The Assyrian Democratic Organization
By Mohammed A. Salih
Beirut- Naharnet-AFP — Prime Minister Fouad Saniora’s government was considering severing private Hizbullah phone network connections that had started out in south Lebanon and ended up in Beirut and its suburbs.
“We agreed to draw a plan of action for a peaceful resolution of this issue, but we are serious about resolving it because it is a dangerous matter,” Information Minister Ghazi Aridi told reporters after a lengthy cabinet session on Monday. Aridi said the government formed a committee to draft a report on recent information that Hizbullah had installed its own communication infrastructure south Lebanon. He said initial reports has shown that the Hizbullah networks “went beyond (the southern village of) Zawtar Sharqiyeh … to reach Beirut and the suburbs of Beirut which are outside the security areas of the leadership of the resistance.”
Aridi said the government was “determined to protect the Resistance (Hizbullah) and the symbols of the resistance from the Israeli enemy but the information that we gathered do not follow this logic.” He did not give further details. The daily An Nahar, however, citing cabinet sources, said Tuesday that a report prepared by a ministerial committee confirmed that Hizbullah had privately installed phone netwworks that have reached Dahiyeh, or the southern suburbs, as well as the Ring and Riad Solh districts in downtown Beirut.
The sources said the cabinet instructed Lebanese security forces to perform a “specific task” under which “appropriate measures” would be taken to deal with Hizbullah’s move. They said the cabinet was considering authorizing a “security and technical team” to sever the phone network connections. Saniora was quoted by a source as responding to Hizbullah’s act, which was considered a violation to Lebanon’s sovereignty, by sarcastically saying: “All we need is (Hizbullah) to ask a musician to compose a new national anthem.”
The issue of the death threats directed at the Saudi and United Arab Emirates ambassadors to Lebanon was also discussed during the five-hour cabinet meeting that ended late Monday. An Nahar said that according to information obtained by the government, a third unidentified European ambassador has also received death threats in addition to a number of journalists via the Internet.
Cabinet members also tackled the issue of the Fatah al-Islam “terrorist network” and outcome of the investigation with Islamists of the al-Qaida inspired group who are in Lebanese custody. Aridi said Lebanon has tightened security following these threats. “Security measures have been increased … and all the security agencies are on alert … particularly after the latest threats,” Aridi said. He said recent arrests of suspects in Lebanon “have helped the army and the internal security forces prevent dangerous acts by groups in several areas” across the country.
Saudi Ambassador Abdel Aziz Khoja, whose country is a leading supporter of Lebanon’s beleaguered government, left Beirut on August 17 in the face of attack warnings, a senior Lebanese official said on Saturday. The Saudi embassy declined all comment but Khoja told the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat daily on Saturday that “there were threats against the Saudi embassy and against my person.” Oil-rich Saudi Arabia and the UAE are key financiers of Lebanon and staunch backers of the Saniora government.
Khoja had been involved in efforts to broker an end to the political crisis with pro-Syrian factions that has paralyzed Saniora’s legislative agenda. A member of the appointed Saudi Shura (Consultative) Council, Mohammad al-Zulfa, has pointed the finger at Syria, claiming that proxies of Damascus in Lebanon could be behind the alleged threats.
Riyadh and Damascus were recently involved in a tit-for tat tirade. Lebanon has been hit by a wave of attacks in recent years targeting anti-Syrian politicians, most infamously the 2005 murder of five-time premier Rafiq Hariri, a billionaire businessman.
