Hizbullah, Occupying Lebanon

Posted on May 9, 2008
Filed Under Ahmedinajad, Arabs, Assad, Freedom, Hezbollah, International, Iran, Iraq, IslamoFascism, Lebanon, Michel Aoun, Muslims, Nasrallah, News, Political murder, Religion, Saudi Arabia, Shiites, Sunnis, Syria, Terrorism, Wallid Jumblatt, islam, politics, prejudice, putrid little maggot Ahmedinajad, violence | 1 Comment

Nasrallah, the Lebanese patriot, spoke on TV and immediately the Trouble started. The BBC reports:

Gunmen from the Shia group Hezbollah have seized most of western Beirut in a third day of fighting between opposition and government supporters.

The Western-backed governing coalition has described it as a “bloody coup”. At least 11 people have been killed.

The gunmen, who also back Hezbollah’s Shia opposition allies, have forced the closure of pro-government media.

The US has restated its support for Lebanon’s government and says Hezbollah is killing innocent civilians.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington was committed to helping the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

“We will stand by the Lebanese government and peaceful citizens of Lebanon through this crisis and provide the support they need to weather this storm,” she said in a statement.

The opposition has said Hezbollah and its allies will maintain roadblocks around Beirut until there is a solution to the political crisis.

The fighting was sparked by a government move on Monday to shut down Hezbollah’s telecoms network.

Lebanon’s governing coalition said it was a coup aimed at restoring the influence of Syria and Iran.

“The armed and bloody coup which is being implemented aims to return Syria to Lebanon and extend Iran’s reach to the Mediterranean,” it said in a statement.

It is Syria’s pretext to come back with greater strength than before, it is Iran’s tug at Nasrallah’s leash that precipitated this clash. Hizbullah is trying to impose itself, together with Baby Assad and the putrid little maggot Ahmadinejad, on the people of Lebanon and destroy Lebanese sovereignty. Without its telecommunications, Hizbullah would find hgard to spread its words, to spy on and destroy its opposition and the putrid little maggot in Iran, Ahmadinejad may face serious opposition at home over his failed and expensive foreign adventures. The government moved on Monday to asserrt its authority against an illegal

Civil war fears

The UN Security Council has urged the rival parties to stop fighting amid fears of civil war breaking out.

Lebanon was plunged into civil war from 1975-90, drawing in Syria and Israel, the two regional powers.

Analysts say the key to avoiding such a conflict this time may be the neutrality of the army, and its ability to withstand the sectarian tensions.

The Lebanese army command has warned its unity is at risk if the crisis in the capital drags on.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose country long dominated neighbouring Lebanon, said on Friday that the political crisis there was an “internal matter”.

Having withdrawn its army from the country in 2005, Syria denies meddling in Lebanon’s internal politics.

But Damascus has been accused of involvement in the assassination over the past three years of several anti-Syrians, including Rafik Hariri, a former prime minister.

Lebanon has been without a president since late 2007, amid deadlock between the ruling coalition and Hezbollah-led opposition over the make-up of the government.

As residents of west Beirut fled on Friday, the Italian government was reported to be drawing up an evacuation plan for any of its nationals wanting to leave the city.

Earlier, media offices owned by Saad Hariri, a leader of the governing coalition, were shut after being attacked by militants loyal to Hezbollah.

The army moved in after gunmen besieged TV station Future News and partially set fire to the offices of al-Mustaqbal newspaper. Mr Hariri’s radio station was also silenced.

‘Save Lebanon from hell’

A compromise was reached for the premises to be taken over and protected by the Lebanese army at the price of going off the air.

Besieged offices of television station

Several Sunni neighbourhoods in west Beirut, considered strongholds of Lebanon’s ruling bloc, have reportedly been over-run by militants from Hezbollah and its Shia ally Amal.

A rocket-propelled grenade hit the fence of the heavily protected home of Mr Hariri in western Beirut’s Koreitem neighbourhood, officials said.

Mr Hariri – Lebanon’s top Sunni politician – was thought to have been inside at the time.

Mr Siniora was reportedly holed up in his heavily guarded offices along with several ministers in downtown Beirut.

The urban warfare has shut down Lebanon’s seaport and all but closed the international airport, with burning barricades on major roads in Beirut.

The BBC’s Jim Muir in the city says it all amounts to a humiliating blow to the government.

It appears to have badly overplayed its hand in moving to close Hezbollah’s telecoms network on Tuesday, he says.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has called the move a “declaration of war”.

Mr Hariri said it was a “misunderstanding” and urged gunmen from both sides to withdraw “to save Lebanon from hell”.

