Beirut On The Brink
You know, it seems you can’t read a story these days about anywhere in the Middle East that doesn’t have some ‘trackback’ mention to Iran.
I am beginning to ponder if the bulk of the powers that be in the countries in the Middle East might not quietly welcome that “elective surgery” on Iran we have been talking about of late on this site …
Before we went into Iraq and sent Saddam into a shit-hole-in-the-ground, and his minions scattered and running with their WANTED mugs on a deck of playing cards, HE was a primary funder-in-chief of terrorism in that region. If that isn’t a WMD I don’t know what is.
Now we see Amydidherdad and the Mullahs of Iran running the show over there … a smelly finger in every pot.
Seems the smarmy little pricks aren’t gonna learn until we get in there and KICK THEIR ASSES!
And I would bet cold, gasoline-buyin’ cash on it that the Middle East is just hoping we do …
Besides watching the democrats explode and feed of each others’ rotten entrails, the Middle East just might keep us interested … and entertained (if I may use that word?) this summer …
As the man below says, “Stay tuned.”
by Noah Pollak -
Lebanon is in turmoil again today, but this time the turmoil is clearer than it has been in the past. As things stand right now, members of Hezbollah are thugging their way through the streets of Beirut, setting fires, fighting, and dumping piles of dirt and trash in the roads in order to shut down the city. Most importantly, Hezbollah has closed the highway that connects Beirut to Lebanon’s major airport.
All of this is in response to a few brave and necessary actions recently taken by the Lebanese government. The cabinet voted to dismiss the Beirut airport security chief, a Hezbollah loyalist who allowed the group to set up a video surveillance system to monitor the airport. The government also ordered a judiciary probe of the independent telecommunications network that Hezbollah has been building, with Iranian assistance, in recent months.
So Hezbollah has responded by doing what it does best: sowing chaos and violence, escalating its confrontation with the Siniora government, and hoping that when the dust settles Siniora is weakened (or even removed from power) and Hezbollah is on stronger ground.
The flashpoint to watch is the airport road. Lebanon, like Israel, has only one major airport (although there is talk of quickly turning a smaller airport in the north into a functioning international hub), and its closure is debilitating and unacceptable. The Lebanese government faces the grave and immediate question of whether to capitulate to Hezbollah or to send troops to open the road, which Hezbollah has been covering with truckloads of landfill. Siniora says that his government will not back down; Hezbollah says that it now considers the Lebanese army as having “joined the enemy,” and might build a tent city on the airport road, just as it has done in downtown Beirut.
Hezbollah, though, is isolated in Lebanon as never before. In its latest tantrum, it operates without the sectarian cover of its erstwhile Christian ally, Michel Aoun; the fight is now more clearly than ever one of Hezbollah vs. Lebanon, rather than one of some Lebanese groups vs. some other Lebanese groups. This is bad for Hezbollah, because it puts them in a corner in terms of political tactics — there will be no alliance-shuffling and dealmaking in the offing, always the hallmarks of Lebanese crisis-management — and because it puts Nasrallah in a win/lose corner: either he forces the government to capitulate, or he is seen as having been defeated.
And Hezbollah’s military options against the Lebanese government aren’t clear, given that Hezbollah has organized itself to fight a rocket and guerrilla war against Israel, not street battles in Beirut. If Hezbollah forces an armed conflict, its fealty to Iran and fundamental hostility to Lebanon will be laid bare as never before. Stay tuned.
(commentarymag)
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“Hezbollah, though, is isolated in Lebanon as never before. In its latest tantrum, it operates without the sectarian cover of its erstwhile Christian ally, Michel Aoun; the fight is now more clearly than ever one of Hezbollah vs. Lebanon, rather than one of some Lebanese groups vs. some other Lebanese groups. This is bad for Hezbollah, because it puts them in a corner in terms of political tactics — there will be no alliance-shuffling and dealmaking in the offing, always the hallmarks of Lebanese crisis-management — and because it puts Nasrallah in a win/lose corner: either he forces the government to capitulate, or he is seen as having been defeated.”
I hope the lebanese government and their army won’t give up
sus à l’ennemi !
that said, it’s been a long time that Lebanon was the Zwiterland of the ME, hope we can go there for holidays again
May 7th, 2008 at 3:28 pmIn the second picture, the guy at the forefront with the dotted shirt has no flag to wave. Just a tightly shut fist. I bet he feels inappropriate.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:41 pmSome of his buddies made the same mistake. What kind of organizational skills do these “Freedom Fighters” have?
May 7th, 2008 at 3:42 pmI know you all have seen it a gazillion freaking times before; but these asshole terrorists always have a photo/banner of their towel-headed bed-sheeted mo fo yahoo leaders.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:30 pmOne shot. One kill.
The Shit-ities have pushed out Lebanese Christians and other minorities from their homes in the south. They are slowly strangling Lebanon.
When the Hizzies decide to hit Israel again, they will put all Lebanese at risk. The Hizzies will use those Lebanese as human shields as they did in the recent war.
No amount of negotiating will stop the Hiz-bullshitta and their Syrian puppets. Israel will have to destroy them.
In the meantime what was the Switzerland of the ME has turned into a cesspool of jihadists hell-bent on destroying Israel.
When the next war starts the Hizzies will drive through the UN lines and crush them. Israel will have no choice but to defend itself, while the rest of Lebanon can only sit back and suffer it out again.
Seems to me the key to stopping the Hizbullshittas is to stop their puppetmasters in Iran.
Sooner or later it must be done. Either the IDF will do it or the US will do it. But Lebanon will never be free as long as the Hizzies control the south; and the Syrians everything else.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:15 pmThe power of Hezbollah in Beirut is not to be underestimated. They have a great deal of street cred with the impoverished Arab masses throughout the Middle East. Also, very little happens in Lebanon without the approval of Syria. Rather than hit these two opponents head-on, the Lebanese government should secure the airport, which is right beside the Mediterranean, and go around the roadblocks by sea. That’s how MacArthur confronted the Japanese, leap-frogging around them rather than always hitting them head on. That’s also how he routed the Communists by landing at Inchon. He went around them. The Lebanese government should go right around Hezbollah. Then their attempt to shut Beirut off from its airport will be a laughable exercise in futility for all the world to see.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:15 pmI like your thoughts Tom1981, out maneuver the enemy and then decimate them.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:37 pmThanks, tedders. That’s kind of you. Ultimately, though, Dan (The Infidel) is correct - Israel and Hezbollah are going to have to fight it out. Perhaps one way in which we can legitimately hit Iran the next time they pull something stupid in the Persian Gulf is by taking out some Hezbollah assets in Lebanon, rather than hitting Iran directly. That way, we could assist the Lebanese government and the Israeli government without alienating the Iranian people against us, or anger world opinion, viz. the Russians or the Chinese. The Democrats would accuse Bush of expanding the War, but I think we could easily weather that storm by pointing out how the Iranians have been provoking us for months. They’ve got it coming.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:01 pm