defend them with all our strength inside the Cabinet. … We represent the presidency and we will not allow anyone to touch it,” Bassil said.

Minister of State for Administrative Development Nabil De Freij said no one can impose his opinion on the prime minister concerning the Cabinet agenda. “The situation is heading for a major explosion if the obstruction of the Cabinet’s work continued as it is happening today,” De Freij from the Future Movement told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.