Michel Aoun party threatens to block routes into Beirut

Sources in the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), the Lebanese political party led by General Michel Aoun, have told al-Araby al-Jadeed that on Thursday they will block entrances to the Lebanese capital Beirut starting from the morning, in conjunction with a scheduled cabinet meeting, until the end of the session.

The FPM is the largest party representing Christians and the second largest in Lebanon's parliament.

The sources did not specify exactly which entrances will be blocked but they will most probably be the eastern and northern entrances to the city.

The southern entrance will be kept open as the party does not have supporters there, unless Hizballah decides to back the Aounist move, as the southern entrance passes through Beirut's southern suburbs - Hizballah's security and social zone. The roads, the sources say, will reopen after the end of the cabinet session.

The Aounist move comes under the banner of "restoring Christian rights," and its first sparks were seen when Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam refused to place the appointment of a new Lebanese Army commander on the agenda.

The mandate of the current army commander, Jean Kahwaji, ends in September and Salam sees that it is not right to appoint a new commander months before the current one finishes his term, particularly when the army is still battling on the eastern Lebanese border.

Aoun is mainly worried that the current army chief's mandate would be extended and his son in law General Shamel Roukoz would not be appointed in his place.

FPM cabinet ministers supported by Hizballah's ministers refuse to discuss any item on the government's agenda before that of appointing an army commander. Aounists withdrew from the cabinet's last meeting during which a government decision to subsidise agricultural exports was approved in their absence, an issue that Aoun considered to be a confiscation of Christian rights.

Aounists did not say how they will escalate their protest in case the government approves more items on its agenda, which seems to be what Salam will do. However, they are threatening civil disobedience and to call for changing the political system and lift the banner "Halat Hatman" ("Halat Airport, that's for sure!"), which was the slogan used by the Christian right in favour of Christian cantons during the Lebanese Civil War.

This move will be preceded by marching protests organised by Aounis in several Lebanese regions to secure a crowd for tomorrow's action.