Daily Archives: May 21, 2007

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Syria's Defense

Ali, a reader, believes that it doesn’t make sense blaming Syria in the latest attacks. In a previous comment section, he wrote:

Fateh el Islam split off Fateh-el-intifada (the latter a Syrian creation) precisely because they did not want to tow the Syrian intelligence line. This was their own admission. This is an extreme Sunni organization which views Alawis and the Shia on par with the Israelis and Americans, if not worse. So why exactly does Syria finance and support an organization that regards it as heretic and sees it and its allies as the enemy?

And it seems to me that after so many alleged assassinations and aims at “destabilizing” Lebanon as the March 14th camp claims , that Syria only gets deeper in the hole, and brings even more timely pressure on itself by the US and its typical international chorus, and precipitates even more vociferous calls to push the tribunal through Chapter 7 that you would think they would have learned their lesson and laid low for a while, no? You would think that they would have realized that every time an assassination takes place, every time a bomb blows off somewhere, where the gov’t camp pounces on it and exploits it to immediate political gain at the regional and international expense of Syria, lending their weakened voice some further life, that the Syrians would have learned their lesson and come to understand that they cannot compete with the power and reach of the Saatchi and Saatchi crowd?

And now, exactly what gains does Syria get out of this, except the usual condemnation without proof based on the claims and innuendos of a discredited clique who are holding on for dear life at the behest of a falling and fallen empire who only a year ago conspired and bombed their country into the stone age, and resisting (this is the only resisting they know) and fighting calls for new parliamentarian elections while unashamedly claiming to be the voice of the majority? If you are the voice of the majority, then give the majority the opportunity to vote you back in. Then you can legitimately shut the other camps down once and for all.

Syria is not without sin. But the puerile trust you have in a political faction to guide and lead you even while we all stand at the edge of the abyss is precisely why we are in the mess we find our selves in.

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The Bomb In Verdun..

The bombing in Verdun is significant in many ways

Although it resembles yesterday’s Ashrafieh bombing, the Verdun bombing has meanings of its own. For example, this is the first time that a Sunni neighborhood of Beirut is targeted, after terrorism being exclusively carried out in Christian areas. This could mark the beginning of a new phase of “destabilization”.

The explosion also comes at the heel of Syria’s Foreign Affairs’ Minister’s  not-so-hidden threat:
“Will rushing to establish this tribunal, despite the division in Lebanon, really bring security and peace, or will it threaten the security and safety of Lebanon?”, or, to translate it into lay-language: “we will burn the hell out of Lebanon if the tribunal moves through”. It also comes after the Fatah al Islam threatened to sow terrorism in other Lebanese areas if the Army does not stop shelling them.

But of course, the only way to stop the tribunal is a veto from a veto-wielding security council member. Which brings us to the last significance of the Verdun’s bombing: The target was the Russian cultural center in Beirut.

It is hard to see Russia being so easily manipulated, and Syria should know better. Harming Russian interests can backfire. But then again, some people are desperate.

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Orange Twist

Question: how can General Aoun justify his position which supports the Army but denounces the Government?

Easy: Just announce (audio)that the “Army was backstabbed because the secret services (which answer to the ministry of interior) did not share their intelligence with it” (An allegation that the minister of defense -defense, not interior- strongly denied)

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The Case For Firm Action

The Army is already being criticized for its “heavy-handed” shelling of the Palestinian camps. But it would be wrong for it to soften up now.


The Army’s actions are popular in Tripoli. (Reuters)

To viewers watching Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the Lebanese crisis, the Lebanese army’s shelling of the militants’ hideouts in the Nahr el Bared camp appears as a ruthless, heavy-handed shelling of areas with a lot of women and children. Although they don’t say it, their sub-text is clear: The Lebanese Army is behaving like the Israelis in Gaza and Americans in Baghdad. Also, the international media has begun counting the civilian casualties (8 until now)

Indeed, terrorists hiding among civilians pose a moral dilemma, and the humanitarian crisis should not be ignored. But does that mean that the Army should somehow start “talking” with terrorists whose only aim is to destabilize Lebanon?

A lot is at stake in the Army’s zero-tolerance policy. A “softer” and “more understanding” Army will send the wrong signals to would-be-terrorists that it is ok in the future to attack the military. Moreover, the Army has to send a clear message to the residents of the camps: Not handing the terrorists over will cost you much more than keeping them around.

But what about those women and children? Can the army’s reputation survive satellite TV footage of dead boys and girls who died Qana-style from their shelling? Besides, it would be wrong to turn the people in the camp against you

A solution would be to ask women and children to get out to a temporary safe place under the Army’s protection and have humanitarian passages for medics and the wounded. The men, especially Hamas and Fatah, will be then asked to bring in the militants with a clear deadline, after which the shelling would resume.

The Army didn’t ask for this war, but it must finish it. If it is to err, it is better to err on the side of firmness.

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Now Lebanon

A new ambitious news website about Lebanon is now online. Check it out.

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