Khatami in Beirut - The plot thickens:
Khatami expected in Beirut amid US pressure
BEIRUT, May 10 (AFP) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami is expected here Monday for a three-day visit as his country, Lebanon and Syria face strong US pressure to halt support for the hardline Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement.
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Khatami is set to be the first Iranian head of state to visit Lebanon since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Tehran, prompting an Iranian diplomat to note that the visit "demonstrates the excellent relations between the two countries."
A trip planned for September was delayed amid the US push for a war on Iraq.
Washington has accused Iran of belonging to an "axis of evil" along with North Korea and the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
Since ousting Saddam last month, the United States has also ramped up pressure on Syria, accusing Damascus of holding chemical weapons and aiding dignitaries of Saddam's regime. Washingon has longed bashed Syria and Iran's backing of anti-Israeli groups like Hezbollah.
US troops are now stationed smack in between Iran and Syria and are watching both closely.
Khatami is expected to meet with the leadership of Hezbollah, which has benefited from Iran's political and military patronage since its creation in
Lebanon was urged on May 3 by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell to deploy troops along its border with Israel to hamper Hezbollah fighters, and against that backdrop, Khatami's visit has been termed "historic" by Lebanese media.
Iran, Lebanon and Syria must find a response to the internationally-drafted "roadmap" for the Middle East that Washington hopes will give new life to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
But Tehran is also concerned with the situation faced by Shiite Muslims in Lebanon.
Hezbollah is the dominant force in southern Lebanon since the Israeli army ended its 22-year occupation of the region in May 2000.
It has had two brief artillery duels with Israeli forces there since April 2002, and Washington has insisted it be brought under control, while the United Nations has called for "de facto forces" in southern Lebanon to withdraw.
Hezbollah, however, is a full-fledged political party in Lebanon, despite refusing to renounce armed opposition as long as Israeli troops occupy the disputed Shebaa Farms, a region seized from Syria in the 1967 war.
Beirut considers Hezbollah a "resistance" movement rather than a terrorist group, and its head, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said Thursday Hezbollah will not abandon the cause of resisting Israeli "occupation", rejecting US pressure on Iran and Syria to disarm it.
"I will never sell out my religion or my ideology," Hezbollah's chief told the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri's rival Shiite movement, Amal, has urged its members to give Khatami a warm welcome.
Accompanied by around 100 people, the Iranian president was to hold "watershed talks" with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud during the visit, the official news agency IRNA quoted Iran's ambassador in Beirut as saying late last month.
Meetings with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and Berri are also planned.
On Tuesday, Khatami is to make a major address at a stadium south of Beirut.
Other talks could be held with Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, patriarch of the Lebanese Christian Maronite church.
The Iranian president, whose moderate position has won him two terms, espouses dialogue between civilisations and sees Lebanon as a possible model. |
