Middle East - Anthony Ham [342]
Today, Hezbollah’s armed tactics revolve around rocket attacks on Israel and kidnap missions against its soldiers, the group also concentrating on welfare projects in the still-stricken south, along with holding 14 seats in the Lebanese parliament. For more on the party’s origins and social policies, Click here.
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In 1999, Israel launched further attacks, targeting Beirut’s power stations, while Hezbollah continued its offensives. Sustained losses, however, led to calls within Israel for military withdrawal, and its army finally withdrew from southern Lebanon on 24 May 2000. Hezbollah stated, however, that Israel would remain its target until Israeli troops were also withdrawn from Shebaa Farms, a 12-square-mile area southeast of Lebanon, captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. In the years since the civil war, this bone of contention has frequently been the alleged reason for Hezbollah violence and Israeli retaliation.
In Lebanon, after 2000, discontent rumbled on. Maronite groups opposed Syria’s refusal to withdraw from Lebanon while Shiites and Hezbollah continued to support its presence. On 2 September 2004, the UN issued Security Council Resolution 1559, which called ‘upon all remaining foreign forces to withdraw from Lebanon’. Syria still did not comply, and on 20 October 2004, Prime Minister Hariri tendered his resignation, announcing that he would not be a candidate to head the next government.
The Killing of Rafiq Hariri
On 14 February 2005, a massive Beirut car bomb killed the former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri. The event triggered a series of demonstrations, with protestors placing blame firmly on Syria. Tens of thousands of protestors called for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, for an independent commission to investigate the murder of Hariri, and for the organisation of free parliamentary elections. Together, these events became known as the Cedar Revolution. On 14 March, Lebanon’s largest-ever public demonstration was held in Martyrs’ Sq, Beirut, with between 800,000 and one million attendees spanning sectarian divisions. The result was the March 14 Alliance, an anti-Syrian governmental alliance led by Saad Hariri, son of the murdered ex-prime minister, Samir Geagea and Walid Jumblatt.
With the UN, the USA, Russia and Germany all backing Lebanese calls for withdrawal, Syria finally bowed to pressure, withdrawing its 14,000 remaining troops from Lebanon on 27 April 2005 after almost 30 years of occupation. For the first time in more than two decades, Lebanon was completely free from military forces other than its own. This, however, was destined not to last.
Lebanon Today
The months after Syria’s withdrawal were characterised by a spate of car bombs and targeted assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians and journalists, with growing calls for the expedition of a UN probe into Hariri’s murder.
The 2005 parliamentary elections, the first after Syria’s withdrawal, saw a majority win for the March 14 Alliance led by Saad Hariri, with Fouad Siniora elected Lebanon’s new prime minister. The elections also saw Hezbollah become a legitimate governmental force, winning 14 seats in parliament while in the south its fighters continued to launch attacks on Israeli troops and towns. Though Siniora publicly denounced the attacks, it seemed that once again Lebanese authorities were powerless to stop them.
Meanwhile, the investigation into Hariri’s death remained ongoing. The UN Security Council, along with the Lebanese cabinet, approved a special tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the crime. Currently, despite Syrian and Hezbollah protests, this is scheduled for some time after 2008, probably in The Hague.
On 12 July 2006, days after a Hezbollah incursion resulted in the deaths and kidnappings of several Israeli soldiers, Israel once again invaded Lebanon with the aim of destroying Hezbollah. For the following 33 days, Israeli warplanes pounded the country, resulting in the deaths of over 1000 Lebanese civilians. On 14 August fighting finally