Stand-off ends with Lebanon revocation

Stand-off ends with Lebanon revocation

By Ferry Biedermann in Beirut

Published: May 14 2008 18:19 | Last updated: May 14 2008 23:20

Lebanon’s pro-western government on Wednesday revoked two decisions that sparked almost a week of fighting between its supporters and the Hizbollah-led opposition and rekindled fears of a civil war. The announcement was greeted by heavy celebratory gunfire from the opposition.

Ghazi Aridi, the minister of information, told the Financial Times that the step was part of a mediation effort by the Arab League. A delegation of Arab League ministers was in Beirut to meet Lebanon’s politicians. The government was awaiting the response of the opposition, he said.

Although the violence has subsided, Hizbollah and its allies would not yet lift the blockade of the road to the airport or stop other parts of its civil disobedience campaign, said a spokesman for Nabih Berri, speaker of parliament and member of the opposition.

“We await more announcements in the morning, concerning the resumption of the dialogue,” said the spokesman.

The likely agreement would end the stand-off but leave open the question of the ongoing political confrontation. Hizbollah and its allies have been demanding veto power in a new government of national unity and have blocked the appointment of a new president for more than six months.

Crisis loans

As the crisis in Lebanon causes scores of people to flee the country, the National Bank of Kuwait has been offering its customers emergency interest-free loans to fund hasty departures, writes Andrew England.

With the airport closed, people seeking to leave either have to drive to Damascus or catch a ferry to Cyprus. NBK has made the offer to Kuwaiti nationals in Lebanon, as well as Lebanese customers at any of its 10 branches in the country.

There were some 400 Kuwaitis in Lebanon when the crisis erupted and NBK provided loans to about 30 people, an official said.

The moves that were revoked concerned the removal of the pro-Hizbollah head of airport security and the declaration that the movement’s communications network was illegal.

Hizbollah at the time called the decisions a “declaration of war”. Its allies say that the government intended them as a first step to disarm the movement, which says it needs its weapons to confront Israel.

The steps towards an end to the stand-off came as signs of tension in Lebanon’s army surfaced. The army is now patrolling trouble spots but has been severely criticised in some pro-government quarters for not having stopped the clashes.

Michel Suleiman, army commander, issued an appeal for unity to his officer corps that reflects the country’s different sectarian and political backgrounds.

“Turning away from the military institution is not useful at all. Rather, it further weakens it,” he said in a special message.

The army “categorically” denied reports in the media that some 40 Sunni Muslim officers had resigned.

But an army source confirmed that several officers had threatened to leave their posts because of army inaction during the protests.

Lebanon’s army split along sectarian lines during the 1975-90 civil war and took more than a decade to rebuild into a national force.

Gen Suleiman warned of a recurrence. “What has happened in the streets of Lebanon is a real civil war that no national army in the world can confront,” he said.

The pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian Shia Hizbollah movement and its allies last week briefly took over parts of west Beirut that were controlled by Sunni Muslim supporters of the pro-western government.

The fighting spread to the mountains outside Beirut and to the north of the country. More than 80 people were killed in the violence.

In an attempt to ease tensions, government supporters agreed earlier on Wednesday to the reopening of the country’s main border crossing with Syria.