Hezbollah officials have continued to hold the Lebanese Forces responsible for last week’s clashes in Beirut’s Tayyouneh area that left seven people dead and dozens wounded.
The LF, headed by Samir Geagea, has denied its involvement.
Head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammed Raad vowed on Sunday that the LF will be held accountable for the unrest.
Raad spoke of “LF deceit that was behind Thursday’s massacre,” vowing that they will be held to account.
“We will not be dragged towards civil war,” he stressed, however. “We will not threaten civil peace, but will not allow this blood to be shed in vain.”
The state, he urged, must investigate the unrest and hold the perpetrators accountable.
“We will wait and see what the state does, but we will not forget the innocent blood of our people,” he added.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is set to deliver a speech on Monday that will likely tackle last week’s violence that erupted when party supporters and their allies in the Amal movement were staging a protest against Judge Tarek Bitar, who is probing last year’s cataclysmic Beirut port explosion.
The judge has sought to question a number of senior politicians and security officials, including Hezbollah allies, suspected of negligence that led to the port explosion, which caused by a huge quantity of ammonium nitrate. All have denied wrongdoing.
Thursday’s protesters were demanding Bitar’s removal from the case.
The LF condemned Thursday’s events and blamed the violence on Hezbollah’s “incitement” against Bitar.
LF MP Fadi Saad told Asharq Al-Awsat that the confrontation between his party and Hezbollah revolves around their opposite visions for Lebanon.
The LF, he explained, believes in the country’s freedom, sovereignty and independence, while Hezbollah is following an Iranian agenda.
“We do not want a return of the dark [civil war] days, knowing that we were the first group to hand over our weapons and support the Taif Accords. Meanwhile, Hezbollah acts as though it is the supreme guide of Lebanon. We do not want Lebanon to turn into another Syria or Yemen,” stressed the MP.
Asked whether the LF possesses weapons to retaliate to Hezbollah should the confrontation turn violent, he replied: “We are not an organized armed group. We are an organized party. However, if Hezbollah or another party chooses to violate our dignity, then they will not like our response.”
“Hezbollah is dealt a setback whenever it thinks of using its weapons inside Lebanon and it is drawing closer to its end as an armed group. The developments in Tayyouneh are best evidence of that. They are blaming all sides while they should be the ones held to account because they were the ones who incited and called for the protest,” said Saad.
Pro-Hezbollah political analyst Kassem Kassir ruled out the possibility of a military confrontation erupting between the rival parties, while still acknowledging the tensions in the country.
He told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hezbollah may file a complaint against the LF and Geagea and demand that the case be referred to the judicial council. The confrontation will be limited to the political, media, popular and judicial arenas.
He said Nasrallah’s speech will outline how the confrontation will next unfold.
On Sunday, Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah slammed the clashes as “criminal aggression.”
He accused the aggressors of committing a “bloody massacre that will have major implications.”
“We know how to defend our blood,” he warned, accusing the LF of seeking to drag Lebanon towards civil war.
Moreover, he raised questions over the role of the security forces on Thursday.
“Why is it when we place our security in the hands of official security forces, we have martyrs fall on the streets?” he wondered. “This is a legitimate question, one that we will follow up on with the security agencies.”
He urged the security forces to act fast to arrest the suspects because the people are angry and want justice.
