Here’s how Antoine Hindi, an FPM (Aounist) reader of this site sees thing:
(Ps: The views expressed in this post do not necessarily represent those of Beirut Spring)
-Hizballah used arms internally and lost their right to claim otherwise
-FPM condoned the use of violence – very negative in their street
-LF Samir Geagea embarrassed himself with ridiculous claims and revealed his true size
-Jumblatt’s new image was lost and he returned to being a sleazy, murdering warlord
-The claims that 14th March is a legitimate government was lost as all
people witnessed first hand their armed forces in action. Whether they
were numerous or not, the Future MOvement obviously has a militia.
-14th March dream that the outside would come to their assistance was reaveled to be a pipe dream.
-Balance of power has shifted substantially. It is obvious that the opposition are the power in Lebanon.
-Saniora was exposed to be a liar, especially with the 2 decisions taken and whether they had been made official.
-The use of sectarianism by the Future movement failed in Beirut as the
Sunni parts, about 600,000 citizens, virtually every household armed,
did not answer the call by the FM to fight the opposition. Beirut was
taken over and only 7 died, less than had been shot by FM supporters in
previous episodes.
My prediction is that there will be nothing holding together the
different factions of FM very much longer, with defections very soon.
The demonstration that the power on the ground is with the opposition,
and that the 14th March cannot rely on any outside help, things will
start to look very different very soon.
Thoughts? Reactions? (PS: Please don’t use profanities as I’ll have to edit them out)
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I have been blogging about Lebanese society and politics since February 2005. You can also find me on 
Opposition are the power in Lebanon? Based on what? Overpowering citizens of Beirut with an armed / well trained militia? Very powerful that is! This is why it is virtually impossible to negotiate fairly with Hezbollah, because at the end of the day they can negotiate with guns pointed at the Governments head and they have shown that arms will be used against their fellow Lebanese if it is required for political reasons. So yes, if this is what you call power then the Opposition will remain the power in Lebanon until they give up their arms!
Hizballah used their arms internally and lost their right to claim otherwise, the FPM condoned the use of violence, and Beirut was taken over and only 7 died.
Again, why should we use profanities when the country has clearly been set back on the right track, you know “el sekke el sa7i7a”, Aoun’s version of “I’m on a highway to hell”.
Thanks for highlighting my post, but for your information, I’m not an FPMer but rather a supporter of Liberty Front. Please clarify this.
Dear Other Tony,
Who did Hizballah fight?? the government?? the governments forces are the army and internal security force that where not involved. Who was firing back?? the militia’s of the 14th march – like it or not – this is simply the case. We have no government in Lebanon, rather a coalition of Militias. In order to move towards real government and disarmament of all Militia’s including Hizballah, Future MOvement, PSP, LF etc, the Lebanese have got a lot of work to do. It all starts with a unity government and new elections.
Please explain to me why the “government” is verbally attacking the “official armed forces of the country”?
The politicians have failed us, and Lebanese citizens must take action.
I hope all of you living abroad will take the initiative and write to your representatives to support banning flights to and from Lebanon until airport security is fundamentally changed, and a real investigation into Shoucair takes place.
I live in London, and I have sent letters to my MP as well as BAA to highlight the risk of a terrorist-linked security chief running Beirut airport.
Hizballah must not be allowed to run the place.
It’s not worth answering these absurdities, but this shows the level of lowness our politicians continue to reach.
It’s really a useless debate. Looks like Antoine Hindi lives in totally different universe than the universe I’m living on.
Jumblat a war lord? did you see Druze people fight?
Siniora “exposed” lies? what lies?
Sunnis “did not respond” to calls to fight? I didn’t hear such “calls”…
So answering Antoine Hindi is useless. Empty words.
“only 7 died”
not enought for you?
Anyway last count 37, now probably even more. Ofcourse what do you care, you were safe at home, and we deserve death for disobeying the great ayatollah eh??
Thank you amir……
The Druze Men like others in Lebanon are punching walls right now, wanting to defend themselves against thugs with guns whoever they might be,( Aytat, bieng the latest, victim)….while Joumblatt plays Ghandi, preaching passive resistance.
So for Antoine knobjockey to come out with stupid allegations, it really is disturbing….if he wanted to be a warlord, he would have by now and believe me as i am from the shouf, there is nothing in this universe that can hold back the Druze from defending their lands.
