Asia

Asia

Hezbollah stages coup drills in Beirut as indictments loom, newspapers say

20 January 2011 04:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Militants fanned out across Beirut and reportedly staged coup drills as political unrest continued to percolate in the country, Lebanese and Israeli media outlets reported, APA reports quoting CNN.
Operatives from Hezbollah and Amal, both Shiite groups, gathered in groups of up to 30 at a dozen strategic points in the Lebanese capital Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post said. Included were sea ports, the airport and entries to the city, the newspaper reported.
Though Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, a member of Hezbollahâ€™s political bureau, told The Post he wasnâ€™t aware of any such drills, parents pulled their children from school after seeing people dressed in black and carrying hand-held radios.
A mother of three picking up her children in the Hamra area of the capital said the school contacted her â€œbecause the security situation is not good,â€ The Daily Star in Beirut reported.
One gathering was about 400 yards from the Grand Serall, downtown Beirutâ€™s government seat, forcing security officials to close the roads to the building, The Post said. The men were unarmed and no trouble was reported, according to various media.
Sources told The Daily Star that the men appeared well-organized and were seen in west Beirut, downtown and in the southern suburb of Hadath.
The drill came as Qatarâ€™s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan sat down for talks with Lebanese politicians, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, aimed at heading off sectarian strife in the country, The Daily Star reported.
Syriaâ€™s President Bashar al-Assad is also involved in the talks, and he met with Lebanese Army Gen. Jean Kahwaji to discuss a potential role for the Syrian army in achieving security and stability in Lebanon, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said.
An earlier joint mediation effort by Syria and Saudi Arabia fell apart this week, and Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told al-Arabiya that his nation abandoned its efforts because the situation was dangerous.
â€œIf the situation reaches full separation and (regional) partition, this means the end of Lebanon as a state that has this model of peaceful cohabitation between religions and ethnicities,â€ al-Faisal told the station.
A coalition led by caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri viewed the drills as a rehearsal for what might happen if Hezbollah is accused of involvement in the bombing that killed Haririâ€™s father and 22 others in 2005, according to The Daily Star.
â€œThe orchestrated gatherings carried out by members of Hezbollah and its allies for more than two hours â€¦ were aimed at sending a clear message to the Lebanese about preparations to stage riots and also a similar message to the Qatari and Turkish foreign ministers who are visiting Lebanon today,â€ Haririâ€™s Movement of the Future said in a statement.
The U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon handed down a draft indictment that Israelâ€™s Haaretz newspaper said indicts several Hezbollah members in the assassination. The International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, has not released specifics of the indictment for fear of provoking violence in Beirut.
The tribunal has no police force and relies on national authorities to arrest suspects, something Hezbollah has said it would never do, according to Haaretz.
Hezbollah has repeatedly denied involvement in the bombing and says the tribunal is an â€œAmerican-Israeli toolâ€ for stoking sectarian violence in Lebanon, The Daily Star reported.
A source close to Hezbollah further told the newspaper that Tuesdayâ€™s drills were â€œa small message to say that the time for talk is over.â€
Other sources close to Hezbollah told The Jerusalem Post that the drills were â€œa real exercise to test the readiness of any such plan to take over Beirut and its periphery, including entries, the port, waters and the airport.â€
The Post cited another source who said that Hezbollah wants to avoid a civil war like the one that killed tens of thousands in Lebanon between 1975 and 1990. Rather, the group would prefer to â€œdeal directly with the U.N. and the International Court.â€
The U.N. building in central Beirut could be one of Hezbollahâ€™s future targets, a source told the newspaper.
Eleven members of Haririâ€™s 30-member Cabinet resigned last week as the prime minister was meeting U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. The move brought down Lebanonâ€™s unity government and prompted several mediation efforts.
Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, had been pressuring the government to reject the tribunalâ€™s investigation into the bombing that killed Haririâ€™s father, who resigned as prime minister the year before his death.
Hezbollah blames the bombing on Israel, while many Lebanese people have blamed Syria, which had immense influence in Lebanon at the time.