An anti-Syrian Christian leader said on Saturday Hezbollah could use armed force to stop the Lebanese parliament from electing a new president in the next few weeks. Samir Geagea, a prominent member of the ruling coalition, accused pro-Syrian Hezbollah of training Christian and Druze allies to prepare them to sabotage the election by force if it believed it would not be able to get a friendly president.Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri called lawmakers this week to meet on Sept. 25 to elect a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, whose term expires on Nov. 23. But a deep political crisis means the vote is unlikely to go ahead then. The constitution says a new president should be elected between Sept. 24 and the end of Lahoud's term. "Hezbollah is playing a dangerous game," Geagea told Reuters by telephone. "Hezbollah is preparing to sabotage the presidential election session by force, armed force this time."
Geagea said Hezbollah would resort to that option if it thought that it would not be able to bring a president similar to Lahoud -- someone who would "secure its own interests and not the interests of the Lebanese people".
He said the Shi'ite Muslim group was training at its military camps in eastern Lebanon members of a group loyal to Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun and followers of Syrian-backed ex-ministers Zaher Khatib and Wiam Wahab. According to a report by Lebanese daily An Nahar each group of potential militiamen receives a six-day military training. FPM followers, also receive a two-day training on weekends at bases in the Byblos Province by former Lebanese Army officers who are members of Aoun's movement, the report added.
After the training, followers of the three factions are formed into squads of seven-ten members each armed with "Iranian-Made" Kalashnikov assault rifles, the report added. Cadets are told that the training aims at confronting forces of Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and the Lebanese Forces , which are headed by Samir Gegea," the report added.
Such training focuses on recruits from the Aley, Chouf, Ikleem el Kharoub and southern Metn provinces in addition to recruits from the northern Metn and Kesrouan provinces, "thought at a lesser degree", the report added.
Hezbollah is the only group to keep its military arm after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. It fought a devastating war with Israel last year in which 1,280 Lebanese, mostly civilians and 160 Israelis, mostly military were killed. The group, which has repeatedly vowed never to use its weapons in any internal dispute, did not comment on Geagea's remarks.