Rifi calls for “decisive political storm” against Hezbollah
Now Lebanon/March 03/16
“We are at the gates of a new period that demands we reformulate matters on the national level,” Rifi said.
BEIRUT – Lebanon’s recently resigned justice minister has called for a political “decisive storm” in the country against his arch-foe Hezbollah, while criticizing Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk for objecting to a statement classifying Hezbollah as a terror group. “The Arab anger has begun, and the Lebanese anger will begin,” Ashraf Rifi cryptically warned during a Wednesday night interview on Al-Jazeera television. The prominent Sunni politician called “for a political ‘Decisive Storm’ in Lebanon, for we cannot accept this statelet,” a commonly used pejorative for Hezbollah. Rifi’s comment served as a reference to the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen against the Iranian-backed Houthi forces, which was originally named “Operation Decisive Storm.” “We are at the gates of a new period that demands we reformulate matters on the national level,” Rifi said.
The Tripoli politician stressed he was an independent “Hariri-ist” politician “who takes the example of the martyred Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.”
Rifi’s comments come amid a growing political crisis in Lebanon as Saudi Arabia and fellow Gulf states continue to take punitive measures against Lebanon in anger over what they see as Hezbollah’s undue influence over the country. Riyadh has publicly expressed its anger over what it termed “regrettable and unjustified” positions taken by Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil against Saudi Arabia in two recent diplomatic summits. Knowledgeable sources told NOW last week that the Saudi measures also aim to send a message to the Kingdom’s allies in March 14, who have “failed to meet the expectations of the new Saudi leadership that took over following the death of King Abdullah in January 2015.” Specifically, NOW was told the new King Salman, along with his highly influential son, Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Muhammad bin Salman, are deeply disappointed with what they see as a lack of meaningful opposition to Hezbollah from Saudi partners in Lebanon.
Rifi criticizes Machnouk
Rifi criticized Lebanon’s interior minister Nohad Machnouk, another leading Sunni figure in Lebanon, over his refusal to assent to a pan-Arab statement classifying Hezbollah as a terror group. “I regret to say that the interior minister has deviated from Arab consensus. He has no right to this with the presence of all the evidence of Hezbollah’s embroilment,” he said. Earlier that evening, Nohad Machnouk—who, along with Rifi, was appointed to the cabinet by the Future Movement—had objected to a joint statement agreed upon by Arab interior ministers meeting in Tunisia to blacklist Hezbollah as a terror organization, hours after the GCC had added the militant group to its terror list. Lebanon’s interior minister defended his decision, insisting he did not reject “Arab consensus” because Iraq and Algeria expressed reservations on the statement. Machnouk also said that he was seeking to preserve the work of the Lebanese government. Rifi, however, rejected the defense offered by his fellow Sunni politician, saying, “there is no justification for the good minister Nohad al-Machnouk.”“The accusation by the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council [against Hezbollah] is supported by irrefutable evidence,” he said.
**NOW’s English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Ullin Hope (@UllinHope) translated the Arabic-language source material.