The Aley explosion and Its consequences

After the explosions in (Christian) Ashrafieh and (Sunni) Verdun, Aley, a popular Druze summer destination was hit. Can Walid Jumblat calm his constituents this time?

This time though, the smoke is not natural..

If one was to choose the single event which contributed most to sparking a Sunni-Shiaa strife in Iraq, one would chose the bombing of the Al-askari Mosque in Samarra. The bombing of a historic Shiaa mosque was seen by many as the straw that broke the Shiaa camel’s back, and initiated the cycle of revenge killings.

What does this have to do with Walid Jumblat, the leader of the Lebanese Druze?

To understand, one has to go back a bit to the ziad & ziad murder incident, where two partisans of Walid Jumblat were publicly kidnapped, killed, and maimed to the shock of the Lebanese. Back then, the Druze were seeing red and screaming for revenge, but their leader disappointed them by calling for calm.

The killers turned out to be, as everyone suspected, members of the Shamas family, who are Hezbollah sympathizers and who are now hiding from justice in one of their security zones. By calling for calm, Walid Jumblat had averted a potential bloodbath between the Shiaas and the Druze.

Fast forward to today, an explosion rocks a prosperous Druze Mountain village, and Hezbollah’s condemnation will probably be lukewarm as usual. There are no guarantees that the overzealous Druze will listen to their leader this time.

What this explosion clearly shows, is that March14 is the Target.

It is obvious is that the explosions targeted Druze, Christian and Sunni locations (those religious groups being the chore constituents of March 14). What is less obvious is that all those targets are also touristic hotspots (The Aley explosion was in a shopping area). Businessmen, another March14 constituency, are now lamenting the fatal blow that hit the Summer season (Aley being the favorite mountain destination of Wealthy Gulf tourists).

Whoever is doing this knows this country very well..