| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Hezbollah wages war on Druze in Mount Lebanon |
| 2008-05-12 |
| Heavy fighting broke out Sunday between supporters of Lebanon's Western-backed government and Hezbollah-lead opposition militiamen in Druze strongholds overlooking Beirut. Machinegun fire and heavy artillery echoed throughout the village of Aitat, 20 kilometers southeast of Beirut. Mortars were fired between opposition and government supporters across Aley hills. Sunday's fighting between pro-government supporters of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Shiite gunmen started in Aitat around 2 p.m., involving exchanges of rocket and machine gunfire. There also were sporadic gunbattles in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah vacated the families of its supporters from Aramoun, Bshamoun and all suburbs of Beirut near Shouaifat, then proceeded to bombard the densely populated towns with heavy mortar fire. Hezbollah have continued to prevent the free press from covering the conflict. Today the militia prevented the Al-Arabiya crew from filming al-Jabal clashes in Aley. Hezbollah has continued to funnel fiction through their Al Manar mouthpiece. Progressive Socialist Party members have been handing the Lebanese Army control of its security centers. Rather than securing the locations, the Army has instigated more violence by in turn handing over the locations to Hezbollah militiamen, further enraging the situation. Opposition Druze leader Talal Arslan echoed Jumblatt's call for a ceasefire, then proceeded to appease Hezbollah, "All the Druze are keen on protecting the resistance... this mountain will never stab the resistance in the back." "I agreed to negotiate on these matters as I and Jumblatt agreed with my colleagues in Hezbollah to hand all areas in al-Jabal to the army, in addition to whatever arms are found in storage and security centers," Arslan announced in a press conference. A citizen from Deir Koubel, a Druze village, told LBC in an interview: "We have been calling the army to come to our village since yesterday, but they have ignored our call. Hizbullah is still bombarding us. Our village is burning, we don't have weapons or armed men here. We will not accept any other force in our village. Only the army. What are they (the army) waiting for?" As Hezbollah continues to flex its muscles and intimidate the Lebanese people, many wonder whether the next stop on the coup d'etat tour of the country is in Christian land. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #19 Forgot to add FREEREPUBLIC > ISRAEL'S DOOM IS ALSO EUROPE'S. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-05-12 23:27 |
| #18 REDDIT/TOPIX > AMERICAN CHRONICLE - THE NEW HEZBOLLAH STATE IN LEBANON?; + REALCLEARPOLITICS > CAN ISRAEL SURVIVE ANOTHER SIXTY YEARS, + REDDIT [old] > ISRAEL WILL DISSOLVE IN 10-20 YEARS; + TOPIX > THE MIDDLE EAST NEEDS ISLAMIST REVOLUTION. Also from REDDIT + AMER CHRONICLE > AMERICANS ARE LIVING {AND DYING] IN A SOCIALIZED STATE [Amerika = USSA?]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-05-12 23:27 |
| #17 They are Iranian and have identified themselves or been identified by third parties as members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard If they are, they're Al Quds Force. 24-hour rule, tho. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-05-12 22:25 |
| #16 I wouldn't be surprised if Schlussel's anonymous report were true -- but that's all it is, a putative report from an unnamed source. So no - it doesn't constitute proof that Iran is involved. Not until / unless that information is confirmed by a trustworthy source. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-05-12 21:18 |
| #15 I suppose that even this does not count as evidence that Iran is somehow directly involved? |
| Posted by: gorb 2008-05-12 21:11 |
| #14 Nice find, crosspatch. Not that it's really a surprise, but it's always nice to have confirmation. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-05-12 19:58 |
| #13 Eventually, we are going to have to bomb Iran. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-05-12 17:15 |
| #12 Hmmm, lookie here at what I saw Hot Air linked to: My exclusive Lebanese Intelligence sources tell me that a number of Hezbollah terrorist fighters have been caught, over the weekend, and they cannot speak Arabic, only Farsi. They are Iranian and have identified themselves or been identified by third parties as members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This is the same group that, under Khomeini, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and kept U.S. civilians hostage for over 444 days in 1979-81, in Iran. |
| Posted by: crosspatch 2008-05-12 16:04 |
