Hussein Dakroub – The Daily Star
Rival leaders called for calm Sunday, a day after Lebanon teetered on the verge of sectarian strife as security forces tried to bring in pro-Syrian politician Wiam Wahhab for questioning over insulting remarks he made against Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.
The raid by the Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch, based on a judicial summons from the state prosecutor, on the home of former Minister Wahhab in the Chouf village of Jahilieh left one of his bodyguards dead after the ISF unit came under fire Saturday evening in the operation to take Wahhab.
The incident, which heightened tensions between Wahhab’s supporters and those of his Druze rival, former MP Walid Joumblatt, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, in the Chouf district, came against the backdrop of the Cabinet formation stalemate, now in its seventh month, as Hariri’s attempts to form a new government have been stalled by a demand by six pro-Hezbollah Sunni MPs for representation.
Wahhab, an ally of the Syrian regime and Hezbollah, had refused to show up for questioning following a complaint over insults he made against Hariri and his late father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in a video circulated last week. The video sparked street protests by Hariri’s supporters who blocked key roads in Beirut and the southern coastal highway with burning tires.
Wahhab’s bodyguard, Mohammad Abou Diab, was laid to rest in Jahilieh Sunday, after he succumbed to wounds sustained during the gunfire. Wahhab, head of the Tawhid Party, led the procession to the burial site after a funeral was held.
He said in televised remarks that he was keen on maintaining security in the mountains, calling on his supporters to remain calm and not to shoot in the air during the burial ceremony. Wahhab had announced Abou Diab’s death in a series of tweets Sunday. He vowed revenge against Hariri, State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud and ISF head Maj. Gen. Imad Othman, blaming them for Abou Diab’s death.
“Peace in the mountains is a red line and Lebanon’s safety is a red line. We are all under the roof of the state which protects us. We fully trust the Lebanese Army which warded off a major strife,” Wahhab said during the burial ceremony. “We will do everything under the law.”
While Wahhab claimed that his longtime bodyguard had been shot dead by ISF sniper fire, the ISF said in a statement that Abou Diab had in fact been wounded by friendly fire from other Wahhab supporters. Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk offered condolences to Abou Diab’s family, but defended the security operation in Jahilieh.
“Every military personnel, soldier and officer in the Internal Security Forces is a hero in his defense of the state and the law,” Machnouk said in a statement. “A judicial investigation into Abou Diab’s death will determine responsibility for the death.”
He said the ISF statement said the haphazard firing by gunmen in Jahilieh led to Abou Diab being shot in the abdomen and later his death in hospital.
“We will not be dragged into strife no matter what they did and said. We are all Rafik Hariri in his moderation, wisdom and equilibrium,” Machnouk said.
He implicitly blamed Hezbollah, which is supporting the Sunni MPs’ demand for representation in the new Cabinet, for the formation deadlock. “What has been happening for months in Lebanon is not a path for the formation of a national unity government, but a decision for actual obstruction, sometimes by politics, and at others by threats and the policy of raising fingers,” Machnouk said.
“Martyr Rafik Hariri is our conscience, our history, our presence and future. Anyone who attacks him is attacking the dignity of all the Sunnis and all honorable Lebanese,” Machnouk said, adding that Saad Hariri would not step down from forming a new government.
In a TV talk show last week, Wahhab assailed Hariri, saying he was not fit to serve as a prime minister.
Wahhab’s attacks against Hariri continued in the video that circulated on social media, appearing to blast Hariri, as well as Rafik Hariri, without naming them. His media office subsequently released a statement apologizing for what he had said.
Hammoud, the state prosecutor, has rejected a complaint filed by Wahhab against Hariri, but he accepted a request filed by a group of lawyers to look into the remarks Wahhab made in the video, on charges of “inciting strife and threatening civil peace.”
The Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Naim Hasan extended his condolences to Abou Diab’s family and called for “calm and wisdom” in approaching the Jahilieh incident. “Our call has always been for the unity of ranks in the mountains and the nation,” he said.
After meeting Hariri Saturday night, Joumblatt expressed support for the security operation in Jahilieh. The PSP extended its condolences to Abou Diab’s family and called for calm in the Chouf.
“The party affirms that we all could have done without this tragic loss and everything that happened as a result of this abnormal security situation, which some have used to exploit the security and safety of [Chouf],” the PSP said in a statement, in an implicit reference to Wahhab.
Hezbollah did not comment on the Jahilieh incident, but party MP Nawwaf Musawi said Hezbollah had played a role in averting strife in the country.
“We are still dealing with wisdom [with the Cabinet crisis]. The proof was what happened yesterday [Saturday] when our wisdom prevented the country from plunging into strife that only God knows its extent. We are the ones who saved the country yesterday,” Musawi said.
Caretaker Information Minister Melhem Riachi met with Hariri to convey a message from Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressing the need for maintaining stability in the country.
“I conveyed to him the Lebanese Forces’ keenness on stability and on the formation of the government as soon as possible to preserve this stability and to revitalize the country, provided everyone abides by the law without any exception,” Riachi told reporters.
Meanwhile, the Future Movement’s legal department again blasted Wahhab. “Everything that Wahhab stated in the past few hours is considered to be additional content … in his judicial file, which has been filled with claims, lies and abuse,” it said in a statement.