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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Hizballah Trying To Overthrow Lebanese Government |
| 2007-01-23 |
| (Debka) Tuesday night, prime minister Fouad Siniora vowed he would not surrender to the violence, after 3 people were killed and 110 were injured in disturbances which on their first day succeeded in paralyzing the country and plunging Beirut into chaos. Hundreds of thousands of pro-Syrian protesters laid Beirut to siege at the bidding of HizballahÂ’s Hassan Nasrallah and his pro-Syrian allies, Gen. Michel Aoun and the north Lebanese Faranjieh clan. DEBKAfileÂ’s Beirut sources report they orchestrated the crippling of normal business in Lebanon step by step by means of text messages to the 300,000 cell phones distributed to the local ringleaders. Except for some Beirut districts, Lebanese army and security forces were willing collaborators of the pro-Syrian demonstrators in the rest of the capital and in central and northern Lebanon. In most places, they were outnumbered. The army or police made no attempt to restore order and the casualties of the day were caused by clashes between pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian factions. Tuesday night, a senior intelligence source described the crisis in grim terms to DEBKAfile: "Today they laid siege to government offices and the premises of the anti-Syrian government parties, burning tires and cars," he said. "Wednesday, they start burning government buildings and the headquarters of anti-Syrian movements. The Siniora government does not command sufficient loyal security personnel to stem the tide of more than a million pro-Syrian demonstrators. Only outside military intervention can save the day, but I donÂ’t see it coming." Our military sources report that, to deter foreign intervention - and shift the blame for toppling the government away from the Shiite Hizballah - the pro-Syrian camp used the subterfuge of placing Maronite Christian activists, followers of Gen. Aoun and the Faranjiehs, at the head of each group of thugs. NasrallahÂ’s organization and the pro-Syrian Sunni Muslims provided the solid masses in the rear. Fouad Siniora is due to fly to Paris Wednesday to attend a conference of the donor governments for LebanonÂ’s reconstruction. He may return to find his government buildings in ruins. Our sources report that Nasrallah and Aoun have decided to let him leave and return home safely, while using his absence to muscle their way to power. Siniora is to be left with the empty title of prime minister with no real authority. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #4 And this is new how, exactly? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-01-23 22:08 |
| #3 Gee, ya think? |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-01-23 21:40 |
| #2 The Hizbees take over and the only money they will get for reconstruction is from Iran. Syria needs a wack. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-01-23 21:34 |
| #1 Its a shocker, they tells ya, a shocker. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-01-23 21:02 |