Singer Fairouz dragged into Lebanon’s divisions

BEIRUT: Through decades of conflict, there has been one thing all Lebanese could agree on: their adoration of the country’s iconic singer Fairouz, who stood unquestioned above the fray with her anthems to Lebanon and Palestine and songs of love.
Now the 78-singer has been dragged into the thick of the country’s bitter political and sectarian divisions after her son said in an interview that she loves the leader of Hezbollah, sparking an uproar among opponents of the Shiite guerrilla group.
Angry critics on Twitter and Facebook and in Lebanese newspapers have said Fairouz should stay out of politics, some even accusing her of treachery, while supporters have indignantly replied that she is free to support whomever she chooses.
Fairouz herself has remained silent. Throughout her career, she has never expressed her political opinions, and she rarely gives interviews.
In mid-December, Fairouz’s son Ziad Rahbani, a prominent composer and playwright who openly expresses his support for Hezbollah, told a news website linked to the group that his mother loves Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah “a lot.”
He added that his mother “will be angry with me as she did last time when I gave a TV interview and revealed some of her personal matters. She boycotted me.” Last year he told the Lebanon-based TV station Al-Mayadeen that his mother’s political views are “not far from mine.”
Fairouz has been an icon Lebanese of all stripes can agree on, with her music touting love of the country above its divisions. That reputation was enshrined during Lebanon’s bloody 1975-1990 civil war, when she stayed in the country. Love for her extends across the Arab world because of her songs to Jerusalem and the Palestinians, supporting their cause against Israel.
But her son’s comments threaten to tarnish her.
“If you seriously love Nasrallah, do you know how many .... have been lost in Syria because of the war and Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria?” Nadim Koteich, host of a news show on Lebanon’s Future TV and a sharp critic of Hezbollah, said on his show recently, addressing Fairouz.
He also pointed indirectly at assassinations of nearly a dozen anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon since 2005, which some have blamed on Hezbollah, though the group denies any role.