Despite the reappointment/disappointment of Karami back to the position of prime minister, several fantastic developments have occurred today. Like always, let’s begin with Hizb’allah.

First of all, the European Parliament has finally designated them as a terrorist group. Christmas was a few months ago, but better late than never!

European legislators on Thursday branded the radical Lebanese Hizbollah group a ???????terrorist??????? organization and urged EU governments to place the group on their terrorist blacklists, as the bloc did with the Palestinian Hamas group in 2003.

???????ÄEUÅ Parliament considers that clear evidence exists of terrorist activities by Hizbollah. The ÄEUÅ Council should take all necessary steps to curtail them,” legislators said in a non-binding resolution adopted during a session in Strasburg, France on Thursday. EU lawmakers also called on Syria to withdraw its troops and intelligence services from Lebanon.

EU countries are under pressure from the US administration and Israel to add the Iranian-backed Hizbollah organization to its list of outlawed terrorist organizations, obliging member states to seize its assets and take action against its members.

So far, France, Spain, and Britain have been reluctant to include Hizbollah on the list, fearing that such a move would further damage the prospects for Middle East peace talks.

Cue the evil imperialist pig laughter. Just kidding kids, but its just so funny when Hizb’allah blames it on the American infidel and the Jewish devil.

BEIRUT – Lebanon’s Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah said Friday the United States and Israel were to blame for a European Parliament call for action against the group’s “terrorist” activities.

“Hezbollah is surprised by the position of the European Parliament (taken) under the influence of outside pressure, mainly American and Israel, in total contradiction with EU guiding principles of freedom and democracy,” it said.

Well, it’s true. And we’re doing it for the right reasons. They made these statements out of fear. Let me remind you why.

Hizb’allah, besides being a terrorist organization, is also a wild card in Lebanese politics and could not only throw momentum behind either side, but would inevitably that side would have to take some of Hizb’allah’s politics. We wouldn’t want that happening to the opposition, but since their support was thrown behind Syria, the circumstances are a tad bit different. Now they will lose no matter what. They took the side of a wobbly dictator who is bound to fall. In fact, if we remember correctly, here are some statements by Nasrallah just a week ago:

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said European blacklisting would “destroy” his group.

Designating Hezbollah a terror group in Europe will mean “the sources of ÄourÅ funding will dry up and the sources of moral, political and material support will be destroyed,” Nasrallah told Al Manar, Hezbollah’s satellite television station.

“The political option Äused by the IsraelisÅ, which is more important and dangerous, is manifested by the Israeli-Zionist unceasing efforts to lay siege to ÄHezbollahÅ in Lebanon and in the future in Palestine and globally, internationally, regionally and even locally in Lebanon. That is the most dangerous challenge we have had to face during the past few years, and we stand firm today and will stand firm in the future,” said Nasrallah.

France has already responded to Israel’s Hezbollah request, with French President Jacques Chirac claiming the timing was not right for such a move.

Israeli officials told reporters the French are aware of the information linking Hezbollah to terrorism, but they are now allegedly focusing their efforts on the civil uprising in Lebanon and say they don’t want to risk harming relations with the group.

France’s objections are considered the main obstacle to the EU approving the move to add Hezbollah to the terror list.

With such an upfront statement by Nasrallah, it would be dumb not to do this. The problem with the declaration is that it is a non-binding resolution. This means that it won’t go on the terror list for the entire EU, but it will be left to the discrepancy of each country. For this to work, it needs to be a universal thing. France has been doing pretty well on working with the U.S. on freeing Lebanon, so this is a good time for them to realize that now is the time to act.

Speaking of Eurocrats, the UN envoy just met with Assad, and says that he plans to withdraw all army and intelligence personnel.

DAMASCUS – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, under intense international pressure over Lebanon, has agreed to a withdrawal of all military and intelligence personnel from the country, a UN envoy said Saturday.

“The president has committed to withdrawing all troops and intelligence services from Lebanon in fulfilment of Security Council Resolution 1559,” Terje Roed-Larsen said after talks with Assad.

He said he would present UN Secretary General Kofi Annan with details of the timetable for the two-stage withdrawal when he returns to New York early next week, although he did not disclose a timeframe for the final phase.

And no, I am not laughing because Conan O’Brian is on. They have been withdrawing, actually, and have cleared most of their stuff from northern Lebonon back to the border.

Syria has pulled its troops almost entirely from northern Lebanon and evacuated 75 percent of mountaintop positions above Beirut as the withdrawal operation went without incidents into a fifth straight day Saturday.
Only six intelligence bureaus are still held by the Syrians in the northern port city of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second largest after Beirut, a Lebanese official said, noting that the six centers would be evacuated in the next two days.

