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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Hezbollah vs. Lebanon |
| 2007-02-09 |
| By Scott MacLeod Back in Beirut for the first time since the recent disturbances, I'm struck by how much things have remained the same and by how much has changed. I was living in West Beirut 23 years ago today when Syrian- and Iranian-backed opposition Muslim militia groups staged an uprising against the American-backed government of the day. It was a milestone in the long civil war, marking a solid victory for the opposition groups and a defeat for the U.S. efforts to rebuild Lebanon on its terms. After an artillery shell slammed into the building next door that night, we slept in the basement of the newspaper building where I worked. The city was riverting to a crazy and dangerous combat zone, with gunmen taking over the war-battered streets. Within a few weeks, the U.S. Marines were gone and the government capitulated to the opposition demands. Incredibly, and sadly, history is repeating itself now. Syria and Iran are backing Hizballah in its efforts to bring down the American-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Like in 1984, there is a sense that the fate of Lebanon is not in the hands of the Lebanese but of Syria, Iran and the U.S. Yet, dinner with an old friend in Ashrafiyeh last night helped illustrate what has changed. There were no gunmen or checkpoints as I went across the former green line from my old neighborhood in West Beirut. Though downtown business is badly hurting due to last summer's war and Hizballah's confrontation with the government, the shell-pocked buildings have long been replaced by a gleaming city center that is the envy of the Arab world. Two decades ago, the crackling of thunder would have sent me diving for cover, thinking that it could be incoming mortar fire, but last night the thunder was just thunder. Over a steak and onion soup, my friend made some observations that showed how the Lebanese spirit has changed, too. In a word, people are not so frightened of the opposition and its Syrian and Iranian backers. They know they may not be able to stop Hizballah from getting more aggressive, or prevent another pro-democracy leader from getting assassinated, but they are not willing to be cowed. Lebanese are supporting Siniora not because he's some militia leader representing a sect, which he is not, but because he is standing up for a free Lebanon and seeks to represent all Lebanese. Unlike Amin Gemeyal's government in 1984, which was mainly supported by Maronite Christians, Siniora, a Sunni, is strongly supported by Sunnis and Druze as well as Christians. When Hizballah called a general strike two weeks ago and tried to prevent people from going to work, my dinner companion told me, she would have none of it. Instead of sitting frustrated or afraid at home, she got into her car and got stopped at a Hizballah road block. She cursed them and ordered them out of the way, at which point a kindly gentleman in another car came over to calm her down and explain that eventually they would let her pass so she could get to work. My friend replied, "I don't care about going to work! I'm here to fight what they're doing!" Then one of the road blockers jumped on the hood and kicked in her windshield. She drove it around like that for a couple days as a badge of honor. It's true that the crisis is largely out of Lebanese hands, and has many weary people once again looking to escape. But paradoxically the country is more united than I remember it in the 1980s, bound by a broad common purpose rather than merely narrow sectarian interests. This is no doubt the reason that Hizballah is looking increasingly uneasy in its opposition role. If it drags the country to civil war, it won't be so much sect versus sect, but Hizballah versus Lebanon. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 ROFL |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2007-02-09 09:57 |