All sides should try their best not to portray this as a defeat for Lebanon’s Sunnis.
Humiliated on Hezbollah TV. (Photo Credit: Yahoo!)
As Hezbollah moved into (Sunni) west Beirut and took on the moderate Future Movement, many will be tempted to portray this as a defeat for Lebanon’s Sunnis. That would be bad ideas whose repercussions will affect all parties in the country.
Unleashing the sectarian monster can seem like a good idea to Islamists allied with the Future Movement and to the Saudis, but they had better think twice before letting that genie out of the bottle. All parties, including the Future movement should actively portray this as a security and political situation, not a sectarian one.
Because before we know it, extreme elements can manipulate the sense of victimhood some Sunnis would have and target Shiaa symbols with terrorist operations that would unleash the same god-forsaken death spiral that exists in Iraq.
We don’t have to go through all what Iraq has suffered to realize that Al-Quaeda is not really what the Sunnis want for their protection.
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The beirut spring is a blog that is interested in Lebanese society and its politics. It started in February 2005 after the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
May 9th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Siniora the zionist dirtbag is going to resign soon, and has been taught a good lesson about where the majority of Lebanese stand.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
i agree with you mustafa, but what do you call it when one sect has its most visible institutions ransacked? its areas completely overun? why did hezbolla decide to attack this very group and its institutions? i just can’t imagine that people will not feel this! i only hope that sanity prevails and lebanon can get out of this mess.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Hezbollah defeated Israel. I don’t think they’ll much trouble with a few lizard eating apes.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Siniora is a zionist? Is that now just a term for anyone not in favor of Syria’s and Iran’s rule by proxy?
May 9th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Hezbollah has the support of the vast majority of Lebanese, and that’s why they have so totally dominated Siniora. Siniora can’t even control the army.
Reality.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Brooklyn,
Beware of Hubris. It’s the only thing that has the potential to kill Hezbollah.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Your whole site is ridiculous hubris and propaganda. I’m just trying to interject some reality into your delusion.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
lol…Jouzo and Kabalan have been spewing their sectarian hatred for days now, well before the incidents started and now you’re saying this is not sectarian , it’s only political. You reap what you sow. Harri wants to play the sectarian card, it came back and hit him in the face. The Sunnis were humiliated. Alla yestor from all the repercussions.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Wake up Mustapha - It is a god darn sectarian war and portraying it in any other way is masking the truth. The last thing I want is a sectarian war but what do you call Nasrallah sending his armed thugs to burn and kill in West Beirut only? A war of liberation like Al Manar is saying.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Has a non Lebanese. I find this amusing. I thought my home country was fcked up. But the reason why my country is in a state of disarray is because of an invasion.
Lebanon on the other hand. I have to laugh and shake my head. All of this could have been avoided by the government not provoking Hezbollah.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Hezbollah has overran a few sunni neighbourhoods but it will soon remember that fighting a civil war is not like fighting a foreign convential army. They of all people should know this. They don’t have a clear advantage on the other groups except for the number of gunmen, and this advantage is likely to vanish in the coming months.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
With Hezbollah touting Assad pictures in West Beruit, why is this not seen as a foreign coup by Syria?
May 9th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Because Hezbollah are Lebanese, not Syrian. Hezbollah and the Army (who supports them) are all Lebanese.
The real question is, why isn’t Siniora tried for treason, as a result of a decision which only benefits Israel?
May 9th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
“Hezbollah has overran a few sunni neighbourhoods but it will soon remember that fighting a civil war is not like fighting a foreign convential army.”
What are you going to do? Post a few more ridiculous blog posts? Hezbollah and the Army (with whom they work closely, see recent events) are the majority of Lebanon and rightfully control it.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Brook, the only majority, and I would say supremacy, Hezbezzbalah has is in its delusions of grandeur and its primitive weapon toting. If anything, the thugs you’re flaunting remind me of the old Lebanese adage:
سلاح بـِئـيد الـخـَرى بـْيـِجـْرَح
Your half-breed savages have made their depravity abundantly clear! They will fight for Iran and Syria to the last Lebanese. Now, if this is not high treason, I don’t know what is.
