Thomas Smith from National
Review's Military Blog spoke with Dr Walid Phares,
senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of
Democracies in Washington regarding the situation on
the ground in Lebanon today. Phares said:
"Departing pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud today
issued a decree putting the Lebanese Army in charge
of security across the country because as he stated
"the current government [democratically elected]
lacks legitimacy."
Lahoud, acting on the instructions of the Syrian and
Iranian regimes planned on having the Lebanese Army
competing over security with the sitting government
of Fouad Seniora. According to the Lebanese
constitution, if the president leaves without a
successor elected by the parliament — as is now the
case — presidential power is to fall into the hands
of the council of minister "until a new president is
elected."
Lahoud — an ally of Hezbollah — wanted the Lebanese
Army to take over "national security" from the
Seniora government while at the same time protecting
Hezbollah.
However, Lahoud's plan may not work as designed:
According to Lebanese constitutional sources, a
departing president — who loses legal authority —
cannot "estimate" the legality of the sitting and
democratically elected government. More importantly,
the army according to the constitution is under the
authority of the government - not above or equal.
So the Lebanese Army as of Friday midnight is under
the authority of the Seniora cabinet as an
institution, not as a prime minister. Also, the
Lebanese Army has already warned it will not side
against the cabinet and that it will not tolerate
the use of weapons inside Lebanon, a message that
militia activities will not be tolerated.
As of now, according to the law, the Seniora
government is in charge until a new president is
elected. But this time-frame isn't very long. First,
the last decision made by the speaker of the
parliament, pro-Syrian Nabih Berri, was to designate
next Friday as the day for the election of the
president. Second, the March 14 movement, the
anti-terrorist alliance, can technically hold a
meeting and elect a new president. But there are
other considerations slowing that move."
Meanwhile, Seniora's office has reportedly declared
Lahoud's move regarding the army as “not valid and is
unconstitutional. It is as if the statement was never
issued.”
You can read it at: (link)
http://tank.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MGJlZmEwNGMxNGUxODhhZGYwOTEwZGEzOWEzZjMxYWU=
On
BBC 5: "Lebanese army will be supported if Hezbollah
agresses"
Speaking to BBC 5 in
London last night, Phares said: "The Lebanese Army is
in charge of security now until a new President is
elected in Lebanon. If threatened by terrorists, it
will be backed by the UN and Lebanon's friends worldwide
as would be the case of any Government under Terror
attacks. The Seniora Government is in charge as a
cabinet but the Lebanese MPs have the duty to elect
their new President. They can't dodge their mandate as
legislators. Hezbollah and its allies are threatening
to use force with Lebanon's civil society if the MPs
elect a President abiding by the UN resolutions. In
that case, said Phares, the international community
will have to assume its responsibilities."
