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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

MP Franjieh: Hezbollah is trying to abort Doha Accord

2008-07-28

During an interview by Dalia Nehme of Naharnet MP Samir Franjieh blamed the Tripoli clashes on Hezbollah that is trying to "abolish" the political concept of the Doha Accord and preempt any discussion of its weapons. Franjieh said Hezbollah is launching a "preemptive move" aimed at creating a "fait accompli." The Tripoli clashes, he said, are "pressures that victimize innocent people." He called for "disarming the whole of Tripoli," and said Lebanon should ask Syrian President Bashar Assad to order Palestinian factions affiliated with Damascus to "pull their weapons out" of Tripoli and other areas. "Hezbollah is trying to abolish the political results of the Doha Accord and to block dialogue that is to be launched by President Michel Suleiman," Franjieh said. "There is no agreement between the Lebanese (factions) on mentioning either the resistance or the weapons in the new cabinet's policy statement," he noted. He recalled that a ranking Iranian official has offered a barter deal , pledging stability in Lebanon in return for approval by the west of the Iranian nuclear program. "This should be humiliating for Hezbollah," Franjieh said. "The Lebanese people have no say in Iran's nuclear program. In fact we are for banning nuclear weapons throughout the Middle East," he added. "We want Lebanon pacified" in Middle East conflicts, he stressed. Franjieh denied reports that he would be a candidate in the 2009 parliamentary elections for the Maronite seat in the Tripoli constituency. "I would not be a candidate in Tripoli constituency. This is out of the question," he stressed. However, he insisted that "we would run for elections and we would win the elections. I have no doubt about this. For us the elections (in 2009) are less difficult than what they were in 2005." Nevertheless, premier Fouad Siniora's cabinet is faced by the "major question: Would elections be feasible if we have an armed faction?" Franjieh said. "Weapons eliminate the principle of majority. In the year 2005 the March 14 won majority of parliamentary seats in the elections. The result was practically eliminated by the use of force," Franjieh explained. "Having armed factions (running for elections) would limit freedom of voters," he stressed. Franjieh spoke of "differences in opinion" between March 14 factions and said one of the main problems that the alliance faces is the lack of "interaction between its leaders and masses." "The March 14 priorities should be set in a way to reflect the opinion of its masses, not of its factions, be they political parties or sects," Franjieh explained. "We have the will to overcome this problem," he stressed.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon's presidential election adjourned till October 23

2007-09-26

Lebanon 's House Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned Tuesday's crucial parliamentary session to elect a new president till October 23. "The session has been adjourned till October 23 at 10:00 am," deputy Speaker Farid Makari announced. The announcement was made by a parliamentary official in the chamber after the bell rang three times to call the lawmakers into session. In a clear message to the opposition, MPs from the ruling majority said if there was no quorum and no vote on Tuesday, they would go ahead and elect a president with a simple majority when the next session convenes. "We are taking part in today's session to preserve our right to vote in a subsequent session with a simple majority," MP Elias Atallah told reporters before entering parliament. "Our presence means that the first session has been convened, and the next session (there will be a vote) with a simple majority," MP Samir Franjieh said. The majority attended but opposition members who had gathered in the building stayed in the hallways. The postponement had been expected after the opposition, led by Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hizbullah, vowed to boycott the session to block the ruling March 14 alliance from electing a president from its own ranks.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon Braced for Electoral Showdown After Court Appeal Failed

2007-08-01

Lebanon will face an electoral showdown on August 5 after intense efforts failed to postpone parliamentary by-elections in Metn and Beirut for the two seats vacated by the murders of Pierre Gemayal and Walid Eido failed. Former President Amin Gemayel, who announced he will run in the disputed by-elections to replace his slain son, met for two hours on Wednesday with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir. Gemayel confirmed that the electoral battle in Metn was underway. Sfeir on Tuesday intensified his efforts in a bid to forge a compromise between Gemayel and Gen. Michel Aoun, who announced that he and his allies the Tashnag Party and MP Michel Murr would jointly contest the Metn seat. MP Ibrahim Kanaan from Aoun's parliamentary bloc met Sfeir on Tuesday at the patriarch's summer mansion in north Lebanon. Sfeir also met March 14 Forces MP Samir Franjieh and former legislators Mansour Ghanem al-Bon and Fares Soueid. "If they want a battle, let it be a battle," Aoun told supporters at Dbayeh. "We are ready." Gemayel, however, told supporters in Bikfaya that the election showdown in Metn was a "battle aimed at preventing Syrian influence from returning to Lebanon." The daily An Nahar said Wednesday that an initiative launched from Rabieh calling for the withdrawal of the electoral contestants was turned down by Gemayel.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Unity government ok if Hezbollah supports tribunal & Lebanon army