The Syrians on Friday completed a total evacuation of their northern base at Rene Mouawad airfield in Kleiaat, which was immediately taken over by the Lebanese army, the official said. Air defenses at the base were entirely dismantled and towed away.

All estimated 4,000 Syrian soldiers in the north have been ferried by long convoys of military trucks and buses into central Syria through the Lebanese border checkpoint of Abdeh in the first phase of a two-stage total withdrawal pledged by President Assad over the weekend.

A convoy of 60 military vehicles carrying Syrian troops and equipment from scores of positions on the central mountain ridge above Beirut crossed the border checkpoint of Masnaa early Saturday, the AFP reported. Other convoys were seen rolling into new positions in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, pending a timetable for the second stage.

Invited by the Syrian information ministry to verify the Syrian military pullout from Lebanon, journalists saw 36 trucks, most of them covered, crossing the frontier to a tumultuous welcome by a cheering crowd waving Syrian flags and shouting pro-Assad slogans.

They were greeted with a hero’s welcome upon returning. But let me get this straight. They are basically pulling out of nonessential areas and consolidating power where they need to, places such as the Bekaa Valley and near southern Lebanon where they have considerable support from Shiites near Israel. And check out what they’re doing there.

Syria has moved its intelligence headquarters to a Beirut neighborhood controlled by Hizbullah.

Lebanese opposition sources said the Syrian military moved office in Lebanon from the so-called Beaurivage to southern Beirut. The sources said the transfer was completed over the last week as part of an effort to lower the Syrian profile in Beirut and central Lebanon.
…
“The Syrians aren’t going anywhere,” an opposition source with connections in Lebanese intelligence said. “They are fusing with Hizbullah while pretending to pull out some troops from Lebanon.”

The Hizbullah-controlled neighborhoods in southern Beirut have been off-limits to Lebanese troops or police. The neighborhoods served to conceal U.S. nationals abducted by Hizbullah in the 1980s.

The sources said the order to leave the Beaurivage was relayed by Gen. Rustom Ghazaleh, chief of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon. The operation was commanded by Ghazaleh’s deputy, Gen. Mohammed Khalouf.

The Syrian move to the southern suburb of Beirut was part of heightened cooperation between Damascus and Hizbullah to maintain the Syrian military and intelligence presence in Lebanon.

The Beaurivage continues to be under Syrian control, the sources said. But the building has been emptied of documents and equipment.

The Lebanese opposition, in an assertion confirmed by Western intelligence agencies, said Syria has been organizing a campaign to attack anti-regime elements. The opposition said Syrian intelligence plans to intimidate or assassinate anti-Syrian candidates for Lebanon’s parliament in elections called for May 2005.

Another option raised by Lebanese and Western sources was that Syria would seek a Hizbullah provocation along the Israeli-Lebanese border over the next few weeks. The sources said Israel’s military shared this assessment.

We’ve known for years and years that Hizb’allah and Syria are in bed together, and this just furthers that Assad is not willing to give up his control (whether overt or not) over Lebanon. As the days inch closer to May, it is readily apparent that the elections can and will be the deciding factor of this entire debate. Therefore, they can’t be obstructed or have a derailing factor of intimidation. If it were my guess, then Assad, Nasrallah, and Kharami know this and are prepared to do what they can to “legitimize” the pro-Syrian government. They are so determined, in fact, that they have enlisted the aid of Jimmy Carter so that he can turn a blind eye to the corruption that may ensue.

Premier-Designate Omar Karami has reversed Lebanon’s official rejection of international observers to monitor the parliamentary elections in spring, welcoming a team headed by U.S. ex-President Jimmy Carter to do the job.

Karami revealed the change of heart in an interview carried by the London-based Asharq Al Awsat newspaper and reproduced by The Associated Press. He warned, however, that the elections may have to be postponed if no new government could be formed within an adequate timeframe.

This was the first time that that the Beirut government publicly dropped its contention that allowing foreign observers to monitor the April-May elections was a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty although various opposition factions and the Maronite Church have been insisting on international observation.

Karami, a staunch ally of Syria, was re-designated to form the new government on Thursday, just 10 days after submitting the resignation of his previous cabinet in the wake of the quake-like aftermath of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s resignation a month ago.

The de facto invitation to Carter looked like a Karami goodwill gesture to the anti-Syria opposition front that has rejected his reappointment as a ‘second assassination of Hariri’ designed to keep Lebanon under Syria’s tutelage even after the withdrawal of its army and its dreaded secret service apparatus.

