organization:future party

Lire absolument: Saudi Arabia Gazes at Lebanon with Vengeance
►http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/24102/saudi-arabia-gazes-at-lebanon-with-vengeance

On 21 June 2015, angry families in Lebanon took to the streets protesting the brutal treatment of Islamist prisoners at Roumia prison. A leaked video showed one security officer flogging a naked, handcuffed, bearded man with a water hose while shouting profanities: “Do you want houriat? It’s your mother who will be the hourieh.” The featured torturers turned out to be members of the Information Security Branch, which is under the direct command of Minister of Interior and Future Party leader Nouhad al-Mashnuq. Protesters in Tripoli, Beirut, and Iqlim al-Kharrub (in Mount Lebanon) chanted slogans and insults against Hariri, al-Mashnuq, and Minister of Justice Ashraf Rifi, calling them “secular infidels that do not represent ahal al-Sunna.”

In the face of this public resentment, some Future Party MPs in the north (MPs Khalid al-Daher and Mouin Mer’abi) distanced themselves from their party for fear of losing their local constituency, while others blamed the whole thing on Hizballah. Rifi, with his trademark impulsive miscalculations, blamed Hizballah for leaking the video showing humiliation and torture of Lebanese Islamist prisoners (mostly from Tripoli and other parts of the north). But in his attempt to direct Sunni anger against the Shi‘a, Rifi’s sectarian politics backfired. Angry protesters turned apoplectic because of their perception that Rifi assumed that they were too stupid to discern his tactics, and instead some protesters went on television, shouting, “We want to thank Hizballah for exposing the truth about the torture our sons are subjected to in Roumia.” Hizballah denied leaking the video; moreover, the IP address of the original YouTube account where the video was first published turned out to be that of the media office of Ashraf Rifi. Hizballah’s advantage lies in the fact that Saudi Arabia’s proxies in Lebanon are currently caught up in a maelstrom of confusion and a lack of public credibility.

Internally, in light of an ongoing and self-inflicted trash crisis, both March 8 and March 14 politicians continue to de-escalate their political rhetoric. However, Saudi Arabia’s insistence on a confrontation with Hizballah means that it is only a matter of time until the Saudis withdraw their losing card, Sa‘ad Hariri, and deploy another Trojan horse to create the sort of chaos the kingdom seeks. This means other Sunni figures will be given a leading role and Hariri will be out of the Lebanese arena–again. Saudi Arabia’s possible nominees for unconventional roles could include Jabhat al-Nusra or/and IS, alongside thuggish Sunni figures who have splintered from Future and set up their own shop as warlords for hire. This includes those who perpetuated a six-year war between the poorest communities in Tripoli.

#Lebanon: #Future_Party Wants to Extend President’s Term
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-future-party-wants-extend-president%E2%80%99s-term

http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/4cols/leading_images/1180594472307789400-%281%29.jpg

No doubt the Lebanese president’s delayed visit to #Saudi_Arabia was part of this effort. (Photo: AFP - Patrick Baz) No doubt the Lebanese president’s delayed visit to Saudi Arabia was part of this effort. (Photo: AFP - Patrick Baz)

It seems that the Future Party is seriously considering extending Lebanese President #Michel_Suleiman’s term in office, particularly if efforts to turn the tables on the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria fail.

Ibrahim al-Amin

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#Opinion #Articles #MARCH_14

#Lebanon: Hariri’s Saudi #Oger Empire for Sale
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-hariri%E2%80%99s-saudi-oger-empire-sale

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Former Lebanese prime minister and #future Party leader #Saad_Hariri’s visitors in Saudi Arabia continue to report that the crisis facing his company, #Saudi_Oger, is far from over. (Photo: Bilal Jawich) Former Lebanese prime minister and Future Party leader Saad Hariri’s visitors in Saudi Arabia continue to report that the crisis facing his company, Saudi Oger, is far from over. (Photo: Bilal Jawich)

The Hariri-owned company, (...)

#Articles

Lebanon’s Politicians: We Want Our Security Guards
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon%E2%80%99s-politicians-we-want-our-security-guards

And – let’s be honest – it’s impossible to expect a police force of 16 to provide security for a small city like Jounieh, while someone like Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea enjoys a 72-member protection force (with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt not far behind).

Perhaps Geagea and Jumblatt are in danger, so one has to ask why would someone like Future Party leader Saad Hariri needs a small army of 150 to protect him when he has not visited the country for years.