In any case, enjoy your middle ages, neanderthal, a place in time you’re surely very unlikely to ever come out of.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Though Al Qaida wasnt existing in leb
This is what some were arguing, portraying it as the syrian secret services like in Nahr Bared or Ein Helweh
Now they are discovering Al Qaida threat? :s wouw
May 9th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
We should call for peace in the comments, not for secterian wars.
First thing to say, Hezbollah, Futur, LF, FPM are lebanese and we should all of us get ride of our foreign interferences to bring peace among lebaneses
May 9th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
You’re the savage, who tried to force Hezbollah into a fight by instigating, and you got taught a lesson.
Ape.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Brook, hold your horses cowboy. A savage is someone of your ilk and the ilk of your trigger-happy sayyid, frothing at the mouth anytime someone offends their bosses in Syria and Persia.
and I’m the ape.
btw, here are a couple of definitions of “savage” that might be helpful.
sav·age (svj)
adj.
1. Not domesticated or cultivated; wild: savage beasts of the jungle.
2. Not civilized; barbaric: a savage people.
3. Ferocious; fierce: in a savage temper (as in “Sayyid Nasrallah foaming at the mouth)
4. Vicious or merciless; brutal: a savage attack on a political rival. See Synonyms at cruel.
5. Lacking polish or manners; rude.
n.
1. A person regarded as primitive or uncivilized.
2. A person regarded as brutal, fierce, or vicious.
3. A rude person; a boor.
tr.v. sav·aged, sav·ag·ing, sav·ag·es
1. To assault ferociously.
2. To attack without restraint or pity: The critics savaged the new play.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
are they attacking the blogs now!!!
but you cant use kalashs here…
May 9th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Wow, there’s even more stupidity than usual around the comments section today.
All the asshats and idiots seem to have come out of the woodwork to gloat. Good for you. You can have your shithole of a country, where you think that burning buildings and shooting at each other is some kind of badge of honor, while the rest of the world moves on to better things.
I’m outta here. I hope you all burn in hell.
May 9th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Here is yet another anecdotal evidence that this is a sectarian war. Just called friends and family in Beirut and they are reporting that Shiite owned businesses are open and Sunni owned ones are closed in the vicinity of Corniche Al Mazraa. Now whether this is done by force or by choice does not really matter. At best, this shows that one group feels safe while another is terrified. TV stations are reporting that residents of Tariq Jdeedah are leaving the area. This clearly shows that Hizb Iran is occupiyng Beirut and Hassan Nasrallah is another Antoine Lahd. Just like Lahd faced fierce resistance from local residents in the security zone in the South, expect resistance to the occupiers in Beirut. What a tragedy. I hope Nassralah and his stooges are happy for dragging Lebanon into civil war.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
This is what hezbollah wants ; all the sunnies to get alighned with Alqaeda ; u see then it will be easier to slaughter them ; just like their ally al moqtada il zaber is doing in iraq
May 9th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Just like Lahd faced fierce resistance from local residents in the security zone in the South, expect resistance to the occupiers in Beirut.
When you consider its technology, ruthlessness, and demonstrated competence, Hizbullah is probably the most proficient occupation force on the planet - that’s why Iran has Hizbullah training the Mahdi Army. So I would expect Lebanon’s experience under Hizb occupation to be quite different from its experience under Lahd.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
what a shame
May 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
“the moderate Future Movement”? - On Al Manar its the Future Militia; and in my personal opinion, it is an armed, movement.
Though, I strongly agree with you Mustapha, that there should not be a Sunni - Shiite strife in Lebanon, All would loose, including Christians and Druze.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I really like the Brooklyn-kid who hallucinates he’s
an angry Arab. Probably getting his education on
wars by watching lord of the rings.
Spare us your idiocy.
.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Notice that the main attack is directed at the Sunnis.
The Christians sit quiet in their northern neighborhoods
and coastal towns, and the Druze are safe in their
‘Shuff’ fortresses.
Are Sunnis the weakest link in the equation?
.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Amir, Spare us your instigations. There is plenty of that going on internally and no need for that from your end.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Brooklyn, I am sending your comments to Homeland Security since you love Hezbollah so much, a terrorist organization. Get ready to move back to the Dahia soon. Brooklyn will be cleaner.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
America doesn’t care about Lebanon, the Siniora government has been assigned the task of eliminating Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon to benefit Israel and nothing more. I understand that the majority of Lebanese want freedom from Syria and Iran and feel that Hezbollah has too more power inside Lebanon, but how can you participate in an Anti-Hezbollah plot if the motives are Israeli?