How bad are things in Lebanon? As From Beirut to the Beltway writes:

The dark age of Hizbullah is upon us

Hariri’s Future TV is off the air after being threatened by the Hizbullah militia. Hizbullah is in control of much of West Beirut, spreading a reign of terror.

Hariri and Jumblatt are being surrounded by the Hizbullah orcs, who also set fire to the al-Mustaqbal newspaper building.

Hizbullah has also occupied the headquarters of Ali al-Amin, the Tyre Mufti who is against Hizbullah.

Aoun is gloating. He thinks it’s a coup that will deliver him the presidency.

Saudi Arabia has called for an emergency Arab League meeting.

The rest of the world watches as Iran’s proxies occupy Beirut.

Bassita, as they say. This is not over. Hizbullah will not win.

Update. Syrian regime lackey is trying to move the conflict to the Chouf, threatening to occupy Jumblatt’s PSP offices. Jumblatt, meanwhile, is still in his Beirut residence, protected by the army and ISF. Gunshots are being heard in the area, and pro-Syrian SSNP militia members were seen near his residence.

Update 2. The Future TV building in Raouche was burned down by SSNP thugs.

Update 3. March 14 MP Musbah Ahdab: if the Lebanese army does not intervene to protect Tripoli, because of alleged fear of division, then there are officers in the army who will not accept that their institution does not intervene to protect Tripoli and other [Sunni] areas.

Update 4. The Lebanese army is watching these violations, and chasing pro-March 14 gunmen, and allowing Hizbullah to do whatever they want. Meanwhile, Berri’s NBN is reporting that Siniora will resign tonight. Jumblatt however told New TV that the government’s resignation is out of the question.

Update 5. March 14 strategy so far: hand over everything to Lebanese army.

Aoun is gloating. He thinks it’s a coup that will deliver him the presidency. Michel Aoun. once bravely defended the Baabda Presidential Palace against the then superior Syrian Army. When he could no longer fight them, he surrendered under the French ambassador to Lebanon and abandoned his forces to Syria. Because of his ambition to become the next Lebanese President he joined forces with Hizbullah. In what has by now become typical behavior, and in the time hallowed tradition of Middle East politicos, General Aoun has abadoned all semblance of principle by allying himself with none other than his once hated Syria and the putrid little maggot Ahmedinajad.

Meanwhile Blacksmiths of Lebanon reports:

What Now?

Shiite gunmen from the Amal group rest during clashes in a newly seized neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 9, 2008. Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized control of neighborhoods in the Lebanese capital’s Muslim sector from Sunni foes loyal to the U.S.-backed government on Friday following sectarian clashes reminiscent of Lebanon’s bloody 15-year civil war. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)[...]

As of now, there is no indication of what is to come. What is clear is that Hizballah has effectuated a Gaza-like takeover of Beirut and is now preparing to leverage this new status quo in return for the same goals it could not achieve through [non-violent!] legal and constitutional means.

With the International Tribunal coming into effect later this summer, a violent takeover of Lebanon seems to have been the route the group has chosen for itself to protect it, and its assassin-allies from justice. And rest assured, the shift in balances of power due to this coup will provide Hizballah’s [and Hamas'] primary backers [Iran, primarily, and Syria] with the needed fodder and leverage in their own negotiations with Israel and the West.

In what has by now become behavior, and in the time hallowed tradition of Middle Eastern politicos, General Aoun has abadoned all semblance of principle by allying himself with none other than once hated Syria and the putrid little maggot Ahmedinajad. But can Hizbullah, even if it wins this round, hold on to Lebanon for long? As an earlier post on From Beirut to the Beltway says:

[...]So Hizbullah takes over the capital, then what? The rest of the country? Hizbullah has spent much of the last year farming militias in other areas. Are “East Beirut” and Mount Lebanon next? Anybody who knows the history of the Lebanese civil war knows how impossible it is to win in those places.

So what are their long-term options here? So far, it looks like a stupid show of power. No wonder Jumblatt in his interview today didn’t express the need to even fight Nasrallah.

[...]What will this create? Unity around Hizbullah? Or public anger that has to blow up in their faces, whether today or tomorrow?

Aoun will not save Nasrallah. Nor will his friends in the pro-Syrian camp, or even the poor people who went to Barbir on Wednesday thinking there would be a strike, to find out that the union bosses hadn’t bothered to show up, and were replaced by thugs burning tires. Nasrallah didn’t even mention their plight in his declaration of war against the state.

