Critical Times

THRONGS of Hezbollah supporters booed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and blocked him from touring a devastated suburb of Beirut overnight, underscoring the difficulties ahead for Lebanon to become what Annan has envisioned as “one law, one authority, one gun”.
Beirut was Annan’s first stop on an 11-day tour of the Middle East to shore up the fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah militants after a monthlong conflict that killed at least 1000 Lebanese and demolished swaths of the country.

Annan also renewed calls for Israel to lift its air and sea blockade on Lebanon, and for Hezbollah to free two Israeli soldiers whose abduction July 12 provoked the fighting.

The UN chief expressed optimism about the speedy expansion of a peacekeeping mission along Lebanon’s volatile border with Israel, starting with an initial deployment of 3500 troops for a force expected to grow to 15,000.

He said the role of the peacekeepers would be to help the Lebanese Government reclaim authority over the country.

On Monday, Italy’s cabinet approved sending 2500 troops to Lebanon. Turkey’s cabinet also voted to send peacekeepers, becoming the first Muslim country that has relations with Israel to make such an offer.

The Lebanese army is expected to have another 15,000 soldiers along the border once Israel fully withdraws from southern Lebanon, as called for in the UN-brokered cease-fire agreement.

“According to the resolution there should be no other arms in the south except those of the Lebanese army and the international forces,” Annan said.

Annan, at a news conference alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, added that diplomacy – not force – was the best way to disarm Hezbollah.

Annan had planned to end his day trip with a tour of Haret Hreik, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut’s south suburbs where Israeli airstrikes flattened several blocks of businesses and apartment buildings during the recent conflict.

But angry residents rejecting calls for Hezbollah to disarm swarmed Annan’s motorcade. Booing and shouting, many held photos of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and at least one waved a caricature of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a vampire.

Annan stepped out briefly, but the crowd moved closer and his bodyguards bundled him back into his car.

“The people feel he’s responsible and the UN - whom he represents – is responsible for what happened,” said Jalal Nour, a Hezbollah volunteer whose computer shop in the suburbs was destroyed by Israeli airstrikes. “The UN gave the cover for Israel to do what they did. People acted spontaneously, out of anger.”