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The third anniversary of the martyrdom of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on the 14th of February is drawing near . While the opposition wants this day to be a day to unite Lebanon, the February 14 bloc has been mobilizing supporters to take part in marking that day, however in bellicose speeches. For the second time in less that a week, MP Saad Hariri used the term "confrontation" to mobilize his supporters in Beirut and recently in Tripoli in the north, to attend the February 14 commemoration ceremony in downtown Beirut.
"We don't want a confrontation. But if we are dragged into one, we will not stay hands tied," Hariri vowed in Tripoli. He earlier said in Beirut: "If confrontation is our destiny, then we stand ready."
But confront who, the opposition?
"We have been hearing an escalatory tone lately with readiness to confront; a tone that we did not hear during the 2006 Israeli aggression against Lebanon. The opposition cannot be drawn into internal sedition. They (loyalty bloc) need to find other ways to prove their competence to those who made them their proxies," MP Mohammad Raad, the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc said. "If unity is our destiny, then we stand ready for it," he responded Saturday to Hariri's pledge of confrontation.
JUMBLATT: WE WELCOME WAR, WE'LL LAUNCH ROCKETS ON YOU
For his part, Hariri's ally MP Walid Jumblatt was more direct in choosing war on unity. He assailed Hezbollah Sunday morning calling on the party to abandon who he called "tyrants and infidels" for the sake of Shias. Jumblatt who was mobilizing his supporters to take part in the February 14 event, addressed the opposition saying "if you think that we are going to sit with our hands tied, then perhaps we would have to burn everything. If you want war, then we welcome war. We have no problem with weapons or with rockets which we will launch on you." In a clear vengeful trend, Jumblatt addressed the families of the four senior officers who are still under political arrest without charges, saying: "you will cry blood when the gallows are set for the officers." Predicting assassinations in against the army in the region under his control, Jumblatt warned that there are"armed groups planning to carry out terrorist attacks against the army in the mountains."
Meanwhile, Arab League chief Amr Mussa is expected in Beirut again to resume talks with Lebanese officials from opposite camps in a bid to solve the escalating political crisis. Mussa had left Lebanon Saturday morning following a quartet meeting at parliament a day earlier with the head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun representing the opposition and the head of the Future Movement MP Saad Hariri as well as former President Amine Gemayel both representing the February 14 bloc.
BASSIL REVEALS PROCEEDINGS OF QUARTET MEETING
As political maneuvers undertaken by the Lebanese ruling bloc in parliament have failed, the attempt to embarrass the opposition with equivocal propositions continued through the media. Even though all four poles of the quartet meeting agreed to keep the minutes of the meeting away from the media, much of proceedings were leaked to pro-February 14 media outlets in a bid to portray General Aoun as the side obstructing any solution to the ongoing political crisis.
"The opposition has a clear demand. It wants a one-third of ministers in a new government to secure participation. It’s the same one-and-a-half year crisis. If the opposition wanted to abandon this demand, it would have done so earlier. The 10-10-10 ministers' formula was a negotiable issue by the opposition and not really a demand. MP Hariri asked General Aoun during the quartet meeting about this particular matter, and after he consulted with his allies, Aoun told Hariri that if you agree on this then we can start negotiating and developing it to find an integral formula. But it was clear during the session that they do not agree on this proposal and therefore, they refused to give answers. So A.L. chief Arm Mussa concluded that this matter has become out of discussion because there were no agreement on it. And in their late-night statement, they said very clearly that they do not agree on this matter. Therefore, as a Free Patriotic Movement, as an opposition and as general Aoun, we are above such cheap maneuvers. We represent a people and we are seeking to solve its crisis but not through maneuvers and media absurdity," Gebran Bassil, the Free Patriotic Movement Political Relations' official told Al-Manar.
SHEIKH KASSEM CHALLENGES LOYALTY TO PUBLICALLY REJECT ARAB INITIATIVE
For his part, Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Kassem said that the opposition dealt positively with the Arab initiative "because we consider it key to help find a solution in the country." Sheikh Kassem challenged the loyalty bloc to tell the public that they are against the initiative. "You accuse us that we are against the initiative. How did you agree to sit with us? General Aoun was very positive during the meeting. He was discussing matters objectively and presenting solutions. You were the one who refused and said no. If you have the courage, go out and tell the public that you are against the initiative," Sheikh kassem said.
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