Iranian Buoys Lebanese Guerrillas

Arsonist or fireman? Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati played both roles Tuesday in talks with Lebanese officials regarding support for the resistance groups operating in south Lebanon.

Velayati’s visit to the Lebanese capital fueled the flames of the pro-Iranian Hezbollah (Party of God) as Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked suspected guerrilla bases and homes of officials of the militant fundamentalist group.

Thousands of Lebanese Shiites lined the streets of Beirut to watch Velayati drive from the Iranian Embassy in the western sector of the city to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry building in east Beirut.

Velayati’s hourlong meeting with his Lebanese counterpart, Faris Bouez, resulted in a statement that further legitimized Hezbollah’s activities against Israel and its militia ally, the South Lebanon Army, in a 440-square-mile security zone inside Lebanese territory.

“The understanding we got from the Lebanese government is that it supports the popular resistance” to Israel, Velayati said.

Three weeks of attacks and counterattacks between Israel and Hezbollah have left 25 people killed and 63 wounded. Most have been civilians.

On Tuesday, Israeli warplanes tore over Beirut, shaking the earth with sonic booms, as Velayati and Bouez were lunching. The planes also attacked villages in south Lebanon during the morning.

Velayati’s visit to Lebanon, only the second by an Iranian foreign minister since the 1979 Iranian revolution, came on the eve of the anniversary of the death of the late Iranian leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989.

Beirut’s Shiite Muslim quarters are draped in black flags, banners and huge portraits of the ayatollah.

But Velayati also calmed the suspicions of many Lebanese that his presence would spark cries for forming an Islamic republic in Lebanon, once a common objective of pro-Iranian groups.

“Everyone is seeking to avert any gap between the state and the people because such a gap would weaken both the state and the resistance,” he cautioned.

Iran’s direct involvement in Lebanese politics began in 1982 when Tehran sent several thousand Revolutionary Guards to help oppose Israel’s invasion. Although they never took part in the fighting, they have stayed on in eastern Lebanon.

The Lebanese government forced the dismantling of the major Christian and Muslim militias last year but bowed to pressure from Iran and Syria to leave Hezbollah armed and intact.

U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Monday repeated the U.S. government’s call for the disarming of Hezbollah after he visited with Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Solh. Velayati denounced that policy Tuesday.