Finger-pointing at Syria

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, two key leaders of the March 14 movement in Lebanon, have been speaking about the Lebanese army's fight with the Fatah al-Islam group near Tripoli. Siniora was careful not to accuse Syria of stoking the crisis, but seemed to have President Bashar's regime in mind when he said, in an evident reference to the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, for which a U.N. report has implicated Syria, "We will not be scared by the bombings just as we were not terrorized by the acts of assassination." Jumblatt was typically outspoken in pointing the finger at Damascus. He called Fatah al-Islam "a terrorist gang that was exported to us from Syria." Neither man spelled it out this time, but the March 14 generally blames Syria for Hariri's assassination and believes Syria is provoking strife in Lebanon to scuttle a U.N. tribunal into the affair.

Here's a bit of Siniora's address to the nation on live television Thursday, ostensibly commemorating the seventh anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon but meant as a statement on the current crisis:

Over the past days, I heard much talk, unjust incitement, and tendentious mobilization aimed at saying that the Lebanese state, the Lebanese Army, or the Lebanese Government are targeting the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon or the Palestinian people. The truth, the absolute truth is that the Lebanese Army is the victim of a criminal aggression carried out by a terrorist organization claiming to embrace Islam and the protection of Palestine.

We should be clear in making a distinction between a terrorist organization, which tried to capitalize on the suffering and struggle of the Palestinian people, and our brothers in the camps. For us, the distinction is clear and obvious. We will work to eradicate and strike at terrorism. As for our brothers in the camps, we will work as we have worked and even more to embrace and protect them. There will be no targeting, sedition, or division between the Lebanese and the Palestinians.

We will not surrender to the terrorism of gunmen and we will not surrender to the terrorism of terrorists under any slogan they might hide. We will not be scared by the bombings just as we were not terrorized by the acts of assassination. Our only message today and tomorrow is the civil state, national security, the national and pan-Arab responsibility, and the Lebanese people's life and future, and ending these terrorist and criminal phenomena without hesitation and as soon as possible.

Here's part of the strong stuff Jumblatt had to say at a press conference earlier this week:

The Nahr al-Barid Palestinian refugee camp today is a captive to the Fatah al-Islam organization, which is a terrorist gang that was exported to us from Syria. Shaker al-Absi, the wanted man who was sentenced to death in Jordan in 2002 after he was convicted in connection with the killing of a US diplomat in Jordan, and who was imprisoned in Syria, was later released and exported to Lebanon, along with others, such as Shihab al-Qaddur. Of course, he went around in Nahr al-Barid Palestinian refugee camp as well as in other places that I would not describe as refugee camps because these were purely Syrian centers, the centers of Ahmad Jibril and others.

A terrorist gang has taken Nahr al-Barid Camp as a hostage, and a way had to be found to free the people of Nahr al-Barid but there is also a need to wipe out this gang. This can be done by cooperation between the Palestinian organizations, the Lebanese Army, and the Lebanese state.

Everything that is happening today regrettably reminds us of what Bashar Assad told Rafic Hariri during their famous meeting on 28 August 2004. He told him: Renew Lahhud's presidential term and if you refuse I will destroy and devastate Lebanon. When we see what is happening, we must go back to these words, which Bashar Assad said to martyr prime minister Rafic Hariri. The series of bombings and terror began from that moment.When they failed in all their endeavors, they unleashed direct and open terrorism against us under the name of Fatah al-Islam.

They are doing, or are trying to do, in Lebanon what they did in Iraq. All those who blow themselves up in Iraq--80 percent of those who blow themselves up among civilian Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, and others arrive from Damascus. Today, and having failed in his plot in Iraq, he is transferring these bombers, transporting them to Lebanon.

For its part, Syrian officials have refrained from much comment and the state media has broadly supported the Lebanese army's stand against Fatah al-Islam. Waddah Abed Rabbo, editor of Syria's first private newspaper, scoffed at the accusations made by the March 14 camp. He cites a report by American journalist Seymour Hersh suggesting that Siniora's government was financing Fatah al-Islam, a radical Sunni Islamist faction, as a counterweight to Hizballah, a Shiite group. The Syrian press seemed more preoccupied by Sunday's referendum on giving Assad another seven-year term of office.

Hizballah, Syria's most important ally in Lebanon, has kept a low profile on the Tripoli clashes. The group has come under increasing criticism itself for triggering Israel's massive onslaught against Lebanon last summer and for trying to topple the Siniora government through street protests afterwards. After some palpable hesitation in making a statement, Hizballah expressed strong support for the Lebanese army. It insinuated, although with a notable lack of vigor, that Siniora's government as well as the U.S., rather than Syria, was behind Fatah al-Islam.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo