July 17, 2010 - Now Lebanon - Aoun fears dramatic scenario, advises Nasrallah to change rules of game

Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun has warned of tension that could arise from an indictment to be issued later this year by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, As-Safir newspaper quoted on Saturday an unnamed source as saying.

The paper said that Aoun advised Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during his meeting with him earlier in the week “to change the rules of the game as there is a Lebanese faction that is still betting on a new Israeli war.”

He added that there are military groups in Lebanon, especially among the Christians—a possible reference to the Kataeb Party and Lebanese Forces—that want to change the status quo in Christian areas. All of this will lead to internal conflicts in Lebanon, he also said.

Aoun voiced fears of a dramatic scenario in which the STL’s indictment would lead to tension and a possible Israeli military strike on Lebanon.

“This scenario would leave the Resistance caught between the Israeli fire on the one hand, and the fire of internal strife on the other,” the paper added.

This comes after Nasrallah said on Friday that an indictment by the STL is an “Israeli project” designed to target Hezbollah by stirring up sectarian strife in Lebanon.