[ARABNEWS] Leb
 ...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
on Sunday called for an international investigation into a strike that killed 12 people, including children, in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, warning against a large-scale retaliation.
Hezbollah rejected Israel’s accusation of bombing Majdal Shams on Saturday, saying in a statement that "the Islamic Resistance® has nothing to do with the incident at all, and we categorically deny all the false claims in this regard."
After Hezbollah’s statement, Walid Wally Jumblat
...Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
, former head of the Progressive Socialist Party — the most powerful Druze leader in Lebanon — warned against "what the Israeli enemy is doing to ignite strife, fragment the region, and target its various communities."
His warning came as Israel on Sunday morning carried out intense raids on the villages of al-Abbassieh and Burj al-Shamali near Tyre, southern Lebanon, causing widespread destruction.
It also raided the border villages of Tayr Harfa and Khiam, and targeted a residential building in Taraya, central Bekaa, with two missiles, destroying the building but causing no casualties.
The attack in Majdal Shams came hours after a raid by Israel on the southern border village of Kfarkila, in which four Hezbollah members were killed.
In a statement, the Lebanese government condemned "all acts of violence and attacks against all civilians," adding that "targeting civilians is a flagrant violation of international law and contradicts the principles of humanity."
It called for an "immediate cessation of hostilities on all fronts."
Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib said in a statement on Sunday that "since the beginning of the war, Hezbollah has been targeting military sites and not civilians, and I don’t think that it carried out this attack in Majdal Shams."
He added: "It might be planned by other organizations ... an Israeli mistake or even an error on Hezbollah’s part, I don’t know. We need international investigation to uncover the truth."
In a joint statement, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert and UNIFIL head of mission and force commander Lt. Gen. Aroldo Lazaro condemned "the death of civilians, including young children and teenagers, in Majdal Shams," stressing that "civilians must be protected at all times."
They urged "the parties to exercise maximum restraint and to put a stop to the ongoing intensified exchanges of fire, as they could ignite a wider conflagration that would engulf the entire region in a catastrophe beyond belief."
The UN special coordinator held a phone call with Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
, who is considered the most important channel of communication with Hezbollah.
According to his press office, Berri affirmed that "Lebanon and its resistance are committed to UN Resolution 1701 and the rules of engagement by refraining from targeting civilians."
Berri added that "the resistance’s denial of involvement in the Majdal Shams incident strongly reaffirms this commitment and underscores that neither Lebanon nor the resistance is responsible for what happened."
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said his organization was in contact with the parties to diffuse the tension.
Jumblat received a phone call from the US mediator to the Middle East, Amos Hochstein, who expressed concern over the escalating situation on the southern Lebanese front after the Majdal Shams incident.
Jumblat tried to diffuse the situation, since most of the Majdal Shams’ residents are Druze.
He said that "targeting civilians is rejected and condemned, be it in occupied Paleostine, the occupied Golan, or in southern Lebanon," adding that "the history of the Israeli enemy is filled with massacres against civilians."
Activists and supporters on TV channels and social media platforms denied Hezbollah’s involvement in the Majdal Shams attack, noting that "there are no settlers in Majdal Shams for the party to target, and it knows that." 
|
