Lebanon's new government guidelines declare Hezbollah has the right to fight against Israel to "recover the land occupied by Israel." The document was drafted on Friday and will be brought before the government for approval tomorrow.
The Bush administration conveyed its serious dissatisfaction that President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had succumbed to a number of Hezbollah directives.
While forces within Siniora's western-backed coalition demanded that military action to liberate occupied lands be carried out "under the aegis of the state," now the government guidelines state that Hezbollah has what is essentially an independent right to take action. "Lebanon, its army, its people and its resistance [Hezbollah] have the right to take action to liberate lands that have remained occupied at the Shaba Farms, the hills of Shuba village and the northern portion of the village of Ghajar, with all legitimate means possible, and to resist Israeli aggression." |