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Lebanese President Fears an International Force

[Ha'aretz] Zvi Bar'el - Pro-Syrian, pro-Hizballah Lebanese President Emile Lahoud told Al Jazeera that he opposed the deployment of French troops, to prevent France from influencing Lebanese political developments. Lahoud and Syria view France as hostile for sponsoring UN Security Council Resolution 1559. Hizballah is willing to discuss a multinational force as long as it is under the auspices of the UN or considered an expansion of UNIFIL. Hizballah has built a strong, give-and-take relationship with UNIFIL, it is familiar with its meager equipment, and knows that UNIFIL has no intention of getting involved in its activity in southern Lebanon. Nasrallah does not want his political power to be transferred to the Lebanese government under the umbrella of the multinational force. Accordingly, Hizballah is likely to adopt the argument that a multinational force is nothing but an occupation force. This argument also contains a veiled threat by Nasrallah of the consequences to the force if it does not play nice with his organization.
2006-08-02 01:00:00
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