Lebanese Sunnis will serve Israel’s agenda? The same Israel that kills Palestinian Sunni children on a regular basis?
May 9th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
This is what “Mark McHenry” posted on another website:
//
Is Al Qaeda a Mossad front? - Mark McHenry | US
Is Al Qaeda real at all? We were told that Zawahiri was hiding in a cave along the Afghan/Pakistani border, and yet here he is making a video with a library in the background? //
Go away please, you are not helpful.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I live in Amsterdam. A few years ago I spend a view weeks in Beirut. I loved it, but I felt the animosity between the different groups that make up the population of Lebanon. Everybody revered to each other as ‘them’. I hoped that the Lebanese would be wise enough not to start fighting again. That all the bloodshed of the war would structure that wisdom. But I seem to be wrong. I thought the Lebanese where slowly growing out of tribalism but that is probably a little naive of me.
IMHO the current conflict is caused by players in the international arena and the people they control. Especially the lapdog of Syria and Iran; The party of God. Nasrallah is a stupid man that is bought by Iran to do its bidding; to fuck over the Phoenician people of Lebanon. By the way. If there is a God would he, she or he/she not be seriously pissed of by this kind of representation?
The real enemies of Lebanon are the so called ‘resistance’ and Bashar el Assad. They are responsible for all the political murders of the last five years. So I think its time for some payback. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Kill Nasrallah, Kill Assad. Take back Lebanon!!
May 9th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
thats exactly what happens when you let outsiders rulling your country.
thats the results, when you allowed any party to keep its own private army.
and as usual, the majority of the suffer hits the poor and naive residents.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
What happened with this blog’s comment section?
Infiltrated by idiots?
Go comment in Tayyar or al Mannar or something…
ppkkhhhhhhhhhh..!!
.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Dude it’s not a Sunni vs Shia fight….why r you 14ers still trying to picture it like that?????
There are fights in Alley,between druze and sunni,druze and shia,in tripoli between sunni and sunni……so it’s not a sectarian fight you stupid apeheads…So what if Hizbo brought down few Sunni thuggs,they still have manny sunni supporters….
By the way where is Hariri kid,is he still hiding,and hiring thuggs from akkar and minieh to do the dirty work for a fist full of dollars…..
I’m a Sunni,and i’m glad to see Hariri Junior scared like shit…..
May 9th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Israel refuses to even withdraw from their illegal settlements in East Jerusalem but Siniora wants to serve Israel’s agenda in Lebanon? It is disgusting!! And then you wonder why Ahmadinejad makes speeches about the expansionist power of Greater Israel? Because he’s right.
May 9th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
mark.
America doesn’t care about Lebanon??
wrong. America doesn’t care about hez. removing Iranian and syrian influence from lebanon benefits the lebanese more than anyone!
May 9th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
bye bye bad vilbel. and stay out.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
oh, and say hi to lahd in his little gum and kazooz shop.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
well if anyone knows expansionist power it’s Ahmadinejad!! since he’s fighting proxy wars basicly throughout the entire region but yet you claim it’s Israel that is the great expansionists!! tell me where are the israeli malitias that walk the streets of beruit with AKs and RPGs terrorizing the populace??
May 9th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Mark McHairy, tell me, pretty please, how are Israel’s interests served by having an illegal armed militia of wacked out God-crazed inter-bred thugs emasculate a democratically elected government, commandeer state institutions, and wage delusional wars they can never win???
But anyway, the blame falls not entirely on Hezbezzballa who couldn’t, anyway,lift a finger without its Persian and Syrian puppet masters’ permission. The blame falls on those fools, Seniora and others, who wasted 4 precious years trying allay and contain and appease a bunch traitors, feeding their delusions about being a “resistance” and other such nonesense. The idiot Seniora and his goons should have clobbered your sorry asses and declawed your ragtag militia while it was time. Anyway, better late than never, وإزا ما كبرِت, ما رح تزغـَر
we know a thing or two about wielding weapons too. Don’t think you can have a monopoly on arms and violence for ever. Retribution’s a coming.
