“The Third Estiklal”; A New Lebanese Movement Led by Nohad Mashnouk, Who Turned Towards Saudi Arabia

The star of Nohad Mashnouk shone strongly in 2009 when he became a deputy in the Lebanese Parliament for the Future Movement

The Third Estiklal Movement is not related to Prime Minister (Saad) Hariri, or with previous heads of government, who formed a club and set a practical political ceiling that varies among themselves; However, it is lower than the ceiling we are talking about.

With these words, the Lebanese politician Nohad Mashnouk drew the shape and motives of the new movement, which is preparing to go down into the arena of Lebanese politics, which is full of divergent movements, mainstreams and loyalties, in light of the intervention of many global and regional powers.

Beirut has always been one of the most prominent arenas of competition between Riyadh and Tehran, in particular, by attracting political forces and government institutions, and providing support with money and weapons.

At a time when criticism happens for the growing influence of Hezbollah backed by Iran in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia has been giving its strong support to its traditional ally, Saad Hariri, the leader of the Future Movement and prime minister-designate, as well as the Lebanese Forces.

But there have recently been disagreements between Saudi Arabia and a number of Lebanese forces and ministers, those who criticized Riyadh and its policy in public and in private, with clear and offensive gestures, what prompted it to move chess boards that are more sophisticated and effective from its point of view, this is what began its good news with the establishing of the emerging third Estiklal movement.

How does this movement move? And who is the establishing? What is its expected effect on the political and governance scene in the country?

 

The Third Estiklal [third Independence]

On May 9, 2021, Lebanese MP Nohad Mashnouk announced that “A group of comrades and friends, some of them are veterans of the audience of Martyr Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, are working to establish a new front in the name of the Third Estiklal Movement”.

Mashnouk attributed the reason for the creation of this new movement to the fact that Lebanon entered the stage of unmasking, this is what he called the “Iranian occupation” of the Lebanese political decision, and that there is a public ban from Tehran to form a government.

The Lebanese politician said: “There are 3 types of solutions in Lebanon. The first is surrender, and this of course is unacceptable. The second is the acceptance of a settlement that cannot be in favor of Lebanon's sovereignty, its freedom, its Estiklal, and most importantly its Arabism”.

 The third is the establishing of a serious political opposition from many parties, its mission, its declaration, and its founding document are based on liberating the Lebanese political decision from the Iranian political occupation.

Then he added: “Now it is the turn of Estiklal from the Iranian political occupation”.

For a while, the former Minister of the Interior, MP Nohad Machnouk, in isolation from the Future Movement and its leader, Saad Hariri, after the intensification of disagreements that kept the two men away from each other.

According to what was published by the Lebanese newspaper, “Rai Al-Youm”, in a report issued on May 4, 2021, “Mashnouk became a Saudi option in Lebanon, perhaps this is what the man is looking for it, to play a political role outside the framework of the Future Movement”.

This actually happened, when he announced the establishing of the “Third Estiklal Movement'' front, which is likely to be strongly supported by Riyadh.

The newspaper added that “The new formation of Mashnouk will be mainly within the Sunni political elites, this automatically means that it will be at the expense of the Future Movement and will take from Hariri's credit, as Mashnouk became a Saudi option, this means that Saudi Arabia has decided to form a political body within the Sunni community in Lebanon to pull the rug out of Hariri”.

Mashnouk considered that the point of disagreement between him and Hariri was the “presidential settlement”, that agreement in which the leader of the Future Movement agreed to support the arrival of “Michel Aoun” to the presidency, in exchange for assigning him as prime minister years ago.

Which showed the contradictions of Mashnouk and changed his positions, perhaps motivated by Riyadh that he himself contributed mainly to the engineering of this settlement, which he turned against later, and this settlement became the basis of the dispute with Hariri and the Future Movement.

The second contradiction, which greatly revealed the communication between Mashnouk and Saudi Arabia, it came in the campaign that he waged fiercely against Hezbollah, and considered Lebanon occupied by Iran, while he was the godfather of coordination and dialogue with Hezbollah within the Future Movement previously, thus, this matter presented him to many criticisms from some of the symbols of the Future Movement and part of the Lebanese public.

