Syrian Ally Urges Protests

Hezbollah's demonstration, planned for Tuesday, could serve as a counterpunch to ongoing anti-Syria street protests that toppled Lebanon's government and forced Damascus to agree to recall its soldiers.

The group's call to supporters is a sign that the party feels threatened by a Syrian withdrawal. The same U.N. resolution that calls for the retreat of Syrian troops also demands that Lebanon's militias disarm, and Hezbollah opposes laying down its weapons.

A few days ago, Hezbollah officials declared that they could bring 500,000 people into the streets, but said they were refraining from mobilizing their followers because they feared inflaming tensions. Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, urged dialogue among the Lebanese factions and met with an envoy from opposition leader Walid Jumblatt.

On Sunday, Nasrallah accused anti-Syria demonstrators of acting as tools for the United States and Israel, and warned that a Syrian retreat was the first step in Lebanese attempts to make peace with the "Zionist enemy."

Hezbollah "rejects this international law because of its interference in our internal affairs and because all of its conditions are free, free, free services for the Israeli enemy," said Nasrallah, a cleric.

Nasrallah repeatedly stressed the need for peaceful demonstrations and warned that "chaos is forbidden." Still, there is fear that the dueling demonstrations could ignite sectarian tensions between Hezbollah's Shiite Muslim followers and the predominantly Christian, Druze and Sunni Muslim demonstrators who have been rallying for an end to Syrian domination under the slogan "Independence 2005."

"What does it mean to disarm Hezbollah?" asked Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Afif. "It means disarming the only group that can defend the Lebanese people. It means opening Lebanon to Israel."

Hezbollah fears that a new Lebanese government might try to dissolve the powerful party or make peace with its arch-enemy, Israel. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for the spring, and could dramatically harden Lebanon's stance toward both Syria and Hezbollah.