On the eve of Lebanon’s 2018 parliamentary elections, the slogan of “facing the arms of Hezbollah,” remained absent from the electoral campaigns of leading March 14 powers, including the Future Movement and the Lebanese Forces.
Since the withdrawal of Syrian regime forces from Lebanon in the spring of 2005, following the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, March 14 forces were always attached to a slogan decrying the arms of “Hezbollah.”
Observers say that a deal reached ahead of Michel Aoun’s election as President, affected the rhetoric of some anti-Hezbollah forces, which previously opposed the party’s concept of “statelet.” However, some March 14 figures, not part of the deal that brought Aoun president, decided to continue the anti-Hezbollah arms campaign.
One of those figures is March 14 Secretary-General and former MP Fares Soueid, who criticized on Saturday an agreement reached with Hezbollah to elect Michel Aoun president, followed by a deal concerning the current cabinet lineup and the electoral law.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Soueid said while the deal acknowledged “that Hezbollah keeps its arms and makes decisions related to politics and to war and peace in Lebanon, it only granted parliamentary seats to the other team.”
Another March 14 official, journalist Nawfal Daou, who is also running for the parliamentary elections in Lebanon’s Keserouan electoral constituency, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the March 14 bloc is still attached to its principles and slogans. “However, part of this team preferred to enter the deal that was based on gaining leading positions and ministerial portfolios, in exchange of giving up sovereign policy decisions.”
Member of the Future Movement politburo Shazha al-Assad responded to those accusations that indirectly touched Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
“The issue of the illegal arms is a red line. We will not accept it,” she told Asharq Al-Awsat, recalling the last speech delivered by Hariri, who said that his party would not make any alliances with Hezbollah in the upcoming elections.
