generalspeaking

What a Tangled Web....

"If they take part in a battle for Aleppo and more Hezbollah fighters are killed, it will lead to more tension. This should end in Qusair and [Hezbollah fighters] should return home."
Lebanese president Michael Suleiman

The Gulf Cooperation Council has warned it plans to 'take measures' against Lebanese Shiites living and working in GCC countries. Those measures are meant to target only those Lebanese Shiites who support Hezbollah, the integrated terror/political group that is now a part of the Lebanese government and whose chief so recently vowed his complete and unadulterated support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

How Lebanese Shiites working in any of the GCC countries can prove they do not support Hezbollah which has almost overnight, since Mr. Nasrallah's statement of support, and subsequent Hezbollah presence in their militant thousands battling Sunni rebels in Syria, evoked Sunni spleen, is an unknown. Will their word of honour be accepted? Is there any longer honour between Sunni and Shia? Doubt it.

"As a Shiite, I came here because of the bad situation in my country. I ran away because Hezbollah is holding a grip on my community. Not all Shiites are Hezbollah supporters", said Ali, a Lebanese Shiite living in Qatar. "The GCC will take measures against [those] in the GCC countries affiliated with Hezbollah in regards to their residencies as well as their financial and business transactions", read the statement.


The actions of Hezbollah in Syria are troubling to the Lebanese president; little wonder he claims they are fuelling instability in Lebanon. The presence of Hezbollah in Syria has infuriated the Syrian Opposition and the Free Syrian Army. As far as they are now concerned with Hezbollah's fierce entry into Syria, Lebanon is fair game, left wide open to assaults on Hezbollah-held Lebanese territory, by the rebels.

"Sectarian tensions were high even preceding the fighting in Syria but they've gotten considerably worse since Hezbollah's open declaration of fighting in Syria and their triumphalism and celebration of their victory in Qusair, which is after all a victory against an Arab Syrian opposition which is largely Sunni. Celebrating victory over the Israeli enemy is one thing. Celebrating victory over Arab Sunnis has made tensions significantly higher. The Syrian opposition now says they consider themselves at war with Hezbollah and they reserve the right to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon", explained Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.

Saudi Arabia's envoy to Lebanon has warned that his country is prepared to deport anyone who "financially supports this party", in reference to Hezbollah. Hezbollah, once widely admired in the Arab world of both Sunni and Shia for its unblinking stare at Israel of pure hate-fuelled belligerence, backed up by effective weaponry, is now widely detested and persona non grata in any Sunni jurisdiction.

With tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens working in Saudi Arabia, helping to fuel the Lebanese economy by sending much of their earnings back home, a confrontation with their Sunni-majority neighbours is the last thing that Lebanon needs or would feel comfortable in anticipating. Thousands of Hezbollah members remain in Syria, prepared to help the Syrian military retake Aleppo after their success in Qusair.

The cost was great to Hezbollah since hundreds of their fighters are reputed to have been killed in the conflict. Among them none other than the brother of Hassan Nasrallah in the heat of the Qusair battle. A report had it that Hezbollah's terrorist-in-chief attended his brother Khader's funeral in the village of Kfar Kana in south Lebanon on Sunday. He had previously lost a son in a battle with the IDF.

Given the cost to himself personally he would do better to turn to another line of work.

Authorities in Lebanon are concerned that continued Hezbollah presence in the conflict in Syria has the potential of stressing the intricate balance of relations between Sunni Muslims, Christians and Shiite Muslims in Lebanon. "Nasrallah was the biggest Arab Muslim hero after the 2006 war [with Israel]. Today in much of the Sunni world he is reviled but that doesn't impact his position in Lebanon or Syria", said Mr. Salem.

He may be right about Syria, and absolutely wrong about Lebanon.

Labels: Conflict, Controversy, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria

posted by Pieface @ Saturday, June 22, 2013