Beirut Spring

Blogging Lebanon
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Politics move quickly and opinions evolve. There's a good chance I no longer hold some of the opinions expressed in the post below
—Mustapha

Who is Targetting UNIFIL?

May 27, 2011 · Mustapha Hamoui

Some people say I immediately rush to accuse Syria (I pointed fingers on twitter as soon as I heard about the explosion). They say that for fairness’ and objectivity’s sake, I should consider the possibility that this is a “criminal act” or a terrorist act by Alqaeda.

I’m having none of that. I don’t have hard evidence, but consider the following:

  • An attack on the UNIFIL took place while leaders in the G8 were considering sanctions on Syria in the UN Security Council, the same body that created UNIFIL
  • Lebanese pro-Syrian politicians like Wi2am Wahhab have a habit of threatening UNIFIL publicly if Syria was “targeted”
  • The Syrian foreign minister said that “Europe made a mistake” in sanctioning Assad. The UNIFIL soldiers targeted today were Europeans.
  • Before that, Rami Makhlouf, the Syrian president’s cousin clumsily threatened to cause regional instability if the regime is endangered
  • The party that is most interested in shaking things up now and changing the topic is Syria.

I say the burden is on Syrian regime to prove it didn’t do it..