Couple points:
- What happened was wrong, especially burning al mustaqbal and stopping Future TV nothing justifies that
- What is more sickening is the LIES the continuous lies and what I like to call “3ohor siyasi”, I can’t find an equivalent word in English.
- Now everyone is acting like they are angels, and they are not sectarian, and they are victims and it is the other side. This is ridicilous and shows how much we are away from even the semblance of a resolution. Solving a conflict requires courage from both sides to accept the fact that they did mistakes: Huge ones for that matter. and the willingness to make concessions.
- what have we learned:
- people have selective memory and each side chooses to highlight what suits them and forget that it takes two to tango, and that they also played a role in getting things here.
- We have to stop hiding behind our pinky. WE ARE SECTARIAN FOOLS..AND I SAY WE..BECAUSE ALL SIDES ARE (including the beloved prime minister)..NO ONE SHOULD ACT ALL MIGHTY AND ANGEL-LIKE..
-
Maverick man, the shouf is onfire rigt now, the PSP malitia is using artillery. Yesterday Jumblatt took responsibility for the PSP taking three hizballah members hostage and then killing them – stop you propoganda and turn on the tv!!
Amir in Tel Aviv – you know as much about Lebanon as George W Bush.
This is what you want to believe Antoine, Just like the Hizbos who need a pretense to fight “a just battle” in self defense…yes its the PSP who are running through the streets of Beirut killing mercilessly, Its the PSP who created the violence.Unbelievable, you seriously are demented. Those clashes in Aley were not PSP, they were Druze men defending their homes against armed animals, if they happen to be PSP,communists, or whatever is not the point….the point is, they are defending themselves against those who invade their homes whoever it may be…Joumblatt took responsibility inorder to keep his community subdued but i dont think he will for long if the aggression keeps going for long, niether will Geagea, or Hariri, its not only the military aggression, its the lies and bullshit you people keep spinning thats making us sick to our stomach
Maverick. face it dude, Hizballah and the PSP are both militia’s. According to Bkerke’s records, the PSP under Jumblatts leadership destroyed 258 churches and monesteries, ethnically cleansed, and murdered over 5000 Christians because they where christians. I hope you take this into consideration when you present him to people as your idea of a statesman.
excellent, bring up the past, dig for graves, lets investigate 1860, and better still go back to fakhredinne.UN fukn believable…
heres the facts….PSP DISARMED along with other lebanese militias except for Hizbo cos apparently they are the ” mooqawami”…PSP is no longer a militia organization, the only guns they posses is rotten old stock back in the days and some hunting rifles, so spare me the bullshit,…you love to bring up the past, thats what you are all about,…the opposition has done nothing productive in the last 3 years but bring up the past, just to justify their ” rightoues” cause.Funny, it really is, if things werent so tense,i wouldve thanked you for providing me with your humour.
This is to Hindi who claims that March 14 were firing back and therefore they are considered a militia. So does he prefer the people to have their homes and streets taken by thugs without fighting for their homeland? This shows how retarted people still live and walk in this beautiful country of mine that I shall never enjoy living in it as long as there are people that are retarded and have no love for their homeland. NO matter what the case is no Matter who is lying and who is an angel, no one has hte right to use their weapons on their own people and not go unpunished.
All this for a seat in presidency. I don’t understand how can people still follow this Aoun and not be considered retarded. Where was he when the Syrian army crushed the fighters (militia?) in 1989-90 when hte tanks rolled over our brothers bodies on the streets? Where was he all these years and how did he survive with a army’s salary in France? What was he doing in the states and in Congress frequently? There is no principle no backbone other than a seat. Willing to destroy a unity a city a country for a seat in Baabda. I wonder who is laughing at us this second.. is it the homsi? Or really ask yourself who is the homsi?
Hizballah used arms internally and lost their right to claim otherwise
Do you think Nasrallah will admit to this, or will he instead use his expanded influence to paint all bloody events as “war against the Zionists” and portray any Hezbo casualties as “martyrs”? Give it, oh, ten years or so, and what Lebanese will remember the past week’s events as anything else?
So Antoine,
Are you saying that the PSP’s past justifies Hisballah’s plans to attack and occupy their homes and territories? Because that theory holds for all Lebanese factions with the Future movement probably being the only exception. I mean what the hell was Hisballah doing in Aley anyways? I’ll tell you what they were doing, trying to occupy it.
