The Iraqification of Lebanon

AFP/Getty Images

A Shiite opposition gunman fires a rocket propelled grenade Thursday on a street in Beirut during clashes with pro-government supporters.
9 May 2008

The recent events in Lebanon point to the continued failure of this administration and its policies in the Middle East. The trend continues in favor of non-negotiation with the different factions in the region under the guise, We do not negotiate with terrorists. Such an approach in international politics marginalizes the other nations or groups involved and can only have one outcome: physical or violent intervention to push through a policy or sanction without input from all parties concerned. That constitutes bullying behavior and encourages further violence in retaliation.

The refusal of the United States to negotiate with Iran, Syria, or Hezbollah, labeling them all as terrorists, is a continuation of this bullying policy. Ultimatums are given in place of direct meetings, and forced interventions replace negotiation and compromise. The intent is on destroying people and groups versus working with them. Such drastic approaches have contributed to the current fighting in Lebanon between Hezbollah, Amal, and their supporters in the Opposition movement (opposed to the current ruling system) and supporters of the government (headed by the Future movement of Sa’d Hariri, the son of the Lebanese-Saudi ex-prime minister who was assassinated in 2005 in Lebanon).

Average Lebanese are openly expressing concern about what they see as U.S. efforts to implement in Lebanon what it is doing in Iraq to promote sectarian tension. In Lebanon, this is accomplished using the guise of security firms to train Sunni militias to counteract the Shi’ite tide with its most obvious prototype, Hezbollah. Arab monarchies (all Sunni), with the help of the United States, are scrambling to put a halt to the rise in Shi’ite political, social, and military awareness.

Historical Facts

• - The July 2006 War that was initiated by Israel against Hezbollah after a cross-border raid by Hezbollah to capture Israeli soldiers killed many civilians (Lebanese death toll: close to 1400, mostly civilian. Israeli death toll, about 142 mostly military) and destroyed a large portion of Lebanon. The rationale for the large-scale bombardment and military activity: the return of two abducted Israeli soldiers and the destruction of Hezbollah.
• - Two years later, Hezbollah is at least as strong as before. The two soldiers have not been returned, but many other people continue to die due to cluster bombs and land mines. The political crisis has deepened. The birth pangs of the new Middle East that this administration was counting on turned out to be no more than wishful thinking.
• - The United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel have encouraged sectarian conflict in an effort to eradicate Hezbollah and their Iranian support. Both remain a high target on the list of this axis.
• - The United States has openly intervened in internal Lebanese politics to prevent any compromise among the parties in conflict, to the indignation and open criticism of many Lebanese politicians.
• - For at least the past year, the United States has openly financed and helped train Sunni militias in an attempt to ready the situation for a confrontation with Hezbollah amidst calls for Hezbollah to disarm under foreign pressure.
• - Hezbollah continues to refuse disarmament, claiming that they are the only group capable at this time of preventing any threat from Israel. They claim that it is up to the Lebanese themselves to determine the time of such disarmament. They also cite the fact that other groups have been arming themselves and training in secret within and outside Lebanon.
• - Multiple assassinations and sectarian tensions in Lebanon are blamed on Syria by the United States and its allies. Others in Lebanon believe that Samir Ja'ja', a high profile war criminal and leader of the Lebanese Forces militia who was imprisoned for life for his war crimes during the Lebanese Civil War and who achieved early release, is behind some of the assassinations in Lebanon, including those of political figures. He is openly supported by the United States and Israel and continues to hold secret and open meetings with both inside Lebanon.
• - Syria and Iran also continue to intervene in Lebanese politics through their support of the Opposition and Hezbollah. The open international hostilities between the two blocks (the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia/Iran and Syria) is playing itself out inside Lebanon with Hezbollah the prize, especially for Israel. It is a well-accepted belief in the minds of most Lebanese and Arabs that Hezbollah is the only group in the Middle East that can prevent Israeli military transgressions inside Lebanon. The group is also very much respected by the citizens for its level of dedication and expertise, and its ability and willingness to accomplish what no other regular Arab army was able to do.
• - Since the withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon in 2006 without accomplishing its stated objectives, that state has been intent on destroying Hezbollah by any other means—thusly, the creation of an internal situation in an attempt to erase popular support and force the group to disarm and disband.

On a more recent note, the following took place (Excerpts from the Times, May 12, 2008; the Telegraph, May 11, 2008; the Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2008; and As-Safir Newspaper, May 19, 2008):

• - According to Lebanese officials, for a year the main Lebanese political faction backed by the United States built a Sunni Muslim militia under the guise of private security companies.
• - The fighters, aligned with Sa’d Hariri’s Future movement, were trained and armed to counter the heavily armed Shi’ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah and protect their turf in a potential military confrontation.
• - Lebanon’s US-backed government and the Iranian-backed opposition led by Hezbollah have been mired in a political stalemate for more than a year. The country has been without a president since November.
• - Amid the political crisis that has sharpened differences among various religious communities, Lebanon’s army and Internal Security Forces had played a peacekeeping role, preventing clashes without confronting any of the different armed groups. They feared any robust intervention would break the unity of the armed forces and plunge the country into civil war.
• - The crisis has created a power vacuum. Hariri’s deputies have denied his movement was building a militia, though ranking military officials, independent analysts and employees of the security firm called Secure Plus say it was doing just that. Private security firms are the latest arrivals in Lebanon to a hodgepodge of armed groups that include Islamic militants inspired by Al Qaeda, Palestinian militias based in the country’s dozen refugee camps and Hezbollah.
• - For months, Lebanese security officials in the army and the Internal Security Forces warily watched the growth of the Future-Secure Plus fighting force. Officials close to and inside Hezbollah said they were monitoring the growth of the potential threat.
• - Over the last year, Secure Plus went from a small security company to an organization with 3,000 employees and unofficial associates on the payroll, mostly poor Sunnis from the country’s north. Some were armed with pistols and assault rifles. We have… thousands of young people in plainclothes working with us all over the country, a company official said before the clashes started.
• - Even those who feared the development hoped the Future movement’s growing military capacity would create a balance of terror with the more heavily armed Shi’ite fighters, government officials and members of the group say. On the one side, Hezbollah has trained military groups allied with it, said a high-ranking official with the Internal Security Forces, which has received $60 million in training and equipment from the U.S. On the other side, the Future movement has created security firms to protect itself.
• - Things came to a head when, among other measures, the Lebanese government ordered the army to shut down the private telecommunications network of Hezbollah and remove the brigadier responsible for airport security. The army refused the order.
• - The plan provoked Hezbollah into sending fighters into the streets of Beirut, sparking 3 days of fighting with Sunni militias.
• - Fearing an outright civil war, the government reinstated the brigadier and announced it would be looking at the telecommunications network of Hezbollah.
• - Hezbollah defeated the US-backed and armed militias within a few hours and handed most of its captured positions to the Lebanese Army. More than 80 people were killed in 3 days of fighting.
• - President Bush, during his visit to Israel and Sharam Esheikh in Egypt, called on Arabs to isolate Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas.
• - Bush also stated that supporting the Lebanese people in their struggle to build a democracy was dependent upon confronting whom he called Hezbollah terrorists.
• - Bush described Hezbollah as the enemy of a free Lebanon.

Marilyn Farhat
24 May 2008
Information Press

One day after this article was written, on 25 May 2008, a new president was elected inside Lebanon, Commander of Lebanese Army Forces, Michel Sleiman.