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Harb: Armed faction of Hezbollah has no future in Lebanon
Lebanons next president must find a way to integrate Hezbollah guerrillas into the army and set ties with Syria on a new footing after the black decades of the past, presidential hopeful Boutros Harb said yesterday.Hezbollahs arsenal is a divisive issue in Lebanon, where rival political camps are trying to agree on who should replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud when his term ends on November 23. Harb, one of two Maronite Christian candidates endorsed by the anti-Syrian majority bloc, said Lebanon could not continue with a Hezbollah mini-state inside the state. The Shia militant group, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has sworn to use its weapons only against Israel. Harb said a priority for any new president who must be a Maronite in Lebanons sectarian power-sharing system should be to reconvene a national dialogue to discuss how Hezbollahs military power could be brought under state control so that only the government could decide on matters of war and peace. Whenever we have a state and government ready to fight for the countrys independence, at that moment Hezbollah will not have a pretext to continue having their arms and well invite them to be part of the institutions of the state, he added. Sunni, Druze and Christian factions which command a slim majority in parliament say Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into an unwanted conflict last year by seizing two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid to trade for Lebanese held in Israel. Posted by: Fred 2007-10-08 |
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