Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah vowed Sunday to oust Islamist militants from the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, and also to plow on with the offensive in the Qalamoun region until the Lebanese-Syrian border is secure. Nasrallah’s remarks, seen as a serious escalation of the Shiite party’s involvement in the 4-year-old war in Syria, immediately drew the wrath of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who stressed that defending Lebanon’s sovereignty and territories in Arsal or any other area was not the responsibility of Hezbollah.
The head of the Future Movement rejected Nasrallah’s televised speech marking the 15th anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon, saying it contained “accusations of treason, arrogance and a torrent of fallacies and threats.”
“We, in the Future Movement, declare publicly that the Lebanese state and its legitimate institutions are our guarantee, our choice and our salvation,” Hariri said in a statement released by his media office shortly after Nasrallah’s speech addressing hundreds of Hezbollah supporters assembled in the main square of the southern city of Nabatieh. “Any talk about other guarantees is illusory, is rejected and represents a futile engagement in suicidal projects.”
“Defending the land, sovereignty and dignity is not the responsibility of Hezbollah, neither in Arsal, nor in its outskirts, or in any other area. Our position on Daesh [ISIS] and the forces of deviation and terror does not need a certificate of good conduct from anyone,” Hariri added.
Rejecting Nasrallah’s call for popular mobilization in Lebanon and the region to fight ISIS, which has been making steady military advances in Syria and Iraq despite airstrikes launched by a U.S.-led global coalition on the extremist group, Hariri said: “The popular mobilization equation has no place in Lebanon. We will not cover any call for it under any circumstances.”
“What is the use of linking the fate of Nabatieh, Baalbek and Arsal with the fate of Ramadi and Mosul [in Iraq], Palmyra [in Syria], Saada [in Yemen] and others?” Hariri asked, adding: “To which abyss do they [Hezbollah] want to take Lebanon? And in which war are they asking the Shiite community and the tribes in Baalbek-Hermel to get involved?” In his speech, Nasrallah ignored calls by his political rivals to steer clear of Arsal and its outskirts, where large numbers of Nusra and ISIS fighters have taken sanctuary, saying that all sects in Lebanon remained in danger as long as the jihadis had access to the country. “On May 24, 2015, I declare that if the state does not shoulder its responsibility [to expel the militants from Arsal’s outskirts], our people in Baalbek-Hermel along with their tribes and families, we will not accept a single takfiri or terrorist on any of Arsal’s outskirts and in the Bekaa,” he said, drawing cheers from the crowd, waving the party’s yellow flags and Lebanese flags.
Nasrallah issued a similar call last week, promising to liberate Arsal’s outskirts from the militants if the Lebanese state fails to do so. The call immediately drew a rebuke from Hariri and other rival politicians who accused Hezbollah of seeking to dominate the area and drag the Lebanese Army into conflict. But Nasrallah dismissed those accusations, saying he was simply calling on the Army to “defend your land, people and sovereignty, and to face your responsibilities, not run away from them.”
He recalled the period in 2013-14 when car bombs were rigged in Syria’s Qalamoun region and passed through Arsal to target Shiite neighborhoods across Lebanon, saying even then Hezbollah was against the mistreatment of Arsal’s residents. Nasrallah warned that jihadi groups like ISIS and the Nusra Front did not distinguish between any minorities, including Sunnis, warning the Future Movement that its leaders and supporters would be the first victims of the jihadis should they take over Lebanon. He called for combined efforts in Lebanon and the region to fight ISIS. “Our region and our peoples are facing an existential danger,” he said. He added that if the region’s armies and peoples cooperated, “this takfiri project will be destroyed.”
Nasrallah vowed to continue the offensive launched nearly three weeks ago in Qalamoun. “The battle in the outskirts of Qalamoun is continuing until the Syrian Arab Army and the resistance are capable of securing the Lebanese-Syrian border,” he said. Hezbollah has been fighting against Nusra-led jihadis in Qalamoun alongside the Syrian army and popular mobilization committees since May 4, driving militants north toward Arsal’s outskirts. Nasrallah pledged to expand Hezbollah’s involvement in the war in Syria. “I declare on the [south] liberation anniversary and without reservations, that we will be present in any area in Syria. We are will contribute with the [Syrian] army and the people toward achieving victory,” he said.
Nasrallah said that at no time since the resistance was born with the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon has Hezbollah been larger, better equipped and experienced, and more determined than it is today.
In his response to Nasrallah’s speech, Hariri warned that the country faced an endless crisis if “it is required from Lebanon to be a survival shield for [Syrian President] Bashar Assad’s regime and a defensive line for the Iranian project on the shore of the Mediterranean.”
“But if what is required is to disengage Lebanon from the fires in the region, the issue is very simple. We go back to the state, unite around its authority and support the Army and the legitimate security forces in protecting the borders and facing the dangers of terrorism, wherever it comes from,” he said, adding, “This is the only way to ward off strife from Lebanon and correct the great flaw in relations among the Muslims.”
Hariri said that nothing could protect Lebanon better than the unity of the Lebanese and their acceptance of the exclusive power of the state. “Our meeting under the roof of the state and recognizing its authority, which should prevail over all sectarian, partisan and regional authorities, is a solid foundation in the battle against terrorism,” Hariri said. “Getting together is the only way to open the door for real reconciliations, end the vacancy in the presidency and restore respect to public order.”
