On a sunny afternoon in Saida, the coastal town that marks the entrance to Lebanon’s southern territories, a Hizballah member stands in the middle of the road collecting money from motorists to help finance the movement. About 25 miles inland, Hizballah fighters fire off another round of artillery over the border, as Israeli jets respond with simulated raids deep into Lebanese territory.
The sonic booms rattle windows in Beirut, setting an already jittery nation on edge and triggering memories of 15 years of brutal civil war, Israeli occupation, and siege.
“This is the real truth: Hizballah controls the South,” said one Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The Lebanese army are like statues, they do nothing.”
It’s into this dangerous game that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell stepped on Monday in a lightning visit to Lebanon and Syria to try to prevent the growing power of the Hizballah militant group from sparking a wider Mideast conflict.
Hizballah, a Shiite militia movement formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, has grown to be a vast political force in this politically and religiously fractured nation. Labeled a terrorist group by the United States for its involvement in the bombing of the Marine barracks in 1983 and for its racketeering and arms smuggling activities in South America, Hizballah remains a sophisticated armed militia only loosely influenced by the Lebanese government.
Hizballah’s increasing violations of the Blue Line, the U.N.-established border between Israel and Lebanon, now threaten to spark a regional conflict.
CONDONING HIZBALLAH
Hizballah movements across the border had elicited only mild protests in this nation, in which Muslim and Christian alike harbor a deep resentment of the Israelis over the occupation and siege of Beirut. But the severe beating of four unarmed UNIFIL observers by Hizballah militia at the disputed Shebaa Farms area provoked a sharp rebuke from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan. Under international law, the U.N. military observers cannot be denied access, even in Hizballah controlled areas.
“What happened is very serious, and we have not seen anything like this for a long, long time. It cannot be repeated,” stated Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. Secretary General’s representative in Lebanon. “The response [from Hizballah] was an apology, and an indication that all possible efforts would be made to avoid this again. Whether the assurances are as we would like to believe … we will see on the ground. The fact remains that we had four of our colleagues beaten and mistreated.”
UNIFIL has a mandate to patrol, document and observe military activities along the Blue Line, and has been welcomed by both Lebanon and Israel. With the steady escalation of hostilities on the border, sparked by the Israeli offensive in the West Bank, Hizballah has begun to restrict access to areas where rockets and artillery positions are placed, and has traditionally used areas heavily populated with civilians to cache weapons and command facilities.
It is the presence of a heavily armed militia in their midst that worries the Lebanese. Although they clearly view Israel as their enemy, the citizens of Beirut fear Hizballah’s aggression will provoke an Israeli response aimed not at the south, but at Beirut’s utility plants and communications infrastructure.
SYRIA BEHIND THE SCENES
In response to the threat of Israeli retaliation, Syria, which has occupied Lebanon since the end of the civil war, pulled approximately three regiments of troops (3,000 soldiers) out of Beirut and the coastal areas and into the strongholds of the Bekaa Valley. Citing their reason as compliance with the 1989 Taif agreement for troop withdrawal, the redeployment was seen as an effort to publicly place the burden for escalating conflict squarely on Israeli shoulders, while Syria manipulates from behind the scenes.
InsertArt(1478815)While Hizballah is ideologically and financially tied to Iran, it looks to Syria for operational and military guidance. Recent anti-American protests at the American Embassy in Beirut were heavily populated by pro-Syrian student factions attending the American University of Beirut. Militant Islamic and Palestinian splinter groups, such as the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) are headquartered in Damascus, and move arms and money into Lebanon along the Syrian controlled “Silk Road” bordering the Bekaa Valley.
“I don’t believe they are pulling out of their involvement in the south,” said one senior Lebanese official. “Either in the case of Hizballah, which has their support, or Ahmed Jibreel (PFLP-GC), who has their backing. They are playing a dirty game.”
DESTABILIZING BORDER MOVEMENTS
Over the last week, large numbers of Palestinians and supporters of the Iraqi wing of the Baathist party, normally unwelcome in tightly controlled Syria, have been crossing over the Lebanese border into Syria, heading for Jordan, a Lebanese government official said. Moving in small groups so as not to attract attention, they are believed to be heading to Amman for demonstrations at the Israeli Embassy there. This sudden willingness by Syria to allow unrestricted border movement is seen by some regional and U.S. intelligence officials as an attempt to destabilize Jordan, where Palestinians form a majority of the population, and possibly open another front for resistance against Israel.
“These are people who would normally not be crossing the border [from Lebanon into Syria],” said one Lebanese official. “There is no official restriction on them, but if these people crossed the border into Syria, they would be scrutinized very closely, and monitored. Now they are moving in large numbers, one and two at a time, some on foot and some in cars. They could not do this without the approval of the mukhabarrat (Syrian military intelligence). The Syrians do not like the Jordanian government, and they would love to see [King Abdullah] have a problem.”
InsertArt(1478814)UNITING BEHIND PALESTINIANS
Lebanon also has a significant Palestinian population, well-armed and only marginally controlled. By U.N. estimates, over 382,000 Palestinians live in Lebanon, 56 percent of them in refugee camps under little or no control by the Lebanese government. With rampant unemployment and no hope of Lebanese citizenship, the refugees are supported by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, to which the United States is by far the biggest donor.
The Lebanese government made an effort to unite all Christian and Muslim factions in favor of the Palestinians during recent anti-Israeli and anti-American demonstrations in Beirut, an attempt to keep the country tenuously united. But an Israeli strike against Palestinian or Hizballah strongholds, almost all of which are located in heavily populated areas, would unavoidably result in civilian casualties. That may be the only spark needed to ignite a regional armed response. No matter how much the Lebanese government wishes to avoid another war, it does not have the internal control to ensure that will not happen.
Sue Lackey reports from the Mideast for MSNBC.com.