The Lebanese premier is due in Washington next week on his first official visit, but expectations of it are low, Omayma Abdel-Latif writes from Beirut On Tuesday, 11 May, the daily Assafir newspaper quoted Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri off-record statements in which he defended Hizbullah's right "to acquire anything it can to defend the borders and sovereignty of Lebanon, and this includes Scud missiles, in order to face any Israeli attacks on Lebanon." Less than 24 hours after the statements went public, Al-Hariri's press office issued a denial. "While it is true that Prime Minister Al-Hariri is concerned first and foremost with Lebanon's interests, the quotes attributed to him in Assafir are in total contradiction with such interests, because they are designed to draw Lebanon into dangerous regional tensions," the statement said. "These are the same dangers from which Al-Hariri has been endeavouring to protect Lebanon," it added. The incident took place at a time when Al-Hariri prepares for his first official visit to Washington on 24 May. And although there has not been any statement on the agenda, the issue of Hizbullah's arms will most likely dominate talks between Al-Hariri and Obama administration officials. The visit will also likely be overshadowed by speculations of an imminent military showdown between Lebanon and Israel. Israel has made repeated allegations of a transfer of Scud missiles and other advanced weapons from Syria to Hizbullah. The Israeli claims have been parroted by US officials repeatedly, though they failed to provide evidence to support them. Robert Gates, US defense secretary, in a press conference with his Israeli counterpart claimed that Hizbullah has "more missiles than many countries in the world". The Lebanese premier, therefore, will have some explaining to do regarding his remarks. On another occasion, Al-Hariri told a Spanish magazine that the Scud missile allegations made by Israel and Washington were "like claims of Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction before the US invasion of Iraq". Once again, the prime minister's office was obliged to clarify the remarks, which also piqued Washington's ire. Al-Hariri's backtracking on the two statements, according to Lebanese politician Wiam Wahab, cast doubt on what he would actually say to Obama "behind closed doors", particularly when the visit comes at a time when Lebanon's relations with the US have been heavily criticised by the Lebanese opposition. The dust has not yet settled over the controversy on US security aid agreements with the former Lebanese government. The opposition demanded that one such agreement, deemed in breach of the country's sovereignty, be annulled. A cabinet meeting next week is expected to make a final decision on the issue. Last December, a few days before Lebanese President Michel Suleiman embarked on his first official visit to Washington, 31 US lawmakers urged the Obama administration to "condition military assistance for the Lebanese army with disarming Hizbullah". The move was viewed then as a response to the policy declaration of the new Lebanese unity government perceived in US circles to have given Hizbullah "veto power over major decision-making". "We must seek to support stronger multilateral efforts to disarm Hizbullah and clear southern Lebanon of Iranian weapons," the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The letter was in response to a request submitted by the Obama administration for $210 million for the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and $100 million in military assistance for the Lebanese army. "For that much money, American taxpayers deserve to see results," the lawmakers said. The results they apparently wanted to see included stripping the Lebanese resistance movement of its deterrence against Israel. Al-Hariri appears to be standing between a rock and a hard place. While he does not want to risk losing Washington's backing of his mandate, he cannot appear to be in full partnership with Hizbullah. Yet he also realises that he is presiding over a national unity government of which Hizbullah is a crucial partner. That mandate grants the resistance movement the right to defend the country against aggression. And while the issue of the resistance's arms continues to be hotly debated in Lebanon, some recent political developments -- domestically and regionally -- suggest that the tide is turning in Hizbullah's favour, leading one Hizbullah MP to describe the current period as "the golden age of the resistance". Lebanese political figures, including President Suleiman, repeatedly express solidarity with Hizbullah and condemn Israel's constant threats of war. On Friday, 14 May, Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali Al-Shami defended Hizbullah's right to bear arms in the face of Israeli threats. He told Arab ambassadors in Beirut, "The resistance has the right to get any weapon into Lebanon, including missiles, no matter what kind, in order to use [them] to fight Israeli aggression." He added that Article 6 of the government's policy statement legitimised the fight against Israel. Al-Hariri himself repeatedly expressed his concerns about "the escalating and dangerous" threat Israel poses to the region. In one press interview, Al-Hariri was quoted as saying that his "government would support Hizbullah if a new confrontation breaks out with Israel." "They -- the Israelis -- are counting on the fact that there might be some division in Lebanon, if there is a war against us," Al-Hariri said. "There won't be a division in Lebanon. We will stand against Israel. We will stand with our own people." The Lebanese premier made no secret of his fear of the prospect of another war with Israel. While it is likely that he conveys those concerns to the US president when they meet next Tuesday, there should be no high expectations of the US administration, save paying lip service to Lebanon's stability. Al-Hariri's first official visit to Washington comes on the heels of his second visit to Damascus that took place on Tuesday, 18 May, in which he met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. In an interview with Al-Manar on Monday, 18 May, Al-Assad's adviser, Buthaina Shaaban, said that Al-Hariri wanted to visit Damascus before heading to Washington because "he wanted to coordinate with President Al-Assad". Al-Hariri's Damascus visit was part of a regional tour that took him to Riyadh, Damascus, Amman and Cairo.
