Hizbullah Surprised by Miqati’s Threat to Resign

Hizbullah is passing through a state of confusion in light of Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s threat to resign, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

Party sources told the daily: “Hizbullah did not predict that the situation in Lebanon would reach such a dire extent and it is studying Miqati’s position from all possible angles.”

They revealed that the party did not oppose the premier’s suggestion that the issue of the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon be placed on cabinet’s agenda “because it was confident that the parliamentary majority supported its opposition of the funding.”

“Miqati however was not forthright with Hizbullah over the possibility of resigning because it believed that he would not resort to such an option,” they said.

“At any rate it objects to his resignation,” they stressed.

Furthermore, the sources stated that the party did not believe that the West would impose sanctions on Lebanon should it fail to fund the STL seeing as the United States is in a weak position “and it therefore cannot do anything against Lebanon.”

Majority sources wondered if Hizbullah would ever nominate Miqati to the premiership again should he actually resign.

They predicted that the current government would be destined to a caretaking mission seeing as the party won’t nominate Miqati again and neither would the March 14 MPs.

Miqati had stated on Thursday: “Should Lebanon finance the STL, it would be honoring its obligations and preserving its image before the international community as well as its exclusive (maritime) economic zone.”

“We would be opening the doors for cooperation with the Western nations and we would be committing to justice, which is the most important thing. We would have stability and we would be protecting the Resistance, because the Resistance would be strong if Lebanon is strong and vice versa,” the premier went on to say.

As to Hizbullah’s stance on the issue, Miqati said he was not expecting the party to voice its support for the funding of the tribunal.

“But I’m expecting the ministers to show the required patriotism,” he added.

“I won’t accept, during my term of office, that Lebanon be a pariah in the international community or that it disavow its obligations. When the issue becomes to fund or not to fund, at that point Lebanon should be protected and I advise the ministers and the political blocs to tackle the issue in a serious manner,” Miqati urged his partners in the government.

He hinted that he might step down if his government failed to pay its 49 percent annual share of funds to the STL, which is probing the 2005 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.