Army emerges as Lebanon's best shot for unity as institutions crumble amid rising tensions

Published on Sunday 24 June 2007 00:59

WITH the Lebanese government mired in political crisis, parliament unable to meet and sectarian tensions rising, many of the country's institutions are slowly crumbling away.

One institution, however, has stood out, especially in the weeks of a bloody standoff with Islamic militants at Nahr al Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in the north - the army. It has lost dozens of soldiers in the fight and has shown its weaknesses, but as it tries to close in on the foreign militants holed up in the camp, it has served as a rare source of unity in this otherwise fractured land. The question is whether it can maintain that status or whether it will get dragged into politics.

"The army is the only national institution left in the country," said Timor Goksel, a former spokesman for the United Nations force in Lebanon and now a lecturer at the American University in Beirut. "They have credibility and respect in the country. If this is lost, who will be able to take over?"

Political forces from all over the country have rallied around the army, seeking to preserve its independence and ensure that its ranks survive its most significant challenge since it was turned from a disparate group of sectarian militia into a unified force at the end of the civil war in 1990.

Banners declaring support for the army and its nationalist cause have been hastily strung up in many neighbourhoods in Beirut and other cities. Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, highlighted his support even as he warned against the army entering the Nahr al Bared camp, cautioning Lebanese politicians not to risk the future of the army. And Christian leaders, including the opposition leader Michel Aoun, have stumbled over each other to encourage the army to aggressively rout the militants.

In the small anteroom of a church on the outskirts of Beirut recently, mourners who came to pay their respects to Sergeant George Akl, killed in fighting with Islamist militants, underscored the national mood.

Despite the tragedy, his family said, recounting the outpouring of support they received, his death was not in vain. After all, Akl died for the nation, not for a warlord. "The army is the only clean institution left in this country," said Massoud Fares, Akl's brother-in-law, who also serves in the military.

"We are proud George died fighting among its ranks. At least he did not die fighting in a militia."

Yet the army is increasingly finding itself caught between the opposing forces of the UN-backed government and the Iranian-backed opposition.

"If everybody is okay with the army and everyone is backing it, it becomes the centre of gravity, the magnet that can pull all the factions together in Lebanon," said Elias Hanna, a retired general and college professor. "But that is only if it can stay outside the manipulation and machinations of the politicians."

During Lebanon's bloody civil war, the army was divided into brigades by religion, including a Christian branch and a Muslim one. The 6th Brigade, made up of Shi'ites, was once derided with the motto, "We serve and defect" when it went over to local militias in the early 1980s.

When most of the militias put down their arms in the 1990s - except Hezbollah, which continued to fight the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon - the army became a national force, with the various sects integrated into the units, and its leadership steering clear of politics.