Hizbullah leaders escalate crisis in Lebanon
Lebanon, Politics, 8/12/1997

Lebanese President Elias Hrawi made separate phone calls to parliament speaker Nabih Berri and Sheikh Mohammed Mahdi Shams Eddine, the head of the higher Shiite council, in order to calm down the Shiites and to keep them from steering Lebanon toward another war.

Hrawi explained that his personal friendship with and respect for Shiite leaders and the community would not be changed just because of the defiance of the government efforts led by figures, such as Sheikh Sobhi Toufeili.

In a rare conciliatory gesture, Toufeili on August 11 told a rally in Brital, near Baalbek, that he was suspending his public anti-government rhetoric for a month to give the cabinet a chance to act on his demands for improving living conditions for the poor.

"I am giving them a chance by refraining from an escalation until September 13. After that all options will be open, Toufeili told some 5,000 people.

"I am not stoping... Civil war continues. But I promise you, that had it not been for the Syrian president and his need for a strong position on the regional issue, I would have dealt with them in a different manner," Toufeili said.

He said the government had been "fooling the nation on all fronts," claiming that the central bank was now bankrupt and that people who had been lured into depositing up to 12.5 billion Lebanese lira "under the pretext of propping up the Lebanese pound, will never see their money again."

He claimed the government¹s decision to clamp down on the southern suburbs and in the Bekaa had so divided the nation that residents needed to be on the lookout for possible "Israeli infiltrators and commando operations."

Hizbullah leaders this weekend united with Toufeili against the government¹s policy of "repression and intimidation," as described by the member of Hizbullah¹s consultative council Sheikh Mohamed Yazbek.

Yazbek called on the government to change its policy. "Our people in Jabal Amel, the western Bekaa and the southern suburbs do not create trouble and cause unrest. They are only asking for their rights," Yazbek said, in Toufeili¹s presence.

"If the authority is holding a sword to slit throats and depriving people of their rights, it will have to step back immediately because our people will only kneel before God," said Yazbek.

In a similar attitude of anger and dissatisfaction, Tyre MP Mohamed Baydoun on August 11 launched a fierce attack against Prime Minister Rafik Hariri¹s government, which he accused of instigating sectarian discrimination and of endangering the political system.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Imam Sadek institute for Koranic studies at Ghazieyh, Beydoun called for the setting up of "a judicial mechanism to try all those inciting discrimination in Lebanon."

Previous Stories:
  State accused of scare tactics   (7/29/1997)

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