Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 1998, Pages 55, 102

Letter From Lebanon

Syria and Iran Make Significant Gestures in Lebanon

By Carole Dagher

He thought (as did most Lebanese political observers) he had the unlimited support of Damascus and that he could go on defying the authority of the Lebanese government and maybe also achieve an internal coup-de-tat within the Hezbollah leadership. For having badly miscalculated the limits of his rebellion, however, Sheikh Sobhi Toufayli is today a "wanted" person hiding from the authorities in the hills of Brital, his native village in the Bekaa Valley, at the Syrian-Lebanese border, after his movement was smashed by the Lebanese army.

In the last week of January 1998, the sheikh crossed two "red lines" that brought an end to his eight-months-old "revolt of the hungry." He crossed the first, political, red line when he openly challenged Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the present Hezbollah leader.

Sheikh Toufayli called for a celebration in Ba'albek of "the International Day of Jerusalem," an observance that normally takes place every year under the auspices of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah leaders reacted by banishing Toufayli from the party, of which he had remained a member, though not at a decision-making level, since 1993.

Outraged by his expulsion, Toufayli then crossed a second, military, red line. On Jan. 31, he attacked, with his partisans, the "Hawzat al Mehdi building"—a massive "religious school" built by the Iranian leadership in the time of Imam Khomeini in the Ba'albeck area, and managed by the Hezbollah. The armed attack led to the intervention of the Lebanese army, posted in the neighborhood since the region of Ba'albeck-Hermel had been declared a "military zone" by decree of the Council of Ministers last August.

Instead of complying with the Lebanese army's demand that they evacuate the building, Toufayli's gunmen resisted. A Lebanese military officer and two soldiers, four civilians and Sheikh Toufayli's brother-in-law were killed in the fight. The Lebanese brigades then occupied the "Hawza school" (where they discovered an arsenal of assault weapons), encircled Toufayli's village of Brital, arrested a number of his partisans, shut down his radio station, searched his house and launched a manhunt in the area, looking for the fugitive and 22 loyal militiamen who fled with him, while a warrant for Sheikh Toufayli's arrest was issued.

In a much-noticed visit to Beirut four days later, President Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri of the Iranian parliament officially confirmed "Iran's support to the Hezbollah leadership," adding that the Toufayli case "was an internal Lebanese issue" and that it was "normal that the Lebanese government applies the law." That was a clear disavowal of Toufayli's action from the Iranian regime.

Sheikh Sobhi Toufayli is today a "wanted" person.

On the same day, Lebanon's Council of Ministers referred the case of Toufayli and his partisans to the Justice Court, the highest judicial body in Lebanon, whose verdicts are without appeal, despite the protest of some political and religious leaders within the Shi'i community.

At this writing, however, the outcast sheikh is still at large in the "jurd" (the arid mountains) close to the Syrian frontier, although Lebanese intelligence services know where he is hiding. Some observers conclude, therefore, that he has not totally lost his Syrian protection and that the time has not yet come to force him to appear before the court.

Syria Releases 121 Lebanese

During the first week of March, 121 Lebanese were released after years of detention in Syrian prisons. Lebanese and international human rights groups who had actively campaigned against "enforced disappearances" in Lebanon hailed the Syrian initiative, hoping that it would be a first step toward the discharge of all other detainees, including the Lebanese detained in Israel.

Most of the released Lebanese were associated with the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath Party or with Muslim fundamentalist groups. Some also were accused of "collaboration with the Israeli enemy." Among those released were a few Christians, one of whom was a highranking Lebanese officer charged with a murder attempt against Brigadier Ghazi Kanaan, head of the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon.

The Lebanese prisoners were released soon after a telephone conversation between Syrian President Hafez Assad and Lebanese President Elias Hrawi. President Hrawi, in a televised speech last year, had acknowledged that 210 Lebanese were in Syrian custody. Syrian authorities say now that only 33 Lebanese remain in their custody, all on "spying charges."

Analysts point out that two preceding releases of Lebanese detainees took place in connection with politically significant events in Lebanon. The first such release occurred in 1986 after signing of the Syrian-sponsored agreement between the Elie Hobeika-led Christian militia and Shi'i and Druze militias. The second prisoner release followed the Syrian invasion of the Christian enclave headed by the former chief of the military cabinet, Gen. Michel Aoun.

Some observers say that human rights leagues have been very active, particularly a French-Lebanese lobby, Solida, based in Paris, and a French-Lebanese association headed by French deputy Gerard Bapt, who claimed he had been engaged in a mediation effort with the Syrian regime. Other analysts linked the releases to a visit to both Damascus and Beirut by Danielle Pletka, senior assistant for the Middle East on the staff of U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who also had raised the issue of the Lebanese detained in Syria.

The European Parliament also took the unprecedented step of adopting on March 12 a resolution asking the Syrian government to give a complete list of Lebanese detained in Syrian prisons (estimated to be more than 30), to release those who have no charges against them and to transfer to Lebanon those who have been charged. The European Parliament also "pledges the European Council and the European governments to take into consideration the case of the Lebanese detainees in their negotiations with the Syrian government regarding the conclusion of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership agreement."

Pletka and U.N. Resolution 425

Pletka's visit to Beirut, after she met in Damascus with Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister Farouk el-Charaa, triggered a big controversy after she described the Lebanese officials she met as "puppets in the hands of Syria." She also criticized the Lebanese government for not responding positively to Israeli acknowledgment of U.N. Security Council Resolution 425, calling for the total and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.

After her statements and comments appeared in Lebanese newspapers, the Baabda Palace announced that President Hrawi had canceled her appointment. She had already met with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, and commander-in-chief of the Lebanese army, General Emile Lahoud, as well as with a number of deputies and ministers at a dinner organized by U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones.

Lebanese officers she met explained to Pletka Lebanon's official position that rejects any pre-conditions set forth by the Israelis such as security arrangements or the dismantling of the Hezbollah resistance.

Soon after her departure, Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Farouk el-Charaa led a Foreign Ministry delegation to Beirut for a day of formal talks with his Lebanese counterpart, Fares Boueiz, at the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It resulted in confirmation of the joint Syrian and Lebanese position regarding Resolution 425 and of the intertwining of the Syrian and the Lebanese tracks in any negotiations.

The coordinated Syrian-Lebanese position was also in preparation for a visit to the region by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who will presumably wish to discuss the Lebanese response to Israeli withdrawal overtures.