Lebanon: The Many Assirs of Beirut
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-many-assirs-beirut

Future Party leaders like Fouad Siniora and Saad Hariri know well that neither Assir nor his clones in Beirut and Tripoli are capable of defeating Hezbollah in an open confrontation, much less draw them into such a showdown. The purpose of these Salafi militias is to strike a bargain with Hezbollah to surrender their weapons in exchange for disarmament.

The Future Movement today is deeply implicated in the rise of jihadi Salafi groups across Lebanon and Syria, justifying their increasingly indefensible actions at every turn, even when their victims are members of the Lebanese army. The once mainstream Sunni party’s radical turn is a reflection of its determination to topple the Assad regime in Damascus while drawing Hezbollah into a local sectarian war.

La bataille pour le contrôle du Ministère des télécoms : une question de renseignement et de sécurité, pas d’argent.
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/scramble-lebanon%E2%80%99s-most-valuable-ministries

Future MP Jean Ogassapian recently revealed the true value of the telecommunications ministry, noting that “Hezbollah is not going to make [forming a government] easy for Tammam Salam, for the party will not forgo the Ministry of Telecommunications, because it is a security ministry par excellance.”

The true allure of the ministry for the Future Party is not the finance aspect, but the security aspect.

For example, after the October 2012 assassination of Wissam al-Hassan, the head of the Information Branch in the Internal Security Forces (ISF), the country’s politicians fought for months over demands to release private mobile phone data to the security forces investigating the case.

More importantly, phone data is at the crux of the case built against Hezbollah members by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). The presence of FPM telecom ministers since 2008 has greatly restricted the ability of the Future Party and its security chiefs to access such critical information.

On top of that, the failure to extend ISF chief Ashraf Rifi’s term has made Future’s need for communications data more necessary than ever. The party is no longer in the mood for endless negotiations each time they want access to this information, particularly as Hezbollah’s trial in the Hague is about to begin.

Invraisemblable : les groupes armés de Tripoli, chargés depuis des années d’attaquer les alaouites pour le compte du mouvement de Saad Hariri, se rebellent : ils rejettent désormais leur manipulation par les salafistes et par le 14 Mars, et refusent de participer plus avant à la division des Libanais sur des bases sectaires.
Lebanon : Tripoli’s Armed Commanders Mutiny Against Future
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-tripoli%E2%80%99s-armed-commanders-mutiny-against-future

For years now they have been mobilized, armed, and funded to snipe at the adjacent Alawi neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen by either politicians belonging to the Future Party or local Salafi sheikhs.

To the surprise of many, the commanders met recently under the name of the “Popular Committees in Tripoli” and issued a declaration of principles primarily directed against their traditional patrons, the Future Party and Salafi sheikhs.

“We reject the fact that our people in Tripoli are paying for political instability tied to foreign projects,” it read, adding that the Sunni political establishment represents only itself and not the sect.

[…]

The commanders also singled out the most prominent military face of the Future Movement, former Lebanese army officer Amid Hammoud, saying he was responsible for much of Tripoli’s insecurity. In particular, they say that Hammoud is behind the recent spate of hand grenade attacks.

According to informed sources in Tripoli, the commanders’ “intifada” enjoys the support of a high-level security official in the North in addition to an official from Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s office in the city.

The sources confirmed that the leaders of local armed groups have been meeting over the past few weeks in order find ways to bring calm to the troubled city.

This, in turn, angered Hammoud and other Future officials, who sought to play the role of spoiler, thus prompting the commanders to come out into the open with their objections.

(Évidemment, la sincérité de gens dont la profession est le mercenariat est toujours discutable : les vénaux insincères ne deviennent pas sincères, ils se contentent de changer de bienfaiteur. Tout aussi évidemment : tu n’entendras sans doute jamais parler de cette affaire dans les journaux occidentaux, puisqu’elle est totalement contraire à toute la logique soutenue ici depuis des années.)

Ah, ce coup-ci Mikati ne démissionne plus. (En plus, là il va en Arabie séoudite, comme quoi tout baigne.)
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/future-blunders-are-boost-mikati-say-tripoli-supporters

After the failed breach of the Grand Serail by March 14 protesters Sunday, Mikati’s backers breathed a sigh of relief. Those who called him shortly thereafter to declare their support said the prime minister assured them he does not intend to resign.

“I will stay to pursue my responsibilities toward my constituents and my country,” the prime minister is reported to have told those who contacted him.

“It was [Future Party leader] Fouad Siniora’s speech that provoked me, after which I decided to forego the idea of resigning,” Mikati reportedly said. “If he had not said what he said, I was open to talking about the matter. But if they want a showdown, then let it be.”