2007-06-04

A prominent MP from North Lebanon said a government of national unity in Lebanon is possible as soon as Hezbollah and Amal support the Hariri International tribunal and start defending the Lebanese army. Samir Franjieh, told Voice of Lebanon, "if the Hezbollah led opposition thinks that the approval of the tribunal by the UN means we will now accept their conditions, then they are mistaken". Franjieh said the March 14 parliament majority alliance has already offered a proposal to the Hezbollah-led opposition to achieve a "historic settlement" based on respect for multi-confessional Lebanon and rejection of allegiance to foreign powers. In reference to Hezbollah Franjieh said the problem we have is that a Shiite party has kidnapped the rights of the Shiite population in Lebanon and is trying to link the future of our country to that of the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad. Franjieh said time for a new national leadership in the Shiite community to reverse the current position and put Lebanon first, just like other communities have done over the years in Lebanon. Franjieh added, the Hezbollah and Amal leadership should meet with Syrian leadership and tell them bluntly that Lebanon has paid a high price for getting the tribunal approved under Chapter 7. Last week Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah issued a warning to the Lebanese army saying attacking the camp is a "red line". March 14 leaders ridiculed Nasrallah warning and called Fatah al Islam "terrorists that have nothing to do with Islam nor the Palestinians and should be finished off."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Coalition calls for ouster of Lebanon's pro-Syrian president

2005-12-19

A coalition of Lebanese groups, angered by the recent assassination of a prominent anti-Syrian journalist, called Monday for the ouster of Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud. The call came as anti-Syrian youth activists protested in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, late Monday to press for Lahoud's resignation and removal of pro-Syrian agents in Lebanon's security services. Monday's meeting of the coalition of anti-Syrian legislators and politicians came after An-Nahar newspaper general manager and legislator Gibran Tueni was killed in a Dec. 12 car bombing. Tueni was the third anti-Syrian critic slain in similar circumstances since the Feb. 14 blast that killed ex-Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri in Beirut. Hariri's killing sparked massive protests by Lebanese who accused Syria of involvement. The massive anti-Syrian sentiment forced Syria to withdraw its thousands of soldiers from Lebanon in April. "We call on all those who participated in the independence uprising to continue the battle and to oust the remnants of the security regime from the positions they are still holding, namely the presidency position," legislator Samir Franjieh said in a statement after the meeting. Samir's reputed to be on the hit list, too... Franjieh was referring to the estimated 1 million people who participated in a mass anti-Syrian demonstration in central Beirut on March 14. Syria has rejected accusations of involvement in the killings. But a U.N. probe has implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in Hariri's death. The coalition's statement also urged Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's government to be on "full alert to confront the war launched by the Syrian regime against Lebanon," the late Hariri's Future Television reported. Future Television, recall, was also boomed a couple years ago... Lahoud has repeatedly rejected previous calls to resign, vowing to remain in office until his renewed mandate expires in 2007. The call for his ouster came as students and youth activists from various Christian and Muslim groups opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon began last week to re-erect what had been known as "Camp Freedom" on Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut. On Monday, some 300 students staged a sit-in in the square by lighting a "torch of freedom" and shouting slogans denouncing Lahoud and Syrian President Bashar Assad. A placard read: "What I Say Lahuod Carries Out, (signed: Bashar Assad)." A number of anti-Syrian politicians, including Minister of Youth and Sports Ahmad Fatfat, briefly joined the protest, which the students have vowed to continue until their demands - including Lahoud's resignation - are met. The students camped there for more than two months last spring after Hariri's assassination until Syria withdrew its troops, which first deployed here in 1976 after the onset of Lebanon's 15-year civil war to act as a stabilizing force. Youth activists representing anti-Syrian groups urged Lebanese to come to the square and revive the camp "to defend Lebanon's unity in the face of the Syrian regime's attacks and the grudges of the ruling family in Syria." A statement issued by protest organizers in the northern city of Tripoli demanded Lahoud's resignation and blamed Syrian and allied-Lebanese security services for Tueni's assassination. Hundreds of Tueni's supporters, mainly journalists from An-Nahar and other media outlets, joined the victim's widow, Siham, and his two daughters, Nayla and Michelle, in a sit-in Monday outside the An-Nahar building in central Beirut, observing an hour of silence.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Report: Six Syria critics on hit-list

