LEBANON: Protesters demonstrate against U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Lebanon as she continues to meet with officials

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew unannounced to Beirut on Monday (July 24) to seek a "sustainable" ceasefire in Lebanon. She met with Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition following a meeting with the country's prime minister and parliament speaker. A Lebanese source said she had insisted Hizbollah free two Israeli soldiers and pull back from the border before any ceasefire. "Rice is putting the Lebanese government in a very embarrassing situation," said the Hizbollah MP, Ali Moqtad, "which means it's suggesting the policy of what I don't want to call stick and carrot but artillery and carrot. In one hand holding the artillery with which it will strike Lebanon if it doesn't disarm Hizbollah and implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 and in the other hand holds the reward for doing so. I believe that this is Rice's project but I can assure you that if this is the project it will absolutely fail at the end." While Rice was making the diplomatic rounds, protesters took to the streets. A crowd gathered outside the building where Rice met with Shi'ite Muslim Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Holding banners against the bombardment and chanting slogans in support of Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, protesters said they had a few questions for the U.S. Secretary of State. "We are here to condemn the Israeli aggression on Lebanon that is supported by the United States. Our banners say massacres are not self-defence, other say that children are not terrorists. We have banners asking where does U.S. funding go to? Where do these smart bombs come from. We are here to greet Condoleezza Rice and asked her these questions," said Nina Jamar. Rice met Prime Minister Fouad Siniora after arriving by helicopter from Cyprus in a city pounded by Israeli air strikes almost every day since the 13-day-old war began. There was no immediate word on the outcome of her meeting with Siniora, which lasted more than two hours. But Rice later told Berri that "the situation on the border cannot return to what it was before July 12," a Lebanese political source said, referring to the day Hizbollah captured the two Israeli soldiers. The source quoted Rice as saying there would be no ceasefire before Hizbollah released the pair unconditionally and withdrew its forces back about 20 km (13 miles) from the border. "The tone of the meeting was very negative," the source said. On her way to the region, Rice said she wanted to create conditions for a sustainable ceasefire in a war that has cost 377 dead in Lebanon and at least 37 Israeli lives in 13 days. A U.S. official in Rice's party said she would announce aid for Lebanon, where Israeli bombing has displaced half a million people and wrecked installations worth an estimated $1 billion.

ITN Source | July 25, 2006

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