Carter heads a private human rights organization called the Carter Center, which monitors elections worldwide, including the Palestinian elections that were held in January.

Please, please, please, not another Venezuela. Luckily, the opposition is remaining hopeful. Here is an interesting story of unison and cooperation. Now they’re planning a huge counter-demonstration to win back the momentum supposedly sucked out of them on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Lebanese opposition leaders said they hope a rally Monday in Beirut’s Martyrs Square will serve as a potent counterpoint to this week’s massive pro-Syrian rally led by the Shiite Hezbollah party. Hezbollah’s show of strength emboldened Syria’s political allies here to rename Prime Minister Omar Karami, a strong Syria supporter, to the post he quit under pressure on Feb. 28.

Monday’s demonstration would mark the one-month anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose Feb. 14 killing sent tens of thousands of residents into the streets in anger. Organizers said they hope for a turnout bigger than that of Tuesday’s Hezbollah rally, which drew an estimated 500,000 people to downtown Beirut.

“There will be a very big answer to the demonstration of Hezbollah,” said Fares Souaid, a leading opposition lawmaker. “The popular momentum will be built on.”

The opposition, led mainly by Maronite Christians, Druze and Sunni Muslims, faces tricky questions over its future, including whether to hold fast in refusing to join in a unity government before its demands for a full Syrian withdrawal and other conditions have been met.”They really have to make up their minds on their final stance, whether they want to continue their demonstrations endlessly until their demands are met, or connect their list of demands to the (political) process itself,” said Nizar Hamzeh, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. “It’s really a dilemma.”

Hamzeh said the gains from relying on continued street protests are minimal and could increase the odds for violent confrontations.

That is a point to consider. But the opposition is receiving such wide international support that they may not need to compromise with the Syrian bunch.

An opposition delegation to Europe has returned to Beirut with iron-clad assurances stretching from Russia’s Ural mountains to the shores of the Atlantic to support Lebanon’s drive to regain its full sovereignty and independence from Syria.

Druze leader Walid Jumblat won Russia’s support to the cause during talks he held with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow Friday just as eight other opposition figures were getting a pledge of unlimited support from France’s Foreign Minister Michel Barnier in Paris.

The crisis over Lebanon must not be allowed to destabilize either that country or the wider Middle East, Lavrov said after the meeting with Jumblat. “We must help find a way out of the crisis, not destabilize the situation, either in Lebanon or in the region.”

Lavrov made no direct response to Jumblat’s request from Russia to help investigate Hariri’s assassination. But he said “we were deeply shocked by the terrorist act which killed Hariri. He had done a great deal to ensure that Lebanon developed along a stable path, and always tried to provide full sovereignty for Lebanon.”

The delegation to Paris included Jumblat’s senior-most aide Marwan Hamadeh, presidential aspirant Nassib Lahoud and legislators Naila Mouawad, Ghattas khoury, Mosbah Ahdab and Ahmed Fatfat. The delegation visited Brussels before traveling to Paris.

Delegation members said in interviews carried by An Nahar Saturday that France and the European Union have made Lebanon a top priority, focusing on the recovery of Lebanese sovereignty, the withdrawal of the Syrian army and intelligence apparatus before the April-May elections and investigating Hariri’s assassination to the bitter end.

The delegation also held a meeting with Exiled Gen. Michel Aoun, who hastened to don the red-and-white scarf that has become the emblem of the Lebanese opposition. Aoun and the delegation agreed on:

1-A total withdrawal of the Syrian army and intelligence personnel,

2-The formation of a neutral government in Lebanon to superintend the spring elections with international observation,

3-Sacking the masterminds of the police state that is controlling Lebanon,

4-An international investigation of Hariri’s assassination.

There’s no need for violence right now — and hopefully never — but there is also not a need to compromise on their desire for an independent and free Lebanon. They just need to hold out until May, and if the elections are transparent and Syria is forced out, then they will be in a better position without legitimizing the current regime.

Now, this is usually where I say “That’s all for today,” but I have some extra links for you guys. First, make sure to monitor the Lebanese Forces forums, an opposition group that actively talks about and does some planning.

Rich has a post on Hizb’allah that is worth your time. And “A Lebanese Abroad” has a post regarding sanctions on Syria. And Lebanon Matter has some advice for the opposition.

Here is a picture that I have seen nowhere else, and I’m sure all the guys will be drooling all over it.

The protestor scarves are now available on Ebay! They are available in both red and white. They are only $5 a piece and $1 for shipping. There are 46 of each available still, and I know I ordered one of both. Get them while you can!