President Suleiman Withdraws Legitimacy from Hizbullah

Nour Nehme - Addiyar newspaper

President Michel Suleiman has just blew up a political bomb in his fresh speech on Army Day when he directly and sternly lambasted Hizbullah implication in Syria, taking to task the Resistance for using weapons in the Syrian war instead of using them to defend the Lebanese soil merely and calling to re-mull the national defense strategy. This strongly worded speech against Hizbullah corroborates that the President of the Republic has relinquished centrism and become a party between two rivals indeed. It also harbingers the state, represented by the President, giving up on Hizbullah.

It is the first time that an anti-Hizbullah position is issued by the Lebanese state. In fact, despite the disagreement on Hizbullah arms, the state has always embraced the Resistance in ministerial policies and all official statements. The state has always found a way to shun rows over the Resistance arms without tampering with it. The weapons of the Resistance and those of the army complement each other for the sake of defending Lebanon, that was it!

But now, the President of the Republic called to rally around the army, cleaving to the legitimacy of military weaponry while criticizing the Resistance for using its arms in Syria, only to turn the tables against the infamous trinity "People-Resistance-Army." Nowadays, it is solely "people-army."
This shift takes a toll on Hizbullah since it is the very state that is slamming it and not other political parties divergent with the Resistance.

This first in the presidential history since 1993--where the President of the Republic laments military duality that according to him hampers the building of the state and undermines the army--only came to complete a series of pressures on the Resistance. The EU warning against Hizbullah and the accusation of its military wing of terrorism, as well as the surging US pressures on the party, and now Suleiman's speech all come to isolate and cordon off the Resistance as a punishment for its involvement in Syria to have the balance of powers swing in favor of Bashar Assad regime.

On the Army Day, the President of the Republic sought to level out-and-out criticism of Hizbullah implication in Syria, which places him on the side of March 14 camp and which evens out his stance with that of the US, KSA, and Europe. Suleiman's choice to publically spurn that the arms of the Resistance crossed the Lebanese borders only shows that there are changes on the regional and international scenes. In fact, EU warning of Hizbullah, albeit futile, indicates more international pressures on the party, and Suleiman's speech proves that Hizbullah has started to annoy the Lebanese state.