Lebanon is an easy target for a militia Hizbullah’s size. It won’t fight back, except through a few gunmen and leaders with no imagination or might to fight back. The Lebanese army, you say. Rumor on the street says that the army commander said he would refuse to implement a state of emergency. There is no army that can stand against Hizbullah, whether we like to admit this or not. Not because there aren’t good men in the army. But because the institution is also governed by the same delicate fabric that makes up the country, and that Hizbullah has been messing with for years. The Shia council, which they hijacked after Shamseddine’s death, was used to create a Shia cover. The anti-Hizbullah Shia voices have been systematically marginalized by the party.

But at the end of the day, there is no divine victory for Nasrallah, even if Beirut falls. You cannot win a war against your own people in the name of resisting an enemy outside your border.

Hizbullah has already lost the battle, even if they win this episode. As for our families, may God protect them.

No one no matter how much support they get from without, or even traitors from within can for long have the upper hand in a country like Lebanon. It has known civil strife for decades and still managed to come out a democracy, it will again rise above those forces within and without that would throw it to the dogs.

As blacksmiths of Lebanon says in a later post:

Nothing justifies what is going on today. There is no going back now, and the only way forward will entail the disarming of the militia that has taken over our capital and [once again] drawn blood between the Lebanese.

Nasrallah and his puppet masters are nothing more than blood thirsty, ambitious vermin intent on power regardless of the consequences, regardless of the cost of achieving their goals. At least now they finally exposed themselves for what they are: Iran’s occupation army in Lebanon!

But why would Iran want this action at this particular time? Certainly it will help distract the West from its arms and personnel being sent to the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan… but…. as Lee Smith writes in Michael Totten’s Middle East Journal:

David Wurmser, formerly Vice President Cheney’s Middle East adviser, writes in to comment on Iran’s role in the Beirut crisis.

“Iran has suffered some pretty serious defeats in Iraq, foremost is that the Shiites there kind of turned on Iran. May they not need to pull back and focus on their role as the champion of the Shiites right now, even at the cost of compromising their efforts to jump the Sunni-Shiite divide? They may actually be in no better a shape among Lebanon’s Shiites as they are among Iraq’s. Second, there were these really odd nasty exchanges between Zawahiri and Iran, which may have been born of Iran’s desire right now to solidify its own role as Shiite champion.

“Ahmadinejad himself has presided over a fairly turbulent few weeks, as the principalist faction, of which he and the speaker of the Majlis are both part. That faction has descended into caustic bickering – probably as a result of the traditional clergy of Qom’s resisting his increasing militarization of government – over a number of matters from ministerial resignations to constitutional wrangling to banking and fiscal independence, while his own mentor had one of his papers unusually slam him for meeting with former nationalists associated with Mossadeq. He may even face a no confidence move if the Majlis maneuvers to force another cabinet resignation. And all this while faces a chorus of response from the traditional clergy of Qom, who are horrified about his claims to be informed by the 12th imam.

“And there’s something else, too: In that press conference Walid Jumblatt held about the airport security, he also called for the expulsion of Iran’s ambassador. That could be a redline for Iran. And if it happened, it would deal a heavy blow to the Iranians.”

I asked David if Jumblatt’s request might signal that Washington is fully aware of, and behind, March 14’s actions at this point.

“It may be part of our effort to push back on Iran right now. As far afield as Afghanistan you find the Afghani government saying that Iran is sending weapons. So, across the board, we are pushing back against Iran. But the thing with the Iranians is, if you push you had better be ready to take it to the next level with them, because they will push back hard.”

While countless US, European and Israeli policymakers, analysts and journalists counseled that diplomacy would manage to “wedge” Syria away from Iran, there was really only wedge issue between them: Iran wanted to avoid sectarian warfare while the Syrians were willing, eager, to set fire to Lebanon – again. If this crisis is different, as David Wurmser says, different from the rest of the various crises that have plagued Lebanon the last three years, ever since the April 2005 withdrawal of Syrian troops, it is because there no longer is any difference between Tehran and Damascus’ Beirut strategy.

If this crisis is different, as David Wurmser says, different from the rest of the various crises that have plagued Lebanon the last three years, ever since the April 2005 withdrawal of Syrian troops, it is because there no longer is any difference between Tehran and Damascus’ Beirut strategy. Ahmedinajad may be fighting for his political life, if he pulls it off he’ll say it was the will of the 12th Imam, if he looses as eventually he must… he just might be hanged as his judiciary does with homosexuals… when they get caught. Or, the Iranian people just might rise from their lethargy and do the job themselves! Meanwhile, he has no compunctions about using Hizbullah to embroil in war yet another part of the Middle East.

Chaim

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