If you think that the middle-class mixed population of verdun, mar-elias, corniche el mazraa, hamra, koreitem, ras elnabaa, clemenceau… are able to go down to the streets and fight an experienced well-trained militia who even the Israelis couldn’t beat then I think your logic is kind-of skewed as to the reason why Beirut fell so quickly. I agree with you though that if Hisballah keeps this up, then the FM will probably lose ground eventually. But believe me, Hisballah is better off with FM as the replacement will be a radical al-qaida like group and that will spell out disaster for everyone.
Yes the “opposition” has won and have asserted their power over the rest of the Lebanese. The Lebanese now have 3 options to choose from. 1- The Lebanon of 1975-1990: endless civil war. 2- The Lebanon of 1990-2005: puppet government ruled in reality by Hisballah and Syria. The Lebanon of 2005-2008: Limbo. Which one is chosen depends on what happens in the coming few days and ofcourse the will of the real players: Iran, Syria and the US.
Israel has a problem. Not the Lebanese. I truly wouldn’t worry much. If anything, we should worry about the fact Israel is frightened by the turnout in Beyrouth… and when Israel is frightened, we should be weiry.
The US-Backed government (every respectable newspaper calls it that, so I will I) got embarressed. Nobody came to its rescue. The Government, and especially Seniora took a very, very courage stance, and boy do I ever respect him.
After all this, I mean, seriously, Who Benefits from dismantling the Communications Network of Hezbollah? Who?
I feel the networks have been there for a long time, it certainly never hurted the Lebanese people! Think about that one. And think about the extent the government went through, in order to cut these wires off.
Maybe it’s about time Israel looks into making some concessions towards Lebanon, in order for us to make Peace. I look forward to Peace with Israel, since, where I live, all my freinds are Israelis.
This is again to Antoine who says the PSP destroyed churches and killed x.. etc.. Isn’t this in the past? Aren’t we supposed to make a future for our children atleast since we obviously didn’t have a future growing up in those bad times.All militias in the civil war did horrible things and in my opinion should have been punished.. But now it is too late, we are in 2008. Remember we have a parliament speaker who is the head of a militia currently in ’08. Why bring up the past? What good does it serve lebanon and it’s future? When are we going to realize that we are allowing big countries to play wiht us! Destroy us! Who do you really work for? What is your aim? your goal? What do you have plans for the future? You think by brewing hatred and animosity this will be fruitful in the future? how can people live with one anohter? What is it that you want? Aoun to be president? and everything will be okay? I bet you don’t have answers to where lebanon is heading and how we can build a future.
Guhd belog. I likey vat your write. Die Hezbollah!
The path ahead for Lebanon is as follows: (my humble opinion).
Caretaker government
New elections under new Butrous law or 1960 law
New parliament chooses new President
New government goes into major dialogue based on the defense stragety for Lebanon and for the best means of integrating all militia elements (Hzb, PSP, FM,LF etc) into army
There is a humble sane that goes like this: If it is not broken why fix it. I really do not have anything to comment anymore because it doesn’t make sense anymore. There is a reality of power domination in Lebanon that if you support it today, one day it will backfire on your wishful thinking. One more question please, what about the people that were assasinated? What about the parliament members that were assasinated? Does that mean you agree with what happened in order to change the will of the people? Who will vote for Aoun other again the illiterate and retards.
Thats what Aoun said in his latest speech that he wants to dig up the past on what really happened, they are looking at the past now AND HONESTLY HE HAS THE MOST EMBARASSING PAST
“Maybe it’s about time Israel looks into making some concessions towards Lebanon, in order for us to make Peace.”
Problem is, no matter what concessions Israel makes there won’t be any Peace with Lebanon until there is no Israel to make Peace with – not unless Lebanon, specifically Hezbollah, changes first.
All the M14 leaders asked for calm and non-retaliation. They actually thought the Army would prevent HA from murdering the Sunni. Hezbollah has almost total control of media now and clearly Hindi is getting all his information (as are most) from the opposition media.
M14 won’t be able to control the masses. Pandora’s box has opened and Michael Totten probably has it right.
Lebanon’s third Civil War has begun and this one is purely sectarian.
