Security forces storm FNC camp
4 August 2000

Lebanese security forces stormed a campsite set up by members of the Free National Current (FNC) early this morning in Bijje, Jbeil. "At 1:00 AM this morning, a force of about 150 security officers in two trucks and seven jeeps rushed onto our campsite, claiming that they had received word of the presence of weapons . . . of course, they found nothing," FNC member Tony Mkheiber told the Daily Star (Beirut). Another member, Joseph Kmeid, was beaten up and detained for several hours. "They punched me in the face and made me sit on the thorns in the field. The officer even told the soldier to shoot me if I stood up," said Kmeid. Members of the FNC, a nonsectarian nationalist group led by former prime minister Michel Aoun, were reportedly picking apples on behalf of local growers as part of its campaign to freely offer services performed by an estimated 1 million Syrian workers in Lebanon.

Wakim withdraws from race, citing electoral fraud
6 August 2000

Popular leftist MP Najah Wakim announced today that he will not run in the parliamentary elections later this month because the results have been predetermined. "The results, down to the numbers of votes each candidate will have, are already known. I, for example, know how many votes are allotted to me," said Wakim, speaking before a crowd of his supporters. "The results are canned and I know I'll win, but none of my allies will. If I had any hope there was a chance for any of them to win, I probably wouldn't have made this decision." Wakim also said that the Lahoud regime is planning to raise the public debt of Lebanon to over $40 billion in the two years with the intention of canceling a large part of it in return for the settlement of Palestinian refugees.

Amine Gemayel

Gemayel: no comment on Syrian occupation
7 August 2000

Le Soir (Brussels) published an interview with former president Amine Gemayel, who returned to Lebanon in late July after nearly 12 years in exile. The following is a brief excerpt of the exchange between reporter Chantal Rayes and Gemayel:

Rayes: Some 35,000 Syrian soldiers are stationed in Lebanon. Is this not an occupation?
Gemayel: I would prefer not to answer that.
Rayes: You have no longer demanded Syria's withdrawal since you returned. Do you still oppose Syria?
Gemayel: I neither oppose it nor am I loyal to it . . .

Lebanese soldiers deploy in south
9 August 2000

An estimated 1,000 Lebanese soldiers and police deployed in the former Israeli-occupied zone of south Lebanon today, the first time in 22 years that the Lebanese military has entered the area. They stopped short of the frontier, however, under strict orders not to interfere with Hezbollah guerrillas stationed along the border, who have encouraged local residents and tourists to throw rocks and bottles at Israeli soldiers on the other side. Israel has filed 375 complaints to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) since its May 24 withdrawal. Lebanese officials have echoed their Syrian counterparts in insisting that the Lebanese military will not prevent cross-border attacks until Israel returns the Golan Heights to Syria.

Aoun calls for citizens' charter
13 August 2000

Former army commander and interim prime minister Michel Aoun called today for a national gathering of Lebanese politicians, to be held "in Paris or any other city" if conditions in Lebanon prohibit his attendance, to draft a charter of "citizens' basic rights." Lebanese leaders "who want a nation must meet to decide on the charter and constants of this nation,� said Aoun in a statement faxed from France, where he has resided since his October 1990 ouster by invading Syrian troops. "Salvation can only be achieved by unifying our efforts and vision. This can only happen if the Lebanese meet over a round table to decide on their choices and avoid their divisions."

Emile Lahoud

Lahoud rejects $20bn for naturalization of Palestinians
15 August 2000

In an interview published today by Al-Nahar (Beirut), President Emile Lahoud said that the Lebanese government recently turned down an offer of $20 billion dollars to permanently naturalize over 350,000 Palestinians living in refugee camps throughout the country. "The project to settle Palestinians here will be never be approved during my tenure regardless of the price," said Lahoud. He hinted that the proposal came from American officials, noting that extensive discussion of this issue took place at the US-sponsored Camp David summit in July.

Syria will "consider" pullout if requested by Lahoud regime
18 August 2000

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara caused a stir in an interview with Qatar's Al-Jazira satellite station by suggesting that Syrian forces may not leave Lebanon even if its own puppet regime requests it. "There is a government, a president and a parliament [in Lebanon]," said Shara. When they decide that there is no further need for the presence of Syrian forces, Syria will certainly take that position into consideration." Previously, Syria had maintained that its forces would unquestionably withdraw upon such a request from the Lebanese government.

Syria releases Lebanese detainee
21 August 2000

Sheikh Hashem Minqara was released today after fourteen years of detention in Syria's Saidnaya prison. Minqara headed the Sunni fundamentalist Tawhid al-Islami movement which opposed Syrian intervention in Lebanon until it was decimated by Syrian forces in 1985-1986.

Sfeir calls for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon
22 August 2000

Al-Nahar (Beirut) quoted Maronite Christian Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir as calling for Syrian military forces to leave Lebanon. "It is in the interest of both countries that the Syrians let Lebanon handle its own affairs," said Sfeir, who often criticizes the "imbalance" in Syrian-Lebanese relations, but usually avoids explicitly calling for an end to the occupation. "The Syrians have established hegemony over everything" in Lebanon, said Sfeir. "Lebanon's malady, in my opinion, can be summed up by the fact that the Lebanese are not in charge of their own affairs."

Three more Lebanese flee to Israel
23 August 2000

A Lebanese police source said today that three former members of the pro-Israeli South Lebanon Army (SLA) fled across the border to Israel. Five Lebanese crossed the border in July. The three men, all in their twenties, were from the predominantly Druze village of Hasbaya and were believed to have crossed the barbed wire border fence in the eastern Abbassiyeh area. Around 6,500 Lebanese fled into Israel during the withdrawal of Israel forces in May 24.

Brother of SLA founder imprisoned by military court
31 August 2000

The brother of Maj. Saad Haddad, the Lebanese army officer who in 1976 established a pro-Israeli militia later known as the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and commanded it until his death in 1984, was sentenced to one year in prison by Lebanon's permanent military court for collaborating with Israel during its occupation of south Lebanon. The sentencing of Labib Haddad, 54, and ten other defendants brings the total number of south Lebanese residents imprisoned since the May 24 Israeli withdrawal to 950. Saad Haddad's wife and six daughters fled to Israel during the withdrawal.

Hezbollah guerrillas establish base in Golan Heights
31 August 2000

The Daily Star (Beirut) cited United Nations officials as saying that Hezbollah guerrillas have crossed into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights about 3 km southeast of Kfar Shouba and set up an "observation post" in full view of IDF units. The team of 3-4 guerrillas, who entered the area about six weeks ago and live in a prefabricated hut, have been tracking the movement of IDF units along the border and at the nearby Jabal Summaq outpost. Thus far, Israeli troops have ignored the tiny band of intruders.