Lebanon Update: Lebanese Quislings Come Out to Demonstrate

Here come the Quislings, and they are coming out swinging.

Hezbollah Rallies in Support of Syria
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Tens of thousands of pro-Syrian protesters and members of Hezbollah descended upon central Beirut (search) on Tuesday in an effort to counter weeks of huge rallies demanding the immediate exit of Syrian forces.
Coming just one day after Syrian and Lebanese leaders announced that Syrian forces would begin moving out of Lebanon, the protesters were answering a nationwide call by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah (search) group for the public demonstration.
Loudspeakers blared songs of resistance and organizers handed out Lebanese flags and directed the men and women to separate sections of the square. Black-clad Hezbollah guards handled security, lining the perimeter of the square and taking position on rooftops. Trained dogs sniffed for bombs.
Large cranes hoisted two giant white and red flags bearing Lebanon's cedar tree. On one, the words "Thank you Syria" were written in English; on the other, "No to foreign interference." At least 50,000 demonstrators had gathered and more were expected to arrive.
The square was just a few blocks from another downtown square where opposition protesters have been staging protests for days, demanding that Syria (search) withdraw the 14,000 troops it maintains in Lebanon.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Syrian troops began redeploying to eastern Lebanon in the first stage of the two-phased withdrawal, a Lebanese security source told Reuters.
"The redeployment to the Bekaa Valley has started in line with the first phase," the source told said. He did not say which positions were being vacated but witnesses reported several troop movements in a mountainous ridge east of Beirut.
Earlier in the day, most of the troops were still in position, with Associated Press reporters in the mountains overlooking Beirut seeing only scattered movement of military trucks heading toward the Bekaa Valley (search).
A truck carrying 11 soldiers and supplies headed east at midmorning but most of the military traffic was moving the other direction — empty trucks and buses traveling west apparently to collect soldiers and equipment.
Also headed toward western Lebanon (search) and the capital, Beirut, were scores of cars bearing passengers waving Lebanese flags on their way to the Hezbollah protest.
"It should be done in a way -- the withdrawal is done in an orderly way -- it is phased but in a rapid timetable so the Syrians are out by the May primary elections," Edwards Djerejian, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Syria, told FOX News of the situation in Lebanon.
Djerejian said there is still a risk of the various factions "going at each other" as tensions continue to be heightened but that there is an opportunity to involve all groups in the May elections and democratic process.
"Hezbollah is showing its political muscle today in Beirut," he said, noting that the designated terrorist organization is a political and Shiite party, as well as a militia. "It can also become part of the political process but this is going to take astute leadership."
Hezbollah has been mobilizing its followers from across the country for the protest, which is also meant to denounce a U.N. resolution that, in addition to its demand for Syrian withdrawal, called for dismantling militias — a point Hezbollah sees as aimed at its well-armed military wing.
In the outlying heavily Shiite regions of the Bekaa and the south, loudspeakers urged followers to travel to Beirut for the protest. A newspaper reported that convoys of Syrians were being brought across the border in buses to take part, but that could not be confirmed.
Opposition leaders, who have been courting Hezbollah's support in their effort to oust Syrian troops, accused Lebanese intelligence agents of exercising pressure on municipalities, public schools and institutions to drive the numbers up.
Hezbollah officials denied the charges, saying it is part of a campaign to make the demonstration seem "imposed and involuntary."
Hezbollah, founded by Iran and backed in part by Syria, has emerged as a key player during the latest political instability, capable of tilting the balance either in favor of the pro-Syrian government or the anti-Syrian opposition.
On Monday, in the biggest demonstration yet of anti-Syrian furor, more than 70,000 Lebanese shouting "Freedom! Sovereignty! Independence!" thronged central Beirut. The demonstrators waved Lebanon's cedar-tree flag and thundered, "Syria out!"
The demonstrators marched to the site of the Feb. 14 bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (search) and touched off the angry but peaceful street protests that drove Lebanon's pro-Syrian government to resign a week ago.
Many Lebanese accuse the Syrian government and their government of responsibility for Hariri's death; both deny any involvement.
Faced with incessant international pressure and raging Lebanese opposition, Syrian President Bashar Assad (search) on Saturday announced his troops would withdraw after nearly three decades in Lebanon. On Monday, he met with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud (search) in Damascus before both jointly announced a plan.
But the plan set no deadline for the complete withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon, and Washington rejected the pullback as insufficient.
The plan also was unlikely to satisfy the Lebanese opposition and the rest of the international community, which have demanded that all Syrian soldiers and an unknown number of intelligence agents leave the country.
Under the plan announced Monday, all Syrian troops in Lebanon would fall back to eastern regions near the Syrian border by March 31. Military officers will decide by end of April on duration and size of Syrian forces to remain in that region. After that period, the two governments would decide on a date for pullout.
Syria has had troops here since 1976, when they were invited in as peacekeepers early in Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. When the war ended, the troops remained and Syria has dominated Lebanon's politics ever since.
The United States, France, Russia, Germany and the U.N. Security Council have firmly demanded that Syria withdraw all the troops and stop interfering in the affairs of its smaller neighbor.
French President Jacques Chirac (search) and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (search) issued a joint statement Monday calling for a full pullout "as soon as possible."
Washington wants a full withdrawal of Syrian soldiers and intelligence agents before Lebanese parliamentary elections expected in April and May. The White House called the Lebanese-Syrian plan "a half measure."

Link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,149719,00.html