Sunnis joining the Lebanese Forces
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/December 02/15
Members of the Lebanese Sunni community are applying to join the Christian party headed by Samir Geagea.“The veiled Lebanese Forces [supporter]” is the expression the Lebanese Forces website proudly used to introduce Nourhane. Nourhane Khaznadar is a Lebanese student at the Institute of Education at Saint Joseph’s University in Tripoli. According to the article, Khaznada, an activist, took part in the annual student council elections that took place on Monday with enthusiasm and tried to motivate and convince students to vote for the political party she was campaigning for: Lebanese Forces. Khaznadar is known as “comrade Nourhane” according to Lebanese Forces members.
“The Lebanese Forces has a clear and honest political position,” said Khaznadar. “The Lebanese Forces and the Future Movement were working together as March 14. I worked with them during the elections and I was impressed with their warm welcome, regardless of the fact that I am veiled. They did not even ask if I was Shiite or Sunni. They have a clear project and that is Lebanon. They are ready to collaborate with whoever has the same project.”
Khaznadar is not the only non-Christian Lebanese citizen who supports the party. According to Lebanese Forces political officer Maya Sukkar, although the party is known to be a Christian political party advocating for Christian rights in Lebanon with a Christian majority membership, it has members from all the sects in Lebanon. “Lebanese Forces always gathered members from all sects and it is not the first time citizens from non-Christian communities apply to join the party,” Sukkar told NOW. “However, lately we have been receiving more membership applications from Lebanese Sunni citizens.” For security reasons, Saad Hariri, head of the Future Movement, does not currently reside in Lebanon, and his absence has affected the party’s popularity. In addition, the rise of Salafism in Lebanon has put the moderate Sunni movement in an uncomfortable position.
A year ago, on 27 November, Hariri said during an interview that “[March 14] does not want a president who is on good terms with Bashar Assad.” Last week, Hariri made obvious his nomination of Sleiman Frangieh for the presidency, the leading ally of Bashar Assad’s regime in Lebanon. “Nominating Frangieh for the presidency was a turning point for Hariri and Future Movement’s political positions,” Sukkar told NOW. Sukkar also said that this pushed a number of Future Movement supporters to question their political affiliations, especially that Future Movement supporters are against the Assad regime for being behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri.
Tripoli MP Mosbah al-Ahdab told NOW that the Future Movement has to offer guarantees on a national level. In addition, the nomination of Frangieh was seen as a Sunni demand since neither the Christian parties nor Hezbollah agreed to it. “We are living in a catastrophic situation,” Ahdab told NOW. “The Future Movement is being politically mysterious. The Sunni community is lost — some of them are joining ISIS and others are in prison. Future Movement MPs were elected to represent [people who voted for them] and establish their project to empower the Lebanese institutions. They can’t encourage the return of Bashar Assad to Lebanon using the same representation. This is the main reason behind the disorder between them and their popular base.”
Consequently, a number of Lebanese Sunnis who had been Future Movement supporters began looking for an alternative political party that represented their political views. In an article published on the Lebanese Forces official website, blogger Mirvat Sioufi collected Facebook statuses posted by Lebanese Sunnis expressing their wish to join the Lebanese Forces and expressing the view that they considered it a national political party. “I have been waiting for 4 years to be accepted at Lebanese Forces.
However, even if I didn’t become a member, I am an LF [supporter] and I support the project of a nation,” said Omar, a Facebook user. Sioufi called Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to announce the party as a national one. “The Lebanese Forces has a constant political position,” Sioufi told NOW. “This encouraged more people to adhere to it, especially that the Lebanese people are used to political parties’ dishonesty. Although the Lebanese Forces is still considered a Christian political party, its main goal is the establishment of a strong Lebanon. The Muslims who currently want to join the Lebanese Forces know this reality. However, they believe in the party’s ideology and trust it.
They want to join it in order to defend Lebanon,” said Sioufi.
The Lebanese Forces lately proved the constancy of its political positions. It is still a party that believes in the March 14 coalition and works to revive it; it refused to participate in the latest dialogue and recently objected the nomination of Sleiman Frangieh for the presidency. It is not surprising that Sunnis disappointed by the performance of the Future Movement and its leaders are trying to join a political party that is more stable and relatively more dedicated to March 14 principles. “[Lebanese Forces] is a party that welcomes everybody,” said Sukkar.
“What brings the party’s members together are not their sects but their political principles, especially those of March 14. As agreed on in 2005, March 14 is a national project for Lebanon that aims at defending the Lebanese sovereignty and independence. It never made the difference between Christians and Muslims.”
**Myra Abdallah tweets @myraabdalla