Hezbollah unhappy after US rescues American Fakhoury from Lebanon

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was recently in his bunker in Lebanon when he claims he switched on the TV to see a shocking scene. A US V-22 Osprey helicopter was lifting off from the US embassy and flying away low over the city. Soon the helicopter was out at sea, carrying away American citizen Amer Fakhoury who had been held for six months in Lebanon. On March 19 Fakhoury was safely at sea and Nasrallah was non-plussed.

Fakhoury is from Lebanon but was naturalized in the US. He was accused by a military court in Lebanon of being involved in crimes during the 1980s Lebanese Civil War. Pro-Hezbollah activists accuse him of having worked with Israel as part of the South Lebanon Army. However, many Lebanese have received amnesty for the civil war era, as the country tried to put the battles behind it. When he returned to the country he was detained. US Senators put pressure on Lebanon to release him, with Jeanne Shaheen calling for sanctions and saying all options were on the table to assist him.

Although he was released last week it appears Hezbollah and others put pressure on courts to deny him the ability to leave. The US came up with a daring rescue plan and he was extracted in braod daylight by the helicopter and spirited away to a secret location. Nasrallah is very angry, he said on a broadcast Friday. He also denied that he had any involvement. Oddly Hezbollah has been blamed for not preventing the airlift. “Some people were weak,” Nasrallah now says. His comments may be directed at Brig. Gen. Hussein Abdallah, the head of the court which dropped charges against Fakhoury on March 16. “Some officials came to me,” he says, claiming that the Lebanese were scared of US sanctions and wanted Hezbollah to turn a blind eye to Fakhoury. US President Donald Trump and other US officials have thanked the Lebanese government for aiding the release.

Lebanon is in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus spreading, lockdowns, a closed airport and a banking crisis. The country needs the modest support the US provides the Lebanese army.

Nasrallah’s speech reveals how Hezbollah controls Lebanon. He says that foreign diplomats and local officials sought Fakhoury’s release. “Forget that he was a collaborator,” Nasrallah says. “The Americans ignored his human rights abuses.” He says that Lebanese officials had discussions with him. He urged them not to let the American go. But Lebanese officials would not dare pressure Hezbollah, he noted. “Just calmy trading ideas.” Once he was released Hezbollah pushed the idea to prevent him leaving. “So the Americans smuggled him out.”

The broad daylight chopper incident shows it wasn’t much of a smuggle. Hezbollah did nothing to oppose it. A former Lebanese advisor to the government named Hassan Murad told Mehr News in Iran that the operation to bring Fakhoury out was a “Zionist” conspiracy. “The Israeli spy and mercenary regime released Amer Fakhoury,” he claimed. He also said the timing was due to coronavirus, preventing protests because Lebanese can’t gather on the streets.” No one has any right to interfere in Lebanese affairs.”

Lebanon’s foreign minister Nassif Hitti summoned US Ambassador Dorothy Shea after the V-22 Osprey incident. They wanted to know the “circumstances leading Amer Fakhoury out of the American embassy and out of Lebanon.” Lebanon said the US had used an “illegal port of entry” to fly the American out. However, Hitti has other problems. He wants foreign aid for the coronavirus and Fakhoury is only a  minor problem on his plate. He did what was necessary and complained. Now Lebanon must move on to other crises.