09 February 2006

BEIRUT: While some members of the March 14 Forces maintained their accusations of the Syrian regime's hand in provoking Sunday's riots in downtown Beirut, a leading member of the coalition said information supporting the claims was "not 100 percent accurate." "Because everybody wanted to reveal the truth behind Sunday's riots rapidly, the information provided by some politicians was not 100 percent accurate," said Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.

While defending the coalition's motives, Geagea also admitted March 14th members had provided some information "hastily" because of the general "state of shock" caused by the riots.

Without naming him, Geagea criticized former Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh for his attacks on March 14 Forces, saying: "March 14 hastiness in giving information should not be used to claim that political conditions were better in the past, especially that freedom - as well as the state and Lebanon were missing."

In an effort to calm tensions between Franjieh and the parliamentary majority, Bishop Roland Abou Jaoude, an envoy of Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, met with Franjieh. After the meeting, Jaoude said it was "unfair" to accuse Franjieh of coordinating with Syrian security forces to allow infiltrators to spur Sunday's riots.

The bishop added that officials would continue to mediate between various political forces in order to ease nationwide tensions.

The March 14 Forces said Monday that Syrian, Jordanian and Palestinian militants had infiltrated Lebanon with the intent of turning a peaceful demonstration in protest of Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad into violent sectarian clashes.

However, only one day later, Ahmad Fatfat, the acting Interior Minister and March 14 member, said preliminary investigations could not verify these claims.

Geagea denied allegations of divisions within the March 14 camp, adding "it was the right and duty of the interior minister to verify the information."

Contacted by The Daily Star, former MP Fares Soueid said his allies in the coalition who made the statement on Monday were "very sure" of their information, notably that concerning the infiltration of Jordanian Muslim extremists to regions of Northern Lebanon.

Soueid added that the information has been presented to State Prosecutor Said Mirza, and said, "Let them sue us if we are proved wrong."

"I am surprised how Minister Fatfat could say the information was wrong only hours after he was put in charge of the Interior Ministry," he said.

Soueid further said that after the March 14 Forces called for an official complaint to be sent to the UN Security Council regarding Syria's alleged interference in the protests, "Syria had put pressure on Sunni figures in the North to deny March 14 Forces information."

The former MP said Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa, who resigned hours after the riots, is not the only politician to blame for the riots because the Cabinet as a whole cannot make any solid political decisions and is therefore incapable of guaranteeing national security.

Soueid went on to accuse pro-Syrian forces of "trying to pull the country back in time to when Lebanon was under the Syrian tutelage by defending pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud."

Meanwhile, Shiite parties criticized the March 14th camp for laying responsibility for Sunday's riots on Syrian and Palestinian forces without providing any proof.

During an Ashoura commemoration in Sidon, Energy Minister Mohammad Fneish said Syrians and Palestinians were accused of instigating the riots before investigations had even been opened.

Fneish criticized the parties who called for the demonstrations on Sunday for evading their responsibility in the riots and "lacking courage." The Hizbullah minister called for investigations to uncover the cause of the riots, "whether it was the exaggerated tension or the loss of control over the organization of the control or the presence of infiltrators."

In a statement, Dar el-Fatwa rejected any responsibility for the riots.

The highest Sunni authority in the country said the riots were caused by infiltrators instigated by "former political and security forces."