generalspeaking

Crossing The Line

"Attacking the army crosses a line -- it is provocative and not something we want to see. I hope it doesn't escalate. The situation is tense but is not yet out of control."
Sami Atallah, director, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Beirut

"The army is determined to end the Assir situation because otherwise it will lose all of its prestige and will become paralyzed. This is very important for Lebanon as a state. The army is the last barrier before a Sunni-Shiite war in Lebanon."
Ferid Chedid, The Lebanon Wire, Beirut news service

It was, after all, only a matter of time. And the time-line was stepped up considerably with the final unequivocal entry and verbal dedication of Hezbollah, the 'army of God', into the Syrian fray. Qusayr is a village adjacent Lebanon, and Hezbollah vowed it would not leave its brethren to the mercies of Sunni Muslim rebels eager to destroy them. It was, after all, only defending its own. But from Qusayr, on to Aleppo!

Now Sidon, 40 kilometers south of Beirut has become another battle zone. The southern Lebanon port city became that combat zone as Lebanese military struggle against the faithful of a hard-line Sunni Muslim cleric, Sheik Ahmad Al-Assir. The sheik's followers took it upon themselves to surround an army checkpoint in Abra, on the city outskirts. In response to the soldiers having stopped a vehicle carrying a few of their comrades.

The army managed to take control of Sheik Assir's mosque in Abra. A recipe certain to inspire a response that will drag in a larger contingent of Sunnis prepared to dedicate themselves to the liberation of the mosque. Media in Lebanon are reporting on the clashes that have spilled over from Syria into Lebanon as heralding the near future, with Lebanon reflecting Syrian sectarian dysfunction.

Sheik Assir has been voluble and condemnatory in his opposition to Hezbollah's entry into Syria's civil war, fighting side-by-side with President Bashar al-Assad's forces, and in lock-step with the presence of Iranian 'advisers' in the guise of Iranian Republican Guard al-Quds contingents. The conflict in Sidon has further cultivated protests in Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley.

Amply reflecting growing sectarian tensions in Lebanon. Amplified in large part by the presence of almost a million Syrian refugees seeking haven from the violence in their own country. Their presence is overwhelming to the balance of the sects. Sheik Assir is no milquetoast run-of-the-mill Sunni cleric, but a rabid extremist Salafist. Capable of counterbalancing Hezbollah in ferocity.

And the Lebanese army, traditionally comprised of both sects as well as Christians has undergone its own change. Where once it was multi-sectarian, with its chief-of-staff Christian, and half of its officers Christian and half Muslim, themselves divided between Shia and Sunni, that has changed since the civil war. 

Christians are now largely absent in the military ranks and they are now mostly Muslim. And the divisions are steadily looming in intensity and potential threat to the stability of Lebanon. President Bashar al-Assad well knew of what he spoke when he warned that as goes Syria so goes the neighbourhood.

Labels: Conflict, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, June 26, 2013