NABATIYEH, March 13: Hundreds of thousands of people turned out for a Hezbollah rally against foreign meddling in Lebanon on Sunday, even as a UN envoy met the country’s president to press demands for a Syrian pullout.
“America out!” yelled supporters of the Syrian-backed Shia Muslim group at a rally in the southern town of Nabatiyeh, mocking chants of “Syria out” that have resonated in central Beirut streets in recent weeks.
It was the second time in a week the Hezbollah guerrilla group, which has the largest following in the country and is the only one with weapons, had flexed its muscles.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in central Beirut on Tuesday to support Hezbollah’s right to bear arms and to thank Syria for its role in Lebanon, where Damascus has kept troops since a 1976 civil war intervention.
Many placards read “No to foreign intervention”. The crowd, waving Lebanese flags, chanted “Death to America, death to Israel” at the rally organised by Hezbollah and the smaller Shia Amal party.
UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen met President Emile Lahoud and other officials on Sunday to discuss implementing United Nations resolution 1559, which calls for a complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and the disarming of all militias.
Roed-Larsen said his talks with Lahoud on the UN resolution were “constructive” and they had agreed that elections, expected in May, must go ahead on time. Political tensions over Syria’s role in Lebanon had stirred talk of a postponement.
“We agreed together that the coming parliamentary elections must occur on time and in a free and fair way,” he said.
Roed-Larsen last visited Lebanon and Syria days before the Feb 14 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which sparked daily protests in Beirut against the Syrians and redoubled global pressure for the Syrians to leave.
Roed-Larsen said on Saturday Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had promised to withdraw all his troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon in line with the resolution.
He said he would present UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan with more details of a timetable for a complete Syrian pullout from Lebanon when he arrives in New York early next week.
Assad said last week Syria would withdraw its troops from Lebanon in two phases, first pulling back to eastern Lebanon, then agreeing with the Lebanese on how long any should stay.
LEBANESE IDENTITY: Hezbollah, as the main guerrilla group fighting Israeli occupation of Lebanon’s south, was allowed to keep its arms when militias were disarmed after the war. It drove Israel out after a 22-year occupation in 2000.
Protesters, who were mostly Shias but were joined by some Druze and others, came from across southern Lebanon to support Hezbollah’s armed “Islamic resistance”, witnesses said.
Some burned Israeli and US flags. “Resolution 1559 was made in Israel” a placard read. Some protesters held their Lebanese identity cards up so that no one could say they were bussed in from Syria, as some media reported after last week’s Hezbollah rally in Beirut.
Syrian troops continued to withdraw on Sunday, leaving posts in Mount Lebanon, northeast of Beirut, as Lebanese soldiers stood by to take over. All Syrian troops have now left northern Lebanon, ending an unbroken 29-year presence.
