– LEBANON – THE MIDDLE EAST SPLIT

Syria and Saudi Arabia have failed to broker an agreement aimed at easing political tensions in Lebanon over the UN-STL international investigation into the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister, on 02/14/2005 in Beirut.

The efforts by the two Arab regional powers, who have previously backed rival blocs in Lebanon, had been seen as the best chance of avoiding unrest if, as expected, the UN-backed tribunal into the killing indicts members of the Shia Muslim Hezbollah movement.

However, Michel Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, a former aly of Israel, an unelected generalissimo and Hizbullah noadays ally, said on Thursday 01/11/2011, efforts to reach a deal had come to a “dead end”. “The initiative has ended with no result,” he told a news conference.

The impending indictments have paralyzed Lebanon’s unity government and raised fears of a repeat of the sectarian violence that killed 81 people in 2008.

Hizbullah, which has rejected allegations it was involved in the suicide bombing on the Beirut seafront in 2005 that killed Hariri and 22 others, blamed “American intervention and the inability of the other side to overcome American pressure” for the failure to reach a compromise.

When asked why the talks collapsed, Mohammed Fneish, a Hizbullah cabinet minister, said: “Ask Mrs Clinton,” referring to the US secretary of state. Fneish said Hezbollah and its allies want an urgent cabinet meeting on Wednesday 01/12/2011 to discuss the issue. “There is an opportunity between today and tomorrow,” he said. If the meeting does not take place, Hezbollah and its allies will “decide on the next move”. Hillary Clinton, the American Secretary of State is now in a tour in the Middle East and met with Saad Hariri in New York on 01/07/2011. She fully supported and backed the Special Tribunal Lebanon – STL expected to publish its conclusions later this month. 

Hariri was in the USA on Tuesday ahead of a meeting with Barack Obama, the US president, on Wednesday.

“Tomorrow, President Obama will meet with Prime Minister Saad Hariri of Lebanon to discuss US support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, and  stability,” Robert Gibbs, the  White House spokesman, said in a statement. The talks would also focus on “the ongoing work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon – STL, and other regional issues,” he said (see also -Biden-LEBANON). It turned out that Israel is not the main problem of the Middle East. 

** On Wednesday 01/12/2011, during the meeting between the Lebanese PM Saad Hariri and president Barack Obama, 11 ministers from Hizbullah and its political allies resigned from the cabinet causing the collapse of Saad Hariri’s government. 

Immediately after his government was brought down, Saad Hariri cut short his visit to the United States to fly home. He drove to Dulles international airport after talks with Obama at the White House. He would likely meet Michel Suleiman, the Lebanese president on his return home to form a new government and there is no way to do so without the approval of Hizbullah.