I actually sort of agree with one of Hindi’s suggestions – immediate elections. You really believes that the citizens of Lebanon would ever vote to put Nasrallah and Aoun in power? That won’t happen in any kind of “free election” which makes you wonder what kind of election they have in mind.
the army proved its futility in lebanon. Time to carve up the cofedracies . How can we live with those people again? How can our children go to the same schools etc.. etc…
No one ever denied that hezballah has the upper military level ; the use of force this way makes it impossible for people to live together ;
i see no solution in sight.
Koullounaaaa… lil watan… la la laaa la la laaa
Atrocities are being committed by both sides, and the FM cant claim that they dont have weapons, because they do and its not a couple of privatly owned ak47, they have all kind of weaponary and they used it in akkar.
read this
http://darkoysm.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/is-it-lebanon-or-rwanda-details-of-the-halba-massacre/
and the articles that follow
Antoine Hindi,
It appears from your comment that you believe that ” might is right”. The rule of the jungle prevails. That is precisely what is wrong with HA and the its oppressive bosses of the Syrian and Iranian regimes. If you aspire to live in a police state like Syria or Iran, then what is going on in Lebanon should please you. A Lebanon dominated by HA will be even worse to live in, than Syria or Iran. Good luck with your brainless aspirations.
ive been hearing this a bit , that this was some sort of trap that the government planned ,,, dunno if that makes much sense,
think about it, with elections inevitable and in less than a years time, hizbullah and their allies image has been wrecked..
by labelling the HA cablenetwork illegal, the govn had pressed the right button, and hizbullah fell into the trap . yes , things have gotten out of hand, and No side wanted this, not even the opposition, but in the end, HIzbullahs credibility has been lost, and they will now, more than ever, be seen as savages,,,
They will be seen as savages because that is their true nature. Finally revealed. Wake up Lebanon and smell the coffee.
Sam …. the whole “trap” thing is that most all the Mid East analysts have been saying for a while now that which ever side started the conflict was going to be the “loser” because the people of Lebanon do NOT want another war and support would go to the other side. It was a giant game of “blink” ….. Nasrallah lost – and showed his true face. The HA & FPMers on their forum are now saying that Aoun was not just a supporter but a planner in the whole action. I don’t think any of them thought that Nasrallah would go after the Sunni so openly and taking out media that does not support the opposition has shocked even a few of the Orangettes … although not the hard core. They think suppression of the press is just hunky dory.
Antoine,
As someone already posted here, HA CAME TO ALEY FIRST. If the had come to your home to attack you, would you let them kill your family and take over your home? What is happening in the Chouf is an invasion of the Druze people’s homes and you make excuses for HA. They are murdering, armed robbers…and you are an accomplice, you son of a bitch coward. I hope to God that they come and bomb your fucking hometown and kill your fucking family. Let’s see how you will react, you piece of shit.
Antoine,
Since it appears that my previous post was not allowed due to its colorful language, I will keep it clean. As someone else pointed out on this blog, HA CAME TO ALEY FIRST. How would you react if HA came to your hometown and tried to invade it? You expect the people of the Chouf to be cowards and allow these murdering, armed bullies shoot at them, kill their families, and burn their homes? I hope to God that HA comes to your hometown soon, Antoine… let’s see how you feel when they direct – and shoot – their weapons at your family, your homes, and march arrogantly down your streets…while the ‘unbiased’ army watches. What would you do then? Did the Chouf people come down to Sour?…and if they were to do that, wouldn’t you expect HA to defend themselves? As Lebanese, we should be running to the aid of our Druze and Sunni brothers during this invasion, just as we would if the Druze were attacking HA in their homes. HA will attack the Maronites soon and don’t expect us to take it lying down.
Hey Anonymous, I don’t want to see a Hizballah armed in the future, the trouble is I don’t want a PSP or any other group armed either. For so long you guys have been at Hizballah labelling them a militia(rightfully so), but failing to acknowledge that the 14th March are simply a bunch of militia’s too!!. This government in the Bayen Wizari actually makes Hizballah’s arms legal, but no where does it mention the machine guns, rpg’s, artillery,canon etc of the PSP. Let’s build a true state — 14th March is not that state, but rather a gathering of militia’s claiming legitimacy, porforming pathitically and trampling on the rights of half of Lebanon.