2005-12-16

Anti-Syrian Lebanese figures including Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader, and Marwan Hamadeh, the minister for telecommunications, are among six men on what a Lebanese newspaper said was a new hit-list. Al-Balad newspaper, quoting government and parliamentary sources, on Thursday named the other alleged targets "on the hit-list of people to be killed" as Wael Abu Faoor, Samir Franjieh, Elias Atallah and Farid Makari, all deputies. The list was published a day after prominent anti-Syrian MP and press magnate Jebran Tueni was buried in a politically and emotionally charged funeral following his killing in a bomb blast, which many blamed on Damascus. The six people named on Thursday all belong to the anti-Syrian majority in parliament that swept the polls in June in the first election in Lebanon after Syria withdrew from the country, ending nearly 30 years of political and military domination.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Franjieh says Syria still influencing security forces in North

2005-07-05

MP Samir Franjieh accused the security and intelligence forces on Saturday of still acting under the direct authority of Syria or its symbols in Lebanon, particularly those in North Lebanon. nIn an interview with the Free Lebanon radio station, Franjieh said the goals set by the Qornet Shehwan Gathering - most notably achieving a consensus with Muslim communities on the eviction of Syrian troops from Lebanon, had been achieved. He denied allegations that "salvation came from abroad," and stressed Qornet Shehwan is a "force of communication, not a force of separation." According to Franjieh, a clandestine Lebanese intelligence group launched campaigns against the Gathering regarding the adoption of the 2000 electoral law. "This same group adopted a policy of intimidation against Christians, the results of which were crystallized in the elections in Christian areas, as if Christian mobilization in Mount Lebanon was aimed at punishing Qornet Shehwan." The MP said people should not be accused of treason without first taking into consideration their past and the threats and pressure they may have endured. He indicated Qornet Shehwan had initiated a dialogue with Hizbullah on March 14 in an effort to avoid sectarian mobilization and to reassure the Shiites that the country cannot be built on a tripartite basis against a fourth confession. The dialogue had also aimed at denouncing UN Security Council Resolution 1559, but also at reaching an agreement on ways to implement it in a way that protects the Lebanese.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Aoun sets sights on North Lebanon seats

2005-06-15

The final make up of Lebanon's Parliament will be determined this weekend, when the last 28 parliamentary seats up for grabs in North Lebanon will be decided. Fresh from his election victory in last week's round of elections, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who was exiled from Lebanon after his "War of Liberation" against Syria in 1990, has joined forces with pro-Syrian politician Suleiman Franjieh in the North where they are fielding two complete lists. Aoun will again do battle with Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition following his failure to reach an agreement to run on their lists last month. The opposition is spearheaded by the Future Movement, led by Saad Hariri, the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and the Christian Qornet Shehwan group. Qornet Shehwan member Samir Franjieh, running for a seat in the North, said: "The electoral battle in North Lebanon is decisive because it will determine the state's agenda for the future." Franjieh also expressed fears that an opposition defeat on Sunday would reinforce the role of Syria in Lebanese politics. Franjieh seems to have switched sides rather neatly...

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Opposition members insist Jumblatt's life threatened

2005-03-17

Opposition members insisted Wednesday that the life of Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt, a leading member of the opposition was in danger. Speaking during a seminar held at the American University of Beirut (AUB), member of the Christian opposition Qornet Shehwan Gathering, Samir Franjieh said: "Yes, Jumblatt's life is threatened. That is why he is in his home in Mukhtara and not here with us today." The seminar, organized by the communications club at AUB, was held on the 29th anniversary of Kamal Jumblatt's assassination, and attended by Wael Abu Faour from Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party and a large number of students. Franjieh said the opposition would not participate in any government until its demands are fully met. "We are calling for the formation of a neutral Cabinet trusted by the people to overlook the upcoming polls, and to oversee a true Syrian pullout. This is the only way to make sure the withdrawal of Syrian troops, and most importantly Syrian intelligence, has taken place completely," he added. Franjieh also lashed out at President Emile Lahoud, saying he was part of the security system that brought the country to the crisis it is facing today. He said: "Since he was the head of the army, until he became the president, he has been a major partner in the rule of the security apparatus in Lebanon." He added that the opposition would demand Lahoud's resignation only following the election of a new Parliament in the light of free and fair elections. He said: "The reason we are not demanding his resignation right now is that the current Parliament is mostly formed of pro-Syrian MPs and they might choose someone who falls in the same category as Lahoud."

