July 27, 2010 - Now Lebanon - Syria urges Hezbollah to keep quiet

The Syrian leadership has contacted Hezbollah, urging it to keep quiet in an attempt to defuse rising political tension in Lebanon over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) pending indictment in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Tuesday, quoting a political source.

The unnamed Lebanese source said that Hezbollah accepted the Syrian request. He added that other regional contacts were also made with factions in both the March 8 and 14 alliance as part of a regional consensus to maintain stability in Lebanon.

Al-Hayat said that ahead of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani’s visit to Beirut Friday night, Doha held consultations with Damascus, Tehran and Beirut as part of attempts to calm tension in Lebanon. Doha also sent a message to Hezbollah in this regard, the paper added.

On July 16, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused the STL of being an “Israeli project” designed to target the Resistance by stirring up sectarian strife in Lebanon. Nasrallah’s speech has since caused tension and drawn harsh criticisms, mainly from March 14 alliance politicians.

Nasrallah later said that some Hezbollah members would be named in the STL’s indictment, which media reports said is expected to be issued before the end of the year.