Antoine,
it’s all about demagogy. i don’t know how you look like really, but you seem to be one of those ‘manar-otv’ glued guys since most of your arguments merely represent 10% of the reality. let me clarify some things to you
– 600 000 beiruti family holds a gun : i live in tareek el jdideh and i know what i’m talking about, you can’t convince me that i DO hold a riffle (or RPG) with a sustained firing capacity (say to keep up a front for a day, 500 bullets) without my knowledge. Even worse, don’t tell me that the guys who ‘guard’ our building with 3asayit ashata are the ones you say have RPGs. Do you know what’s an RPG déjà? Seen it only once during the military service and i can assure you it’s bloody scary, and handling it is not a piece of cake. bref.
– FM (although i agree they do not represent me personally) was a relief of the beirutis in a moment of crisis. As i read on some blog of yours at a 400$ salary, FM was capable of creating an economical breathing for those jobless guys in our areas, most likely jobless cuz of 15 years of heavy Syrian economical drain, 3 years of opposition anti-democratic and blocking demands, and an unjustified war waged by HA while still on the negotiations table (tell me who are the liars please)
– as i always say in my blogs, i personally hate very ‘certain’ persons. You MAY have CONVICTIONS, but NEVER, EVER be CERTAIN of anything. Your speech is very ‘CERTAIN’, i can’t but ‘categorize’(sorry) you as a demagogically controlled individual. Demagogy is a cancer that genetically hits the arab countries (that’s why they always have totalitarian regimes ruling them).
– what happened in the past few days proves one thing. A party has been preparing for this for a long time now. I feel, like Ms Khatib said on LBC, that i have been betrayed by my stupidity. Someone, somewhere took us for fools for 15 years, then that someone tought his successors how to take us as fools for 3 more years. It’s ok, i think most Lebanese – 9 million abroad and shi 2 millions in Lebanon – got the message and see things more clearly and less naively now.
– I think you still have 10% of reason in your sole. Please print the following argument, read it, breath, THINK, re-read it, breath, …
Israeli got 2 soldiers captured, they felt oppressed, they retaliated. Someone somewhere managed to demagogically turn the retaliation as a violation (?!) and turned 1000 civilian casualities, 15 billion dollars of infrastructure and income loss into a victory. Let’s assume this is true (facing demagogy, there is no remedy man sorry), tayibe. Now look at this from the other side. ASSUME we kidnapped (actually moved) one Officier from the LEBANESE ARMY Institution, investigated into the communication network and all the fuss that was used to wage your rebellion. You retaliated, with lots of agressivity, the same one used by israelis back in 2006. In one case you were the ‘agressed’(duuh) and in another case you were the oppressor. Even the most Hypnosed person out there should see a contradiction. If support the oppressed and the oppressed in both situations, there is a bug somewhere in you and you personally need an Alt-Control-Delete.
why the hell am i trying to convince people, khalas lost is lost. let’s find a way to live with this. but remember one thing Antoine, Lebanon is based on diversity and democracy is always the word of 50+1 over the others, you should at least accept this.
The options you’re suggesting will isolate lebanon from its surrounding, from the Petro$ and from its expatriates who will -sorry- be disgusted to return to lebanon if they no longer recognize it. Syria is merely concerned about the FPM because it’s bringing a 49.9999 50.0001 balance into the equation, thus helping IT avoid the international tribual. They’re not bringing in a cent into lebanon. Iran is concerned about its nuclear program and see the ‘yom el kiyemeh’ as an eventuality near the end of the mandate of najad. what they’re paying on HA and its infrastructure (real $) come directly out from its Defense Ministry’s Budget. These are not people we can count on in building our country.
You may disagree with LF’s approach for historical reasons, but hey! i managed to forget about all that even though sabra&shatila took place 1 km away from my house and I escaped 3 150mm of kasf 3ashwe2eh back when they were holding the ‘cancellation war’ with the Lebanese Army.
I also forgot about Berri’s amal movement who did all the atrocities to tarik el jdideh in the late 80s.
Most people don’t want to hear about this, and using these things as arguments can be seen as desperate attempts to attack your political opponent.
Aoun before 2003 (3 not 5) is not the Aoun we know right now. I hope that most average Aounists do not agree with what happened in the last few days.
Take care man, Panadol won’t do it if you keep biased, use the remote control and move on to something other than OTV or Manar, or even better control Tab in your browser and point to other blogs.
regards!