Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
U.S. fears Hezbollah to get arms
Among the previous 11 presidents, only Amin Gemayel was officially invited to the White House in 1983, by the late president Ronald Reagan.
The invitation to Suleiman was sent by Obama before the new government of pro-Western Saad Hariri was sworn in. Hariri yielded to Hezbollah's demand that it be able to retain its armed arsenal and before this terrorist group was granted a practical veto power over all government decisions.
The duality in weapons possession raises questions about who in Lebanon holds the authority on war and peace. Even before Hariri formed his government, the U.S. Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, explained to Obama the complexity of the Lebanese situation.
Nevertheless, Obama wanted to hear from Suleiman himself that he intends to prevent escalation along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Obama is very concerned about the continued smuggling of Iranian and Syrian arms to Hezbollah. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week warned Hariri that Lebanon will be held responsible for any aggression by Hezbollah.
Nevertheless, Suleiman came to Washington to ask Obama to speed up arms deliveries to Lebanon.
Since the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005, the U.S. has supplied the Lebanese army with military equipment worth $410 million.
According to a statement released by the American embassy in Beirut, the deliveries included aircraft, small boats, tanks, artillery pieces and trucks.
The Obama administration is now asking the U.S. Congress to approve additional military assistance worth $100 million. The new supply could include 12 Raven unmanned reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft, but not any sophisticated weapons, out of fear they could fall into Hezbollah's hands.
Next spring, Lebanese Defence Minister Elias El-Murr will visit Moscow to take delivery of 10 Russian Mig-29 fighter planes that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave to Lebanon.
Alarmed by the enhanced political and military power of Hezbollah, 31 U.S. congressmen wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging her to prevent new arms deliveries to Lebanon. They also urged the Obama administration to continue working toward disarming Hezbollah and preventing Iran from using Hezbollah in any future confrontation with Israel.
Other subjects in Suleiman's file in Washington are the possible Israeli withdrawal from the village of Ghajar, on the Syrian-Lebanese-Israeli border. Israel took Ghajar from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War. However, when Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, it handed the village to Lebanon. But when this section of the Syrian-Lebanese border was demarcated, it was established that the northern part of the village belongs to Syria. So in 2006, Israel reoccupied Ghajar and promised withdrawal as part of an Israeli-Syrian peace treaty.
Lebanon protested and, under U.S. pressure, Israel agreed to withdraw again from Ghajar. Last week, UNIFIL's commander, Italian General Claudio Graziano, discussed the subject with Israeli and Lebanese officers at his headquarters in Naqura, on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Ghajar residents again demonstrated. They told UNIFIL that they prefer to remain under Israeli occupation until the village is returned to Syria.
It is believed that this subject will be closed after Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri visits Damascus before the end of the year. Hariri was supposed to visit Damascus Monday.
The visit was postponed because of the sudden death of Syrian president Bashar Assad's brother.
Samuel Segev is Middle East correspondent for the Free Press.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 15, 2009 A15
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