The History of Machnouk

Nohad Machnouk, who is preparing to lead the Third Estiklal Movement in Lebanon, was born in Beirut in 1954, where he grew up and studied political science.

In the mid-seventies, he began his career in the newspaper “Beirut Al-Massaa”, which founded by the late politician Abdullah Machnouk, then he worked in the weekly “Al-Hawadith” magazine, there he was tutored by the late Salim Lawzi and Muhammad Jalal Kishk, where he specialized in the issues of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

In that era, Mashnouk wrote and published in a number of Lebanese newspapers and magazines, most notably “Arab Week”, “Al-Sayyad”, “Al-Anwar” and “Al-Dustour”, and contacted with the London-based “Al-Manar” from Beirut, until he settled in the “Arab and International Day” until 1983, this gave him an opportunity to be recognized by a large number of Lebanese public opinion.

Mashnouk became involved in politics in the early 1980s, when he became free to work with the “Islamic Gathering”, which he helped in establishing it, under the chairmanship of Mufti Sheikh Hassan Khaled.

He attached importance to the civilian political body that called for an end to the civil war, and ending the Syrian dominance over Lebanese politics, until the assassination of its establisher, Mufti Sheikh Hassan Khaled, and MP Nazem Al-Qadri in 1989, then Mashnouk traveled to reside in Cyprus and then to Paris.

There he worked with the late Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri, and was influenced by him.

When Hariri formed his first government in 1992, Mashnouk held the position of political and media advisor until 1998, and in this particular year, the Syrian security (which controlled Lebanese politics at the time) obliged Mashnouk to abandon his job and leave Lebanon.

Mashnouk sought refuge in Paris and Cairo for 5 years, in 2003 he returned to Beirut, where he stayed at his home because of security instructions, until Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated, then the Syrian army withdrew from Lebanon.

Political Backgrounds

The star of Nohad Mashnouk shone strongly in 2009, when he became a deputy in the Lebanese parliament for the Future Movement, under the leadership of Saad Hariri.

On February 15, 2014, Mashnouk was appointed Minister of the Interior and Lebanese Municipalities for the first time, in the government of President Tammam Salam, then he was appointed Minister of the Interior again in the government of Saad Hariri in 2016, he remained in this position until February 6, 2019.

One of the major observations in his political path was that his disparate and contradictory relationship with Saudi Arabia, characterized at first by fierce attack, then moved to perfect harmony, until recently he became one of the aspects of Riyadh's desire and management in the Lebanese file.

In 2016, Mashnouk pointed fingered to Saudi Arabia and the late King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz, following the defeat of his team in the municipal elections in Tripoli.

He said at the time in a television interview that “The previous Saudi policy was the one that asked Prime Minister Saad Hariri to make concessions and go to Syria, and take the positions that he had taken to get closer to the Syrian line”, and added: “It is what brought us to what we have reached today”.

At that time, Nohad Mashnouk was the godfather of the settlement with “Hezbollah” from within the Future Movement, it is likely that this was the most important reason for his accession to the chair of the Ministry of the Interior, after he strongly supported the pro-Iranian Hezbollah in the parliamentary elections.

Relations began to change when he went to Jeddah in July 2018, there he held security meetings at the highest level with the head of the Saudi intelligence service, Lieutenant-General Khaled Humaidan, in a lengthy meeting, they discussed security affairs and cooperation between the two countries, as well as developments in the Arab region, and the Iran's extensive interference in the Arab countries.

Mashnouk returned from Saudi Arabia with a different face, having fully adopted the policy of Riyadh, and he began to establish the Future Movement in the hope of leading the Sunni sect and Iran's enemies in Beirut.

He played with the imagination of the masses, when he said: “In the past, the Arab brothers and friendly countries stood with Lebanon, as for today, why are they standing with us? And the country's political half is based on Hezbollah's speech, and no one objects or denounces it!”.