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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Lebanese Villagers Take Aim at Hezbollah Amid Talks | |
| 2008-05-20 | |
| Yahyia Zubian peered through a small telescope across the valley from his hometown of Niha, high in the mountains of Lebanon, and explained how villagers fought off Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim militia. ``They came with guns and recoilless rifles on pickup trucks,'' he said, pointing to a barren mountaintop to his east. `` Our scouts saw them. So we ambushed them. This is our house. They don't have any business here.'' The battle for Niha, home to members of Lebanon's Druze minority, underscores the urgency of Arab League-sponsored talks now under way in Doha, where 22 nations are trying to persuade Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, 65, and Hezbollah to agree on a new president, a new electoral law and a national unity cabinet. After a deadlock over the government demand that Hezbollah disarm, Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani intervened to push a compromise on the electoral law. The Niha fighting erupted during six days of violence that risked transforming the standoff between Hezbollah and Siniora's pro-Western government into a full-scale conflict along the lines of the 1975-1990 civil war that took 100,000 lives. Although Druze largely support Siniora, the resistance in Niha wasn't just political, said Zubian, 43. The village was reacting to another ethnic-religious group entering its territory -- a transgression that in Lebanese eyes is as great as any political dispute. ``Things quickly turned into sectarian warfare,'' said Eugene Sensenig-Dabbous, a political-science professor at Beirut's Notre Dame University. `Declaration of War' The violence started May 7, one day after Siniora's cabinet fired the head of airport security over discovery of a Hezbollah surveillance system and also decided to dismantle a covert Hezbollah phone network. Hezbollah interpreted this as a challenge to its self-declared right to maintain an autonomous military force. Hassan Nasrallah, 47, the group's leader, called Siniora's actions ``tantamount to a declaration of war.'' Hezbollah entered Sunni Muslim neighborhoods of west Beirut, burning buildings belonging to Sunni political groups. Sunnis in the northern port of Tripoli then attacked members of the Alawite community, a Shiite offshoot that supports Hezbollah. Bodies of dead Alawites shown on television had signs of mutilation. Hezbollah claimed Druze executed two captured Shiite fighters. Civilian Deaths In a May 18 statement, New York-based Human Rights Watch said Lebanese authorities should investigate the civilian deaths, which it estimated at about 65. Lebanese police put the figure at about 80. The ``blatantly'' ethnic aspect of the struggle has ``deepened the sectarian divide, something the Shiite movement long sought to avoid,'' the International Crisis Group, a conflict-resolution advisory organization, said in a May 15 report on the consequences of Hezbollah's campaign. Lebanon's government reflects its ethnic patchwork. Seats in parliament are reserved for 10 of its 18 ethnic groups: Maronites, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholic and Protestant among the Christians; Sunni and Shiite for Muslims; Alawites and Druze, an Islamic sect that contains a mix of other philosophies. Blaming the Druze Niha, with 7,000 residents, is located in the far south of the Chouf Mountains, the Druze heartland, which Hezbollah invaded on May 11. Nasrallah blamed Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a Siniora supporter, for the political crisis. Jumblatt campaigned for a crackdown on Hezbollah's military, which fought a 33-day war against Israel in 2006 that Hezbollah triggered by capturing two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
Surrender, Retreat Surrounded, the Hezbollah fighters surrendered, Zubian said. After phone calls among Jumblatt, 58, and Hezbollah officials, the fighters were permitted to retreat, he added. Hezbollah officials reached in Beirut didn't respond to requests for their account of the Niha battle. Newspapers reported about 20 dead on the Druze side, and 30 on Hezbollah's -- a surprise result, experts said. ``I think Hezbollah thought the Druze would be easy, and they could marginalize Jumblatt,'' said Amal Saad, author of ``Hizbullah: Politics and Religion,'' a history of the group. Zubian said that while some Druze in the area supported the Shiites, they fought alongside their neighbors. Among them was Kamal Ghaith, 63, who said he opposes Jumblatt and is generally a ``pacifist.'' ``This is our land,'' said Ghaith, who was wearing the traditional black pantaloons and white skull cap of the Druze. ``It doesn't matter about politics. We fight to the death for our land and brothers. A Druze is a friend no matter what.'' Zubian said Niha will be better prepared next time. ``We don't want to arm like in the civil war, but we certainly don't want anyone thinking they can just come in here when they want.'' | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 If Human Rights Watch had been less pro Hezbollah, then Hez would be less aggressive. I'd love to see some US Senator make that point on TV. |
| Posted by: mhw 2008-05-20 14:57 |
| #4 Sounds like Hezbollah took tactical advice from General Custer's biography. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-05-20 11:44 |
| #3 Zubian said the Hezbollah column, numbering about 250 men, arrived May 12 on a road built by Israel before it abandoned its occupation of south Lebanon in 2000. The column split into three parts. After night fell, the Druze, armed with Kalashnikov and M-16 rifles, attacked each column from three different villages. ``We know this like our own bedrooms, kitchens and baths,'' said Niha resident Nadia Assaf, 22. Surrender, Retreat Surrounded, the Hezbollah fighters surrendered, Zubian said. After phone calls among Jumblatt, 58, and Hezbollah officials, the fighters were permitted to retreat, he added. Hezbollah officials reached in Beirut didn't respond to requests for their account of the Niha battle. Ah, the crisis was elevated because the Dhimmini Druze FOUGHT BACK AND WON! HORRORS! UNACCEPTABLE! INTOLERABLE! UNISLAMIC! INCONVENIENT! HUMILIATING! /Sarc (as if I needed this tag) |
| Posted by: ptah 2008-05-20 09:27 |
| #2 Grumpy G(r)om could answers that, or EoZ, but I think it's a yes to both, from my half-remembered recollations. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2008-05-20 09:03 |
| #1 Are Israeli Druze still subject to the IDF draft? Were they ever? |
| Posted by: George Smiley 2008-05-20 09:01 |