May 9th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Khaled, Hezbollah fights for the interests of Syria in Lebanon so that the Syrian army doesn’t have to. If Israel can disarm Hezbollah then Syria has no bargaining power or ability to pressure Israel to return the Golan Heights. The whole concept of disarming Hezbollah is for the benefit of Israel and the Siniora government is completely dedicated to disarming Hezbollah and this airport communications scam was just the first step in that process.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
hezbollah fights for the intrests of Iran ITS CREATOR!
syria also serves Irans intrests. after loosing many of their Iraqi based proxy militia (mahdi army) the iranians were forced to display their influence in lebanon. just more smoke and mirrors by Ahmadinejad and his mullah masters
May 9th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
lets not hide behind our pinky ya moustafa ; the sunnis were attacked and defeated. It is hezballah who opened this pendoras box. The sad thing is that no one came to the defense of the sunnis not even the Lebanese army or the security forces that the march 8 accused of being on mustaqbals side.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Mark McHenry,
Hmm…so the existance of Hezbollah is for the benefit of Syria and the eradication of Hezbollah is for the benefit of Israel. What about the benefit of a free Lebanon? I guess the Lebanese can go squat, right?
Isn’t it possible for something to be beneficial to Lebanon and beneficial to Israel as well? Is it really so simple as “good for Israel, bad for everyone else”?
Considering how the Syrian government treats it’s own citizens, leta alone the citizens of Lebanon, why would Israel want to cede strategic territory is gained when Syria invaded it before? Why would any decent person want it to?
May 9th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
HA’s onslaught is not just in west Beirut but on the Lebanese blogs as well.. who let the dogs out…
May 9th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Mark McHairy, if you’re in the crowd that can still believe Syria has an inkling interest in the Golan Heights, then I guess you can believe anything. God bless. And keep the delusion going; it has kept the Assad thugs in power for over a generation, and I wouldn’t be surprised if credulous half-literate Arabs keep them for generations more.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
The Shias have nothing better to do. The problem is that of poverty, low levels of education and marginalization. Hariri should not have paid fo their kids to study in AUB, look what he’s got in return. ‘When you buy a slave, buy a whip with him’ old Arab saying…
May 10th, 2008 at 12:02 am
So Hezbollah is duplicating in Lebanon what Hamas did in Gaza.
Worked out great for the Gazans.
Everyone in the middle east must really love Iran. Look at the peace, progress, wealth, rationality, and stability it brings to every country it touches.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:41 am
Mark McHenry
Dude, whatever you are smoking it must be good.
Hezbollah fights for Iran, not for Syria.
BTW Hamas is supported by Iran too, but primarily by all arab states. So Tom W. don’t blame iranians for all ills in the ME.
May 10th, 2008 at 1:03 am
bye bye bad vilbel. and stay out, inta w hurras elarz.
oh, and say hi to lahd in his little gum and kazooz shop.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:30 am
Mustapha,
Sahar El Khatib’s appearance on Kalam EL Nas is worth a post by itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnwQ_PhDr9c
May 10th, 2008 at 4:07 am
Leave Lebanon to the Lebanese…not the militias and foreign armies.
And….
If Israel wanted Lebanon, she’d have it. (And the Lebanese would be the Super-wealthy, High-Tech Capital of the region). Get real, expel the interlopers and reclaim your country.
May 10th, 2008 at 4:58 am
>If Israel wanted Lebanon, she’d have it. (And the Lebanese would be the Super-wealthy, High-Tech Capital of the region). Get real, expel the interlopers and >reclaim your country.
Lebanon wouldn’t be wealthy if it was controlled by Israel, the Jews who came to control the country would be the wealthy ones. You should look into the news stories of women from Eastern Europe who are sold as sex slaves to Rabbis in Israel, you have no idea what Israel plans to do but it definitely isn’t as wonderful as you think it is.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:14 am
Obviously…as I indicated, Israel does not want Lebanon.
Lebanon should try developing their economy and country..and stop wasting time with crazy fantasies and warfare (They are not very good at it).
Peace
May 10th, 2008 at 5:15 am
How about those Eastern European women in Tyre?