Daily Archives: October 17, 2007

by

A US Military Base In Lebanon?

Do the Americans have plans to rehabilitate the northern airport of Kolei3at and use it as a military base strategically close to Damascus?


Landing soon in an airport near Tripoli?

I found the story yesterday in the LF’s website, but I couldn’t find it today. It now surfaced again in -Iranian mouthpiece- Press Tv‘s website, with an apparent confirmation by an ex Lebanese General:

“According to US plan six military bases will be set up, three in Iraq, one in Jordan, one in Saudi Arabia and one in Lebanon. It is believed that the Lebanese government is approving the establishment of the base and the name of the base will be the US-Lebanese Center for Rehabilitation of the Army in order to cover the real activity of the base,” Amin Hotait, a retired army colonel told Press TV.

The story is not impossible. The Sunni North is now USA friendly (you can tell by the 2 McDonalds restaurants that opened recently in Tripoli). But if it were true, you’d expect the mainstream pro-Hezbollah media (Assafir, Alakhbar, Almanar, tayyar.org) to pounce on the story like a bunch of starving wolves over red meat.

Anyway, If any of you gets a confirmation or a , please let me know in the comments section.

Update: The Story has now been taken up by the Lebanese Main Stream Media.

by

Amnesty: Lebanon Discriminating Against Palestinians

Lebanon’s troubles with international watchdogs just don’t seem to end. After the incident with Human Rights Watch, now Amnesty International is slapping Lebanon on the wrist.


If this was a hotel, how many stars would it get?

Amnesty international has just released a damning report on Lebanon.

We are apparently treating the Palestinians as “second class citizens”. Although this is supposed to shame us,  I think the typical Lebanese reaction would be something along the lines of: How dare you use the word “citizens” to describe Palestinian refugees?

by

Schenker: Protect Lebanese MPs

David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute has written a column for the Los Angeles Times pressing the Bush administration for immediate action against Lebanon’s political assassinations.


Not enough ?

After a lengthy introduction to why the MPs are killed, Mr. Schenker goes to the point:

For Washington, the key will be to craft a policy to prevent Syria and its Lebanese allies from subverting the government in Beirut. One possibility is to deploy, at Lebanon’s request, international forces — under the auspices of already-in-force U.N. Security Council resolutions — to protect targeted politicians. A more effective but politically difficult option would be to hold Syria accountable for all future political murders in Lebanon.Regardless of how Washington proceeds, immediate action is required.The ongoing thinning of the majority raises the very real specter that the results of the 2005 parliamentary elections in Lebanon will be reversed by terrorism. Should this trend of assassinations continue unchallenged, the pro-Syrian opposition, led by the Iranian-sponsored Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah, waits in the wings.

The issue of international protection of Lebanese MPs can be explosive (no pun intended). It remains to be seen if any “immediate action” will be in the offing.