Lebanon News: Hezbollah, Assad Polarize Government Loyalties

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri rejected Hezbollah's right to arms Tuesday, a week after Lebanese President Michel Aoun praised the militant group for its battle against jihadist forces within and beyond the country's borders, Reuters reported. The political divide threatens Lebanon's official neutrality on Hezbollah's presence.

Hariri told a crowd in downtown Beirut he would not soften his stance on the influential, Iran-backed militia or the Syrian government, both of which he has accused of playing a role in the assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in 2005. Hariri, who was born in and remains close to Saudi Arabia, said the Lebanese military is the sole, legitimate protector of the Lebanese state and rejected the role of Hezbollah, whose Tehran-aligned interests conflict with Saudi Arabia's in a proxy war of influence over the region.

"We will not compromise on the fundamentals ... our view of the Assad regime and its crimes, our stance towards the illegitimate arms and ... Hezbollah's involvement in Syria," he said at a ceremony marking the 12th anniversary of his father's assassination.

The comments appeared to conflict with the position taken by Aoun on Egyptian media outlet CBC last week when the former general said Hezbollah's weapons "do not contradict the state ... and are an essential part of defending Lebanon." Aoun was once a staunch opponent of Hezbollah and Damascus but signed a landmark political agreement with the former in 2006 after returning to Lebanon from exile in France. Since then, he has politically allied himself with the militant organization, a relationship that was seen as essential to his ascendency to the Lebanese presidency in October.

The same political compromises that allowed Aoun to become president set the stage for Hariri to become prime minister in December. Hariri's mostly Sunni Free Patriotic Movement occupies a position in the March 14 Alliance political bloc, while Aoun's largely Christian Free Patriotic Movement and the Shiite-majority Hezbollah, led by Shiite cleric Hassan Nasrallah, operate in the coalition known as the March 8 Alliance.

The Lebanese government has remained effectively neutral on Hezbollah's operations since a 2008 attempt to dismantle the militant group's security apparatus resulted in armed clashes between the group's supporters and opponents throughout the country, killing dozens. Fighting was halted after the Lebanese army intervened and a political solution was reached among the country's various political factions.