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BEIRUT:
As Lebanon's first free polls in 30 years
kicked off last Sunday, the powerful Shiite
resistance group Hizbullah was flexing its
military muscle and vowing to fight on against
Israel as its crucial electoral battle
approaches on June 5.
Hizbullah is projected to win possibly 12
seats in the elections kicking off in Beirut
on Sunday - the same number it has now - after
forging alliances with anti-Syrian opposition
forces in some electoral districts.
The group's firebrand leader Hassan Nasrallah
told tens of thousands of supporters in
Southern Lebanon on Wednesday that his militia
had more than 12,000 rockets that put northern
Israel within firing range.
His declaration defied international calls for
the disarming of Hizbullah in line with UN
Resolution 1559, which paved the way for
Syria's withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon
after a 29-year military presence.
"Our priority is to evacuate Israel from the
Shebaa Farms and to fight against UN
Resolution 1559," said Hizbullah parliamentary
candidate Hassan Fadlallah.
The disputed Shebaa Farms district remains the
main bone of contention between Hizbullah and
Israel,
which pulled out of southern Lebanon five
years ago this month after a 22-year
occupation.
Seized from
Syria
in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war along with the
rest of the
Golan Heights,
the Shebaa Farms is now claimed by
Lebanon with Syrian blessing although Israel
rejects the arrangement.
Referring to northern
Israel,
he said: "The whole of the north of occupied
Palestine
as well as its settlements, airports, fields
and farms are within the firing range of the
fighters of the Islamic resistance."
But Israel downplayed the threats as political
posturing.
"Nasrallah's declarations are principally
trying to improve Hizbullah's political
standing before the elections," an Israeli
military official said.
Hizbullah was formed by the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards after Israel invaded
Lebanon in 1982.
Thousands of active militants belong to the
group that is also a key provider of social,
cultural and educational services to
traditionally impoverished Shiites.
Hizbullah won 12 seats in the last elections
in 2000, the highest number of Hizbullah MPs
since the group entered Parliament in the
first postwar polls in 1992. It has nine
Shiites, two Sunnis and one Christian.
Experts believe the group will garner about
the same number of deputies in the four-round
elections starting Sunday, after it forged
alliances with opposition forces in Beirut and
the Baabda-Alley district east of the capital.
Washington
considers Hizbullah a "terrorist" organization
because it has been linked to numerous attacks
on Americans; including a 1983 Beirut truck
bombing that killed more than 200 U.S.
Marines.
But US President George W. Bush in March left
the door open for Hizbullah to play a
political role, urging the movement to "prove"
it does not deserve to be branded a terrorist
group.
"I would hope that Hizbullah would prove that
they're not (a terrorist organization), by
laying down arms and not threatening peace"
between Israel and the Palestinians, he said.
Lebanese government officials, including
members of the anti-Syria opposition, say that
the question of disarming the resistance group
should be discussed later.
Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt, who
has proposed a plan to integrate the Shiite
movement into the Lebanese Army by creating a
"reserve army," said the issue required "calm
dialogue" after the elections, which wrap up
June 19.
Hizbullah has already expressed willingness to
discuss the future of its army with Lebanese
leaders.
And although Hizbullah's pronouncement of
rocket capacity marked the first time the
group has outlined in detail the strength of
its arsenal, Hizbullah's chief refrained from
further belligerent words.
"We don't want to get the region involved in a
regional war," Nasrallah said. "We want to
protect our country and keep our weaponry."
-
AFP
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Wednesday, June 01, 2005 |