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Beirut's Berlin Wall

2005-02-25

"Enough!" That's one of the simple slogans you see scrawled on the walls around Rafiq Hariri's grave site here. And it sums up the movement for political change that has suddenly coalesced in Lebanon and is slowly gathering force elsewhere in the Arab world. "We want the truth." That's another of the Lebanese slogans, painted on a banner hanging from the Martyr's Monument near the mosque where Hariri is buried. It's a revolutionary idea for people who have had to live with lies spun by regimes that were brutally clinging to power. People want the truth about who killed Hariri last week, but on a deeper level they want the truth about why Arab regimes have failed to deliver on their promises of progress and prosperity. A crowd was still gathered at Hariri's resting place well after midnight early yesterday. Thousands of candles -- many bearing Christian icons, others Muslim designs -- flickered in a semicircle around the grave and melted together into a multicolored patina of wax. Mourners have written angry messages in Arabic on a nearby wall denouncing Syria, whose troops occupy Lebanon and which many Lebanese blame for Hariri's murder. "The Ugly Syrian," says one. "Get Out of Here," says another. For people who have been frightened even to mention Syria's name, it must feel liberating just to write those words. Over by the Martyr's Monument, Lebanese students have built a little tent city and are vowing to stay until Syria's 15,000 troops withdraw. They talk like characters in "Les Miserables," but their revolutionary bravado is the sort of force that can change history. "We have nothing to lose anymore. We want freedom or death," says Indra Hage, a young Lebanese Christian. "We're going to stay here, even if soldiers attack us," says Hadi Abi Almouna, a Druze Muslim. "Freedom needs sacrifices, and we are ready to give them." Brave words, in a country where dissent has often meant death. "It is the beginning of a new Arab revolution," argues Samir Franjieh, one of the organizers of the opposition. "It's the first time a whole Arab society is seeking change -- Christians and Muslims, men and women, rich and poor." The leader of this Lebanese intifada is Walid Jumblatt, the patriarch of the Druze Muslim community and, until recently, a man who accommodated Syria's occupation. But something snapped for Jumblatt last year, when the Syrians overruled the Lebanese constitution and forced the reelection of their front man in Lebanon, President Emile Lahoud. The old slogans about Arab nationalism turned to ashes in Jumblatt's mouth, and he and Hariri openly began to defy Damascus. I dined Monday night with Jumblatt in his mountain fortress in Moukhtara, southeast of Beirut. He moved there for safety last weekend because of worries that he would be the next target of whoever killed Hariri. We sat under a portrait of Jumblatt's father, Kamal, who was assassinated in 1976 after he opposed the initial entry of Syrian troops into Lebanon. With me was Jamil Mroue, a Lebanese Shiite journalist whose own father was assassinated by Arab radicals in the 1960s. It was an evening when the ghosts of the past mingled with hopes for the future. Jumblatt dresses like an ex-hippie, in jeans and loafers, but he maintains the exquisite manners of a Lebanese aristocrat. Over the years, I've often heard him denouncing the United States and Israel, but these days, in the aftermath of Hariri's death, he's sounding almost like a neoconservative. He says he's determined to defy the Syrians until their troops leave Lebanon and the Lahoud government is replaced. "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq," explains Jumblatt. "I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world." Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. "The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it." Where will this amazing Lebanese intifada go next? The answer may lie partly with the Shiite militia, Hezbollah, which is probably the most powerful political organization in the country. Hezbollah officials and leaders of the opposition have been trading signals this week about whether they can form a united front. What's clear is that the Lebanese are fed up with the status quo and that Hezbollah -- like all the other parties -- must adjust to change. The circle of mourners around Hariri's grave was two and three deep when I visited yesterday afternoon. Many people were weeping, more than a week after his death. In every face you could see that same emotion: Enough!

