-Caveat Lector- When Druze and Christians get friendly, Syria gets worried By Zvi Barel Ha'aretz 9 August 2001 The arrest of some 200 Christians in Lebanon Tuesday made the editor of a Nahar, Jubrein Tuwani, publish an unprecedentedly harsh editorial against the Lebanese government and its masters in Damascus. "Have we gone from a government to military rule? Is this a military junta? If the government claims there was a revolutionary conspiracy, then we are all revolutionaries and all conspirators." Tuwani's anger, and that of the Maronite and Druze communities is the result of a lightning operation by the Lebanese army two days after the historic reconciliation between the Druze and Christian leaderships, whose conflict two decades ago was a key reason for the Lebanese civil war. Over the weekend, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir visited Druze leader Walid Jumblatt at Jumblatt's headquarters in the Chouf mountains. The visit, with its conciliatory speeches, in effect made pubic a renewed alliance between the two groups, which share a common interest - the departure of the Syrians. The only difference between the two are in nuances. Sfeir wants the Syrians out without any preconditions, while Jumblatt is prepared to be a little more flexible. Such a meeting between two leaders of separate groups in the country is always going to raise suspicions in Damascus, which fears the revival of a large Christian-Druze bloc that won't make do with Syrian army redeployments but will demand a full Syrian departure from Lebanon. "We won't allow any harm to public order or good relations with any sister country," said Adnan Adoum, the Lebanese general prosecutor, explaining the arrests of the Christians. But his own words were enough to understand where the orders for the arrests came from. Many of those arrested (and most, as expected, have now been released) are loyalists of General Michel Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, which has been fighting the Syrian presence in Lebanon since the end of the civil war, and of Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces, in jail serving four life sentences for political assassinations during the civil war. According to Lebanese sources, the order for the arrests came from the Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon, Razi Cana'an, who wanted to impress upon the Lebanese Syria's "red lines" concerning Lebanese opposition to the Syrian occupation. Those sources say that Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was also opposed to the arrests and told Syrian officials that the arrests could serve to consolidate an anti-Syrian protest movement, turning the Druze-Christian reconciliation into a political union. And it's not only the Syrians who fear such an alliance. Lebanese Muslims might regard such an alliance as a threat, and that could yet turn into a confrontation between the Muslims on one side and the Christian-Druze alliance on the other. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
