Anarchy In Lebanon
Hezbollah knows what it wants and it makes clear to the world what it wants. Complete control of Lebanon for starters. They're feeling pretty good post dust-up with Israel this past summer. Feeling they came out of that encounter looking good having upheld their position as terrorist-in-residence. And despite using their own trusting Shia civilian supporters as decoys-to-the-death, the better to cast blame on an army on the defensive, they came out smelling like roses - they appear to think.Time to flex muscle. Their masters in Iran are prepared to wait, but only so long, after all. Unable to unseat Prime Minister Fouad Siniora by gentle suasion, (not their usual style, after all) they've resorted to political assassination in response to which the would-be avengers were cautioned to bide their time. Time now to increase the pressure. Peaceful rallies by hordes of Hezbollah supporters availed them little; now it's time for serious clashes.
As a foretaste of more to come, bringing Beirut to a standstill, shutting down commerce, frightening the citizenry, closing off thoroughfares and highways, incinerating cars, building up barricades and uprooting trees. All this sounds a mite familiar in that it eerily reflects an earlier situation Hezbollah fomented when the "IDF invaders" were blamed for this type of civil anarchy, infrastructural damage. But they're busy making their point in the country they profess to love.
This is government opposition Middle East style. The Lebanese army, outmanoeuvered and internally conflicted have in any case been given orders not to intervene unless absolutely necessary. Were they to do so who could guarantee that the Shia-affiliated soldiers won't join Hezbollah, effectively decreasing the numbers of the already-ineffective army? This is termed a "strike"; the closing of shops and schools, emptying of streets to traffic, blocking key roads to the airport and seaport. A strike perhaps in the military sense, not the civil one.
"If it goes on like this, nobody will be able to do anything. The government will have to step down" burbled a Hezbollah conscript, Mohammed Harb, beside a barricade blocking armoured personnel carriers. "And what's beautiful? It's not just Beirut. We've shut down all of Lebanon." Well, who would've thought that vicious military action in a civil setting like this fit the dictionary definition of beauty? Ah, Islamists, that's who.
For his part Prime Minister Siniora promised he would stand firm against "intimidation", that the military should permit "no flexibility or compromise" in keeping the peace. Peace? What peace? When was the last time Lebanon felt at peace with itself? Is he speaking of that very same Lebanese military cautioned not to intervene, rather than turn itself toward ensuring order and stability in the country? Is he truly unaware that neither Syria nor Iran are amenable to a Lebanon living at peace with itself?
The proxy Iranian irregular army that Hezbollah represents is merely yet another of that country's strategems in its arsenal of opportunities directed toward the extinguishment of the State of Israel, at such time when its hegemony extends beyond its borders to encompass both Lebanon and Israel. A Hezbollah-led Lebanon will spell not only the decline in the fortunes fortunes of Lebanon's Christians (those at least unallied with Hezbollah), Sunnis, Kurds and disparate minorities but also whatever meagre peace with its neighbours Israel enjoys.
The question now is how deeply Lebanon will descend into civil chaos and unobstructed lawlessness, before Hezbollah is satisfied it has made its point.
Labels: Middle East
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, January 24, 2007
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