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria plotted Hariri murder

2005-02-20

Officials at the highest levels in Syria and Lebanon organized the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, according to the Kuwaiti newspaper a-Siasa. The report revealed that two high-ranking Syrian generals — including Syrian president Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, Brig. Gen. Asef Shawkat, whom he appointed Friday to head military intelligence — and a Lebanese general. The newspaper did not reveal the sources of the report. My guess would be the rumor mill, but we'll see how it plays out... The Lebanese and Syrian governments have denied any role in the death of Hariri, who was killed by a massive bomb as he was driven in his motorcade through central Beirut. The blast killed 16 other people and wounded more than 100. The murder of Hariri, a politician who was seen as a key figure in applying international pressures to effect Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, was evidently intended as a bloody warning to the Lebanese to think twice before demanding that Syrian troops pull out, the report commented. That seems to have worked well... Over the weekend Lebanese opposition stepped up its campaign against the country's pro-Syrian government Friday, calling for a "peaceful intifada" to force the resignation of Prime Minister Omar Karami and the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon. Since Hariri's murder, the anti-Syrian Lebanese opposition has blamed the government and its Syrian backers for the assassination. Friday the opposition issued a statement calling on people to stage a peaceful "independence uprising" against the government. Maybe the warning was too subtle? Do you think they missed the point? Or did the Syrians miss a point? In its statement, the opposition said the government should resign and a transitional Cabinet should be formed "to protect the people, and to ensure an immediate and full withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon as a prelude for free and fair elections." Parliamentary elections are due to be held in April and May. The statement - which was read out by Samir Franjieh, a second cousin of the interior minister - also urged Lebanese to continue to gather daily at Hariri's grave in Martyrs' Square in Beirut, to light candles and say prayers. Another Orange Revolution? I said it was too early for the one in Ukraine. Maybe I'm wrong on this one, too... Shortly after the rebellious declaration, about 1,000 opposition supporters staged an anti-Syria rally in front of parliament, a few blocks from Hariri's grave. They carried placards reading "Syrians out now" and chanted anti-Syrian slogans. Security forces watched but did not interfere, and the protesters dispersed peacefully. Expressing their mourning and deference to Hariri, thousands of people signed a 30 meter (90 ft.) banner with the word "Resign," written in French and Arabic, addressed to the government. The banner was unfurled at Hariri's grave, situated outside of a Beirut mosque that he had built. Responding to the protests which have steadily grown in fervor over the past few days, Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh warned the government would not tolerate any public disturbances. "The state will not stand idly by," he warned. "It's our power, and you can't have it!" Meanwhile, in the first cabinet fallout from Monday's assassination, Tourism Minister Farid Khazen resigned Friday, saying the government was not capable of running the country at this crucial stage. The departure of a minister close to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud caused surprise, but was not expected to cause the government to collapse. Prime Minister Karami quickly appointed a new tourism minister, Wadih Khazen, who is not related to his predecessor. "Any minister who resigns will be promptly replaced," Karami said, signaling the government's determination to stay in office. "We got lots more where he came from!" Hariri's family, as well as France and the United States, have called for an international enquiry into his killing. Karami's government has rejected these calls, but it has commissioned foreign experts, such as Swiss forensic scientists, to assist its investigation.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Opposition demands 'intifada for independence'

2005-02-19

Lebanon's political opposition has called for an "intifada for independence" as it stepped up it attacks on the government. In a significant escalation of its feud with the government in the wake of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, the opposition added that all parliamentary business is on hold until Hariri's murderers are identified. Speaking from Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt's residence in Clemenceau Qornet Shehwan Gathering member Samir Franjieh said: "In response to the criminal and terrorist policy of the Lebanese and Syrian authorities, the opposition declares a democratic and peaceful intifada [uprising] for independence." He added: "We demand the departure of the illegitimate regime." When asked why the opposition didn't resign from Parliament as many people had expected, Samir Franjieh said: "We will not grant the authorities our resignation. The parliamentary seats are the people's property." Prime Minister Omar Karami responded by calling the opposition's demands "a project to topple the government." Speaking after Friday's Cabinet session, Karami said: "If the Syrian security apparatus leaves Lebanon, it would create chaos." The escalation of the current row comes at the same time as Lebanese Tourism Minister Farid Khazen resigned from the Cabinet, saying the government was not capable of running the country at this crucial period. Khazen said his resignation was due what he called his "personal convictions and my sense of national responsibility." Khazen said there is no substitute for dialogue based on the Taif Accord. He was replaced by Wadih Khazen, who is not an MP. Monday's upcoming parliamentary session looks set for chaos as the opposition insisted it will not discuss the draft electoral law until a full debate is held on Hariri's murder and the attempt on the life, last year of Chouf MP Marwan Hamade and Syrian troops are withdrawn from Lebanon. The refusal to discuss the electoral law could delay this May's parliamentary elections. Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh was dismissive of the opposition but still took time to warn them against inciting tensions in the wake of this week's tragic events. He said: "Should security be tampered with, the government will not stand unmoved, and the army will be given the order to act." But despite the warning he added: "It is not worth announcing a state of emergency."

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