Bush takes softer line with Hizbullah

 
Brian Whitaker in Beirut and Ewen MacAskill

The Guardian

George Bush has signalled a softer line towards the Lebanese-based Hizbullah militia, calling on it to turn its back on violence and take a political path.

Encouraged by Israel, the US had until yesterday taken an uncompromising line on Hizbullah, which the president regularly refers to as a terrorist organisation. Like the Israeli government, Mr Bush refused to make a distinction between its armed wing and its political movement.

But Mr Bush, after meeting King Abdullah of Jordan in Washington yesterday, shifted from a ritual denunciation of Hizbullah to a hope that it might focus on politics. He said pointedly that Hizbullah's proscription in the US was based on activities in the past.

He said: "We view Hizbullah as a terrorist organisation and I would hope that Hizbullah would prove that they're not by laying down arms and not threatening peace." He added: "Hizbullah has been declared a terrorist organisation by the United States because of terrorist activities in the past."

Hizbullah is made up of Lebanese Shias and is supported mainly by Iran and, to a lesser extent, Syria. In 2000 it forced Israel to abandon southern Lebanon, and it continues intermittent attacks, mainly against an Israeli position at Shaaba farms, a disputed area on the Israeli-Lebanese-Syrian border. To many Arabs, it is a heroic resistance movement.

A UN security council resolution, 1559, co-sponsored last September by the US, France and Britain, which led to the present crisis in Lebanon, called for Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon and also for Hizbullah to disband.

European governments, as well as US diplomats with knowledge of Lebanon, counselled that Washington was unrealistic to expect Hizbullah to disband early. They argued that, after a pull-out of Syrian troops, the Lebanese government has to be given time to consolidate and incorporate Hizbullah in its forces. Hizbullah is already engaged in the political process, with 12 members in Lebanon's assembly.

Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, yesterday called for EU states to list Hizbullah as a terrorist organisation, and not distinguish between its military and political wings. France refuses to proscribe Hizbullah because it wants it to go down the political road. Britain has proscribed the military but not the political arm. The US was shaken last week by a Hizbullah rally in Beirut which put an estimated 500,000 on the streets.

The Syrian pull-out from Lebanon continued yesterday. Intelligence agents began evacuating a set of offices in Beirut. There were also signs agents were preparing to leave their HQ, two tower blocks and a hotel. One block is said to have cells. On the seafront close by, giant pictures of Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad and his late father were removed from a hoarding. For now, Syria will retain another intelligence HQ in the Beka'a valley, not covered by the first phase of its withdrawal plan.

Omar Karami, Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, began talks yesterday on forming a new government to oversee elections scheduled for May.