Jockeying over compliance with the STL has upset Lebanon's delicate political balance, reports Lucy Fielder from Beirut Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah made clear in a wide-ranging interview this week that the Hizbullah party would under no circumstances support funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which has indicted four of its members over the killing of former prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri in 2005. Lebanon is obliged under the agreement that established the Hague-based court to fund just under half of its operating costs. But with Hizbullah and its allies dominating the cabinet, that looks increasingly unlikely, despite repeated assurances by Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Suleiman that Lebanon would honour its international commitments regarding the court. The armed Shia party denies involvement in Al-Hariri's killing and sees the tribunal as an Israeli-US conspiracy against it. It has called for a vote in the cabinet and parliament concerning the funding. "Hizbullah does not exactly agree to the tribunal," he said in a three-hour interview with the party's Al-Manar channel on Monday. "It is against the tribunal's funding but we will not start a row. Anyone who wants to finance the tribunal let him do it from his own pocket." Pro-Syrian former MP Wiam Wahhab has suggested in the past that billionaire Mikati could himself cough up the court funding. The row within the cabinet has raised speculation that Mikati could resign. But Nasrallah dismissed that possibility. Beirut-based Hizbullah expert Amal Saad-Ghorayeb told Al-Ahram Weekly that given Nasrallah's reputation for straight talk and accuracy, he would not have made such comments lightly. "He must have had guarantees that the government was not going to collapse over this issue," she said. Hizbullah and allied ministers brought down the government of Al-Hariri's son Saad in January amid a row over the court, and secured the nomination of Mikati. Forming the cabinet took weeks, even though the 8 March alliance had gained a majority in parliament through the defection of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt from the Western-backed, anti-Syrian 14 March. That delay was in large part because of wrangling over the wording of the government's policy statement with regards to the tribunal. In the event, the formula was vague, pledging to "follow the path" of the court but without any negative impact on Lebanon's unity and civil peace. But it is not clear how Mikati can reconcile the differences between Hizbullah's rejectionist stance, which is shared by Christian leader Michel Aoun and other members of his cabinet, and his own and the president's position that Lebanon should fund the court. 14 March, whose main platform is support for the STL, has piled on the pressure. So has the United States. Shortly before Nasrallah's interview, US Ambassador Maura Connelly met Hizbullah's main Christian ally Michel Aoun, who has been more outspoken than the party of God itself in his rejection of the tribunal. A statement issued by the embassy said Lebanon's failure to meet its obligations to the tribunal "could lead to serious consequences if Lebanon does not meet its international commitments". Many fear sanctions against Lebanon if it refuses to make the payment, perhaps against the banking sector. Others argue that with neighbouring Syria aflame, and so much uncertainty in the region, the United States would benefit little from seeing its influence in Lebanon wane further. Meanwhile, lest Mikati seek to buy time, the Hague-based court has announced the initiation of in absentia proceedings against the four suspects, and given Lebanon 30 days to pay its dues, which this year amount to about $32 million. It is not clear that there are any loopholes left, Saad-Ghorayeb said. "Mikati is genuinely afraid. He must have known this was going to become an issue, or else he was banking on Hizbullah reneging on the principles concerning which it brought down the last government." Such a change in stance was impossible for the group, and would go against the whole raison d'être, in Hizbullah's view, of the cabinet. "Hizbullah doesn't recognise the court's legitimacy," she said. "And funding would go beyond recognition, it would be an endorsement." One possible way out mooted by Lebanese media was that the funding would be approved by presidential decree, signed by the prime minister and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi. But Qortbawi is from Aoun's party, and therefore highly unlikely to sign.
