Saudis resurrect a rival for Hezbollah
By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS - Word is coming out of south Lebanon that Saudi money under United
States urging is being pumped into the Shi'ite community - in vain - to create
a bloc among Lebanese Shi'ites against Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The Saudis are strongly opposed to Hezbollah, claiming that it is an extension
of Iranian influence in the Arab world. More recently, the Saudis have began
coordinating with former vice president Abdul-Halim Khaddam to break
Hezbollah's influence in Lebanon.
In testimony of just how influential Nasrallah is as secretary general of
Hezbollah, the Saudis have stunningly failed - despite tremendous efforts and
allegations of huge sums of money being spent - at creating a serious
anti-Nasrallah team in places
controlled by Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal Party of speaker Nabih Berri.
This applies to places like al-Dahiya, the Hezbollah stronghold in the suburbs
of Beirut, and cities like Baalbak. That is why they have shifted their
attention recently to other districts with "Shi'ite pockets" where Hezbollah
does not completely reign, like Nab'a, and certain villages in south Lebanon.
Coinciding with this story and probably related to it, are unconfirmed reports
saying that Michael Hayden, the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency,
went to Beirut for a secret mission, probably aimed at working towards crushing
- or at least disarming - Hezbollah.
That coincided with another high-profile visit by US Under Secretary of Defense
Eric Edelman to Beirut, where he met Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora, signing
an agreement to grant automatic grenade launchers to the Lebanese army. The
visit - Edelman's fourth in one year - raised eyebrows among members of the
Hezbollah-led opposition, who were welcoming Michel Aoun, Hezbollah's main
Christian ally, who was returning from a five-day visit to Iran.
The Americans are trying - again - to implement United Nations Security Council
resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, through
strengthening "US-Lebanon bilateral defense" relations. Since 2006, the US has
committed more than $410 million in military assistance to Lebanon - hoping
that these weapons can be used to counterbalance the military might of
Hezbollah.
The Saudis and Subhi Tufayli
The Saudis, however, are reportedly funding a rival wing of Hezbollah itself,
modeled around Sheikh Subhi Tufayli, one of the party's original founders who
has been sitting in the dark since the 1990s.
Tufayli started out as a firm supporter of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini,
having studied Islam in Najaf (Iraq) during Khomeini's long exile in the holy
Iraqi city, before the Islamic revolution of 1979. He returned to Lebanon and
helped co-found Hezbollah - with Iranian support - during the Israeli invasion
of 1982.
The party broke from Amal, disgruntled at the party's increased secularization
and its political rather than military approach, vis-a-vis the Israeli
occupation. Men like Tufayli, Abbas Musawi and Nasrallah wanted action, and
immediately clashed with Amal and its veteran leader (and now ally) Nabih
Berri.
Under Tufayli's leadership, Hezbollah managed to drive Amal from Beirut during
the height of the Lebanese civil war in the late 1980s. Under his command rose
the young Nasrallah in 1989, leading a commando force against Amal in Iqlim
al-Tuffah, and becoming a member of the central command of Hezbollah at the
young age of 29.
Tufayli served as the party's spokesman from 1985 to 1989, then became
secretary general from 1989 to 1991. Tufayli opposed taking part in national
reconciliation talks in Taif, Saudi Arabia, and as a result was expelled (or
asked to resign) from Hezbollah under the urging of then Iranian president Ali
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Nasrallah served as Hezbollah's "ambassador" to Iran
in 1989-1992. During this time, Tufayli was replaced by Abbas Musawi as
secretary general, who in turn was assassinated in 1992, many suspect by
Israel.
Nasrallah replaced him at the job, although the party's hierarchy showed that
it should have gone to Sheikh Naim Qasim. Veterans of Hezbollah - headed by
Tufayli - were surprised at the change of command, considering Nasrallah as too
junior politically and religiously, and too young at 31, to become the Party of
God's number-one man.
A hardliner, Tufayli once said that his supporters did not dream of eradicating
Israel in the near future, but plans to lead a battle that will last "for
centuries". More recently, he has distanced himself from Iran for its firm
support for Nasrallah, a man whom he respects but envies tremendously. He can't
challenge him, beat him, or replace him as head of Hezbollah or the Lebanese
Shi'ite community.
He once said that some of the current members of Hezbollah "are taking the
country towards destruction under the slogan of fighting the American policies
in the region. If someone wants to change the government, does it not mean
leading the whole country to chaos and civil strife?"
Tufayli vetoed the "politicization" of Hezbollah, claiming that it should
neither run for parliament, nor hold government office, and remain committed to
what it knows best: guerrilla war with Israel.
In July 1997, he organized a "hunger strike" of his followers in Baalbak, aimed
at embarrassing the pro-Hezbollah government of then-prime minister Rafik
al-Hariri. He has since called his small power base the Revolution of the
Hungry, similar to the "Movement of the Dispossessed" that was created by
Hezbollah's godfather, Sheikh Musa Sadr.
Although the Lebanese government tried to arrest him, it has since let him live
freely, keeping close tabs on his activities and making sure that he is absent
from public life. In 2000, when Nasrallah liberated south Lebanon against
Israel, Tufayli was believed to be politically finished, since Hezbollah was at
the apex of its career and no Shi'ite with a right mind could challenge the
charisma or popularity of Nasrallah.
But on several occasions he came out and spoke against Nasrallah, objecting to
the latter's alliance with Iran and claiming that he broke with Hezbollah
because of the overt Iranian agenda of its secretary general. Earlier, in his
final act of defiance, Tufayli clashed with the Lebanese state when his
followers tried to take over a party-run religious school in Baalbak.
The Lebanese army was asked to intervene, when Iranian cover was lifted off
Tufayli, back when the armed forces were under command of pro-Syrian General
Emille Lahhoud, who became president of the republic from 1998-2007. The army
announced that it had mobilized against Tufayli "on charges of forming armed
groups, endangering national security and killing soldiers and civilians".
The Lebanese government of Siniora has tried in vain to get rid of Hezbollah,
but was unable to do so due to the party's power base and the repeated
victories it scored against Israel since 2000. The UN could not disarm
Hezbollah, nor could the United States, or Israel in its failed 2006 war on
Lebanon.
According to veteran US journalist Seymour Hersh, the Americans and Saudis even
worked towards creating an armed Sunni terrorist group to combat Hezbollah - in
reference to Fatah al-Islam, inspired by al-Qaeda - which also ended in vain.
Now, all parties are trying to break Nasrallah's kingdom from within, through
splinter Shi'ite groups loyal to people like Tufayli and through the money of
dissident Syrians. Any person who has seen how popular Nasrallah was in Lebanon
in 2000 or 2006 realizes how foolish it would be to try and challenge him by
resurrecting figures like Subhi Tufayli.
Nasrallah is one of the most charismatic and popular figures in the Muslim
world. Tufayli is a nobody. Nasrallah achieved victory for his party in 2000
and 2006, whereas Tufayli left behind a troubled - almost forgotten - legacy.
Nasrallah distributes money to the poor in order to empower the Shi'ites of
Lebanon.
Saudi Arabian money is going to Tufayli's pockets, not to ordinary Shi'ites.
Saudi Arabia will never be respected or seen as an honest broker in the Shi'ite
community because of its ties to militant Sunni groups like al-Qaeda. That is
why nobody aided or financed by the Saudis will ever be accepted by Lebanese
Shi'ites.
Sami Moubayed is a Syrian political analyst.
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