Tension on Beirut streets after Hariri indictments

DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)

Lebanese security forces deployed in central Beirut on Tuesday and several schools closed in
response to tensions surrounding a draft indictment issued over the 2005 killing of former premier Rafiq al-Hariri, which was earlier hailed by Washington. Groups of men gathered in the early morning in several places across the capital, alarming Sunni Muslim residents who said they were supporters of Hezbollah or its Shiite ally Amal. In May 2008, armed supporters of Hezbollah took over parts of Beirut after government steps to shut down its private telecommunications network and curb its control at the airport. Dozens of people were killed in fighting across the country.

	This action represents an important step toward ending the era of impunity for murder in Lebanon, and achieving justice for the Lebanese people
U.S. President Barack Obama

Washington welcomes step

The appearance of dozens of men across the capital raised fears of a repeat of the conflict in 2008.

Lebanon’s Education Minister Hassan Mneimneh said schools would remain open. “Despite the gatherings of youths we have seen briefly on the streets this morning, schools are continuing their normal operation”.

United States President Barack Obama early Tuesday welcomed the filing of an indictment over the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri and said the U.N.-backed tribunal for Lebanon must be allowed to continue its work, as Beirut’s neighbors backed new mediation to calm rising tensions.

“This action represents an important step toward ending the era of impunity for murder in Lebanon, and achieving justice for the Lebanese people,” Obama said in a written statement.

The prosecutor of the U.N.-backed tribunal issued on Monday a draft indictment over the 2005 killing of Hariri, and 22 others, a long-anticipated move that has touched off a Lebanese political crisis.

Last week, the armed Shiite Hezbollah and its allies toppled the government of Saad al-Hariri, the slain man’s son, and the group said it would not back Hariri for another term.

“I know that this is a significant and emotional time for the Lebanese people, and we join the international community in calling on all Lebanese leaders and factions to preserve calm and exercise restraint,” Obama said.

Lebanon deadlock

Lebanon’s president on Monday postponed talks on naming a new prime minister, as regional leaders threw their weight behind a Syrian-Saudi bid to defuse the crisis.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met in Damascus for talks on the deadlock.

The three leaders “expressed their commitment to a solution to the Lebanese crisis based on Syrian-Saudi good offices, so as to… avoid a deterioration of the situation”, the Syrian SANA news agency reported after the meeting.

Obama said the Special Tribunal for Lebanon must be allowed to work, without interference and coercion. He called efforts to “manufacture a crisis” a “false choice,” and said efforts to undermine the tribunal show that its opponents have something to hide.

“Any attempt to fuel tensions and instability, in Lebanon or in the region, will only undermine the very freedom and aspirations that the Lebanese people seek and that so many nations support,” Obama said.

Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was also to hold talks on the crisis with Erdogan in Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was to travel to Lebanon on Tuesday to help mediate in the crisis, a diplomat said in Ankara.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, on a visit to Abu Dhabi, called for calm in Lebanon and made an appeal for the work of the tribunal not to be politicized.

	Any attempt to fuel tensions and instability, in Lebanon or in the region, will only undermine the very freedom and aspirations that the Lebanese people seek and that so many nations support
Obama

Deep divisions

Deep divisions among Lebanese parties and their regional backers reflect violent religious, ethnic and political rivalries running through the Middle East and beyond, giving leaders from Washington to Tehran a role in Beirut’s crisis.

The contents of the draft indictment, to be reviewed by pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen, were not revealed. Details may not emerge for another six to 10 weeks, when Fransen is expected to decide whether there is enough evidence to proceed with a trial.

Lebanese officials and Western diplomats have said they expected the court to accuse members of Hezbollah of involvement in the assassination. Hezbollah denies any such role and has described the tribunal as “Israeli tool.”

Hezbollah, “Party of God” in Arabic, has warned it would “cut off the hand” of anyone who tries to arrest any of its members over the Hariri killing, raising fears of renewed Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence, 20 years after the end of a 15-year civil war.

The United States, a “strong friend of Lebanon,” stands with other countries in support of Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence and stability, Obama said.

“At this critical moment, all friends of Lebanon must stand with the people of Lebanon,” he said.