As Safir reported on Monday.

"The policy statement is very clear regarding the protection of the resistance," said Siniora in an interview with the Lebanese daily.

The prime minister said the terms used in the statement were enough to reassure Hezbollah that the government would protect its military wing despite U.N. Resolution 1559, which calls on Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias to disarm.

Hezbollah was trying to convince the government to clearly state that the Shiite group's military wing was a resistance group, not a militia, and therefore did not have to comply with the resolution adopted by the Security Council in September 2004.

But the prime minister argued that the international community had already endorsed Lebanon's position in considering Hezbollah's arms a domestic affair, the newspaper reported.

Therefore, he said, it was better not to draw the international community's negative attention on Hezbollah and Lebanon. "Why to insist to raise the issue of the resistance's arms when no one is asking us about it and while we have obtained an approval from the international community to discuss this issue through dialogue" among the Lebanese, Siniora said.

He also said that Hezbollah and Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement reached an agreement on amending the policy statement with Legislator Saad Hariri. But Hariri discussed the agreement with his other allies, who rejected it, according to Siniora.

Siniora did not mention which allies he was referring to, but Hezbollah has accused PSP leader Walid Jumblatt of foiling the party's agreement with the government.

Despite failing to reach an agreement, Siniora asked Hezbollah and Amal ministers to end their boycott to the cabinet that has lasted for more than a month.

On Dec. 12, the five Hezbollah and Amal ministers walked out from a cabinet session demanding that major decisions be reached after thorough deliberations and through a consensus, not majority voting.

The cabinet wanted to ask the U.N. to expand the international investigation into former PM Rafik Hariri's assassination to include other bombings targeting anti-Syrian politicians and journalists in the country.

It also wanted the creation of an international tribunal into Hariri's assassination.

The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc told The Daily Star that the Shiite ministers would not return to cabinet until the majority agreed to their demands, which now go beyond the issues of an international investigation and tribunal.

"According to the laws, the Cabinet can still convene and issue decisions, but, politically, it has no legitimacy," Legislator Mohammed Raad was quoted as saying in the Lebanese English-language newspaper. "The ministers will not resign neither can the premier discharge them."

Lebanese Forces Legislator George Adwan said: "The Shiite ministers want to negotiate while exerting political pressure as they continue boycotting the Cabinet. We refuse to negotiate under pressure. The government can work without them."

David Welch's visit to Lebanon has deepened the crisis between pro and anti-Syria factions in the country and sparked an unprecedented war of words between Hezbollah and PSP leader Walid Jumblatt.

Speaking to visitors in his hometown of Mukhtara, Jumblatt said the March 14 coalition is stronger than "the weapons that they are keeping ... the tools of betrayal ...and is stronger than the arms which they claim it is intended for liberation," without mentioning the party he was referring to.

Jumblatt added that the March 14 supporters "are stronger than the bandits positioned here and there in Haret Naameh and other tunnels accommodating criminals."

The pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) is positioned in Naameh, south of Beirut, and maintains a network of tunnels and arms caches there.

Jumblatt also said he rejected to keep Lebanon "hostage for a particular alliance that begins in the Mediterranean coast and ends in Persia," in reference Hezbollah which is funded and supported by Syria and Iran.

Hezbollah replied swiftly, saying in a statement that Jumblatt's "description of the resistance's weapons as tools of betrayal is the most dangerous thing he has ever said so far."

"Such description has crossed all red lines and breached values," said Hezbollah in its first verbal attack on Jumblatt since he stepped up his campaign against the Shiite group in December.

Jumblatt turned against Hezbollah late last year, saying the pro-Syrian group should stop defending the regime in Damascus, which he accused of masterminding the yearlong series of bombings targeting anti-Syrian politicians and journalists.

Jumblatt, however, clarified late on Saturday that the term, "arms of betrayal" was intended at the PFLP-GC, which is headed by the Damascus-based Ahmed Jibril.

In an interview with the Doha-based Al Jazeera satellite network, Jumblatt said: "It seems that (Hezbollah) doesn't want to be criticized... and they don't want the Syrian regime to be criticized.

"It seems that someone in Hezbollah has lost his mind and does not want to confirm that the Shebaa Farms are Lebanese, because he has an agenda different from a Lebanese one."

The war of words between the two groups coincided with a demonstration staged by pro-Syrian groups in Beirut's Riad Solh square. The Hezbollah supporters were protesting against a visit to Lebanon by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch.

Hezbollah is now calling for another demonstration on Tuesday in front of the US embassy in Awkar. But Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa said on Monday his ministry has not received yet a request from organizers to hold the protest in accordance with Lebanese law. Sabaa told LBC TV that he recognized the right of people to freely express their views and stage demonstrations "as long as protestors do not use violence or cause damage to other people's property."

On Sunday, Siniora criticized protestors saying they had deliberately triggered the clashes with Internal Security Forces personnel by throwing stones on them. "There are no stones in that area," said Siniora about central Beirut's downtown area rebuilt after the end of the civil war.

"Protestors brought stones, eggs and tomatoes with them to the demonstration," said the prime minister, adding that by doing so, they were intending to provoke the clashes. Several protestors and policemen were injured.

The demonstration was in protest of the growing U.S. role in Lebanon's affairs.

But Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said he considered such a role to be in harmony with Lebanon's national interests.

"This is not interference," he said. "The Americans are not imposing the appointment of employees or heads of certain apparatuses; they are not interfering in forming governments or extending the term of the president; they are not disbanding a party and sending politicians to exile."

Geagea has threatened to hold a massive protest similar to the historic demonstration of March 14 in case pro-Syrian groups decide to take to the streets in large numbers.

"We should not forget that the reason why anti-Syrian groups staged the March 14 protest was because pro-Syrian groups held the March 8 rally," said Geagea.

Political observers feel that Hezbollah is crossing the red line in its support for the Syrian regime and in its efforts to destabilize the country. One observer told Ya Libnan, "Hezbollah was credited with liberating the south of Lebanon and that is why they were very popular, but the change in their allegiance is being widely criticized by the anti-Syrian groups."

Perhaps everyone should cool it and think Lebanon for a change. The current state of affairs will lead Lebanon nowhere. Hezbollah cannot dictate its own agenda on all of the Lebanese, this will only incite more division and could lead to disaster. It is time for Hezbollah to rethink their agenda if they want to be part of the new Lebanon.

Picture: PM Fouad Siniora (R), Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah (L)
Sources: Ya Libnan, Naharnet, Safir