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Shooting near Kataeb headquarters: A new attempt at intimidation?

“We're not accusing anyone. But everyone knows who's carrying weapons today,” the party spokesman told L'Orient-Le Jour.

Shooting near Kataeb headquarters: A new attempt at intimidation?

Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel at his party headquarters in Saifi, March 10, 2023. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour)

At 8 p.m. on Sunday, shots were fired into the air near the Kataeb party headquarters in Saifi. Admittedly, this is not the first time that the headquarters of this party, which sees itself as spearheading the opposition to Hezbollah, has been the target of such acts. A similar incident took place in March 2020. And this time, the shootings came sometime after a smear campaign against the party's leader, Samy Gemayel, in response to his criticism of Hezbollah's decision to set up southern Lebanon as a support front for Gaza. The incident also took place against a backdrop of tug-of-war over the presidential election between the Hezbollah camp – which supports the candidacy of Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh – and the opposition camp – which supports former Finance Minister Jihad Azour. This tense context has prompted Kataeb to view the shootings as a new attempt to intimidate both the party and the opposition as a whole.

Armed men in a Chevrolet Camaro fired into the air near the party headquarters on Sunday evening, without causing any casualties or material damage, party spokesperson Patrick Richa told L'Orient-Le Jour. According to him, only the elements responsible for the building's security were present at the time of the incident. “But what happened will not prevent us from continuing to visit our offices as normal,” he said, pointing out that the party leadership has already received several security warnings. A point that Gemayel has raised on several occasions, stressing that this has prompted him to reduce his travels and remain in his bastion of Bikfaya.

Asked who the party blames, Richa would not answer directly, preferring to await the results of the ongoing investigation. “We're not accusing anyone. But everyone knows who is carrying weapons today,” he says, alluding to Hezbollah. “It seems that the voice of the Kataeb bothers those who don't want a sovereign country,” he adds. Kataeb's official reaction to the incident fits into the same framework. “Some are still trying to muzzle the voices that refuse to be subjugated,” the party denounced in a statement following a meeting of its political bureau. “The Kataeb will continue to spearhead the fight against attempts to mortgage the country, control its institutions and decide the fate of the Lebanese,” the statement continued.

Beware of security chaos

The affair caused an uproar in anti-Hezbollah circles. Taymour Joumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party was one of the first to condemn the incident, calling on the police to “elucidate the circumstances and bring the perpetrators to justice in order to prevent this kind of incident from leading the country into great security danger,” as stated in a statement issued by the party on Monday.

“We know Walid Joumblatt's room for maneuvering and his meticulous calculations,” commented Kataeb MP Salim Sayegh. “Taymour Joumblatt is interpreting events correctly and understands that the incident targeting the Kataeb headquarters carries a political message and could lead the country towards greater dangers,” he added.

The Renewal parliamentary bloc (Michel Moawad, Adib Abdel Massih, Achraf Rifi and Fouad Makhzoumi) called on the security forces “to lift the veil on the circumstances of the attack in order to preserve stability and security during this critical period,” according to a statement issued by the group on Monday.

The same was true of the Lebanese Forces, which expressed its solidarity with Kataeb. In a statement, the party said that such acts are aimed at “ensuring that Lebanon remains a place of uncontrollable chaos,” stressing that the incident “carries a political message.” “We fear a deterioration in the security situation in the light of such incidents,” warns Ghassan Hasbani, an LFMP, calling on the forces of law and order to control the proliferation of weapons.

This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.

At 8 p.m. on Sunday, shots were fired into the air near the Kataeb party headquarters in Saifi. Admittedly, this is not the first time that the headquarters of this party, which sees itself as spearheading the opposition to Hezbollah, has been the target of such acts. A similar incident took place in March 2020. And this time, the shootings came sometime after a smear campaign against the party's...