Hezbollah and Druze rivals talk for first time in two years
Leaders of Lebanon”s Shiite Hezbollah movement met rival leaders of the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) on Monday in the first direct talks between the two parties in nearly two years.
"Our hand is extended and our hearts are open and we are willing to take part in any meeting that will promote national unity," Labour Minister and senior Hezbollah leader Mohammed Fneish told reporters after the meeting.
"There will be more communication and more meetings. There won”t be any obstacles and gradually, the relationship will return to its normal state," he added, saying lines of communication will remain open.
The meeting came on the eve of a national talks chaired by President Michel Sleiman that will see political figures from the country”s pro- and anti-Syrian camps try to mend fences and address the issue of Hezbollah”s weapons.
It took place at the home in Khaldeh just south of Beirut of Druze leader Talal Arslan, an ally of the Shiite movement, who heads the pro-Syrian Lebanese Democratic Party.
"Today”s step does not replace the national dialogue, but it is a serious step to open channels that were severed between Hezbollah and the Progressive Socialist Party," Arslan said.
A senior leader in his party, Saleh Aridi, was assassinated in a car bombing last week in his hometown of Baysur, southeast of Beirut.
Baysur was the scene of fierce, deadly clashes in May between Hezbollah and the PSP fighters, after Hezbollah led a spectacular opposition takeover of large swathes of west Beirut.
The fighting — the worst since the 1975-1990 civil war — spread throughout the country and left 65 dead.
An accord struck in Qatar on May 21 brought an end to Lebanon”s debilitating 18-month political crisis and led to the election of Sleiman as president and the formation of a national unity government.
"We agreed to establish a safety network… to maintain coexistence and the social fabric of these areas," said PSP member and Minister of State Wael Bou Faour after Monday”s meeting.
Monday”s talks were the first direct political links between Hezbollah and the PSP since November 2006, and come a week after rival sectarian clans in the northern port city of Tripoli struck an accord ending months of sporadic unrest that left 23 dead there in June and July.
In May, a security committee was established between the two sides.