The West is backing the wrong side in Lebanon, says clancy chassay
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Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese opposition supporters streamed into the centre of Beirut yesterday in what the army described as the largest demonstration in the nation's history. The atmosphere was festive, rather than threatening, with supporters beating drums, dancing, chanting and waving flags.
The largely Shia and Christian opposition, spearheaded by Hezbollah, is calling for a national unity government, declaring Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's cabinet corrupt, incompetent and unconstitutional, following the walk-out by its Shia ministers last month.
Western-backed Siniora (right) looks increasingly shaky. Holed up in his offices, it seems no amount of buoyancy from European leaders or pro-Western Arab regimes can help turn the tide in his favour.
There have been reports that back-channel talks to reach a compromise had proved
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| Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora looks increasingly shaky |
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successful, only to be scuppered by pressure from a failing White House loathe to see Hezbollah and its allies gain more power. If this is true, the stand-off could continue for some time.
The rhetoric from the West suggests an embattled democracy under siege from an opposition backed by shadowy Syrian and Iranian forces. The truth is not that simple. Hezbollah emerged even stronger from the summer's war with Israel and, despite the popular outpouring of grief for slain Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, the opposition is a broad-based coalition of Islamists, liberals and Arabists with a clear majority:
independent polls suggest around 70 per cent of Lebanese support the formation of a new government of national unity.
With Hezbollah and other Lebanese allies on the ascendant, the hand of Tehran and Damascus in Lebanon has undoubtedly been strengthened. But the neo-conservative view that they are engineering a coup under-estimates the lucid vision of a future Lebanon articulated by a popular opposition. 
FIRST POSTED DECEMBER 11, 2006
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