| #11 I wish there was a way for us to clandestinely loan artillery and air support. These are brave men and women fighting against the most evil influence in the region - the mullahs who seek to commit genocide - kill or convert the entire Druze people. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-05-12 14:36 |
| #10 An ideology doesn't become good, just because some desert savages support it. The Arabs can go to hell. McZoid Don't want to nit pick but calling them savages is a badge of pride amongst them. I've found that calling them barbarians really pisses them off. Apparently it's synonymous with infidel to them. |
| Posted by: tipper 2008-05-12 12:01 |
| #9 mhw So far it doesnt seem Hezb WANTS to occupy the Sunni areas long term, thats why theyre turning them over to the Leb army, which is hardly reliable for them either. The point for them is NOT to run all of leb, its to make it clear that whoever DOES nominally run lebanon cant tell Hezb what to do. So they raid, kill, and leave. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2008-05-12 10:18 |
| #8 The druze areas are not as easy to conquer as the w. beirut neighborhood. You have to use some narrow passes to move heavy equipment through. I suppose that's why Hez forces are using mortars. The EU is useless in this situation. So is the UN. So far the Arab League hasn't really criticized Hezb openly (although they must be ticked at seeing their $$$$ for the Leb Army go down the rathole). A long term Hezb occupation of Sunni territory is going to be interesting. I'm waiting. |
| Posted by: mhw 2008-05-12 10:14 |
| #7 M: Secular democrats in the ME are getting almost zero support from Western Civilization. The question is whether there is any real support for secular democrats among the populace. Unfortunately, Middle Easterners are not a blank slate waiting for some secular democrat to write on - a fair chunk of them appear to be committed to some tribal or religious faction. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2008-05-12 09:10 |
| #6 SB9312: Secular democrats in the ME are getting almost zero support from Western Civilization. In fact, we insist on taking in immigrants who support ethnic cleansing of Seculars, Christians, Jews, etc, back home. Debbie Schlussel documents the Fed terror prop, almost daily. Why? Jimmy Carter redux. Notwithstanding his near annihilation of the US alliance system, which deliver the infamous Soviet Winning Streak in the 'seventies, elites in Washington insist on embracing his religious based "peace" nonsense. Juan Cole - an expert on Shiism - has been shilling for a rough balance of power between Sunni and Shiite movements in the ME and Central Asia. Bush also favors a religious based peace; he only differs with Cole in that he sees a role for US troops. However, Cole's group and Bush regime variants, both indulge the worst forms of Wahabism and Khomenism. Until recently, I thought that Bush would move against Iran; however, Iraq Shiites have been able to use Iranian arms to take most of the north Tigris in Baghdad, although the Mahdi Army is somewhat out of the picture. The President appears to be working for a Sunni-Shiite balance, if not unity. Nevermind the koranic prophecy about sectarianism, and its bloody end. Nevermind the fact that the stronger that Islamic states become, the more aggressive they become. I forsee a recipe for catastrophe; and you can quadruple that, if Billary or Obewan assume power. And if the best the GOP can do in Iraq is to indulge Iranian hegemony, then US voters have no real choice. Senator McCain could surprise, but his commit forays into ethnic politics don't bode well. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-05-12 04:36 |
| #5 Our leaders insist on blabbing about respecting the wishes of Arab voters. However, we outlawed Nazism in 1945; 3 times we banned the Communist Party; we criminalized Iraq Baathism in 2003. Yet, Condi wants us to respect Hamas and Hizbollah. An ideology doesn't become good, just because some desert savages support it. The Arabs can go to hell. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-05-12 04:14 |
| #4 SB, they think they can do that with impunity, but one day, sooner or later, they'll collect their comeuppance. |
| Posted by: Spike Uniter 2008-05-12 03:48 |
| #3 I love the way that the media propaganda services have decided that this is a war between Hezbollah and " Lebanon's Western-backed government". On Saturday, I noticed that every single solitary news report in print or broadcast called it the "US-backed government". Apparently oday they have modified that to "Western-backed". It's troubling that the media is able to do this with such impunity. |
| Posted by: Sninert Black9312 2008-05-12 03:35 |
| #2 WORLDNEWS/TOPIX > HIZBULLAH REDRAWING THE MAP OF LEBANON AND MIDDLE EAST + JORDAN FEARS SPREAD OF ISLAMIST/BERUIT-STYLE VIOLENCE + JORDANIAN SECURITY CLOSELY WATCHING ISLAMIST GROUPS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-05-12 01:26 |
| #1 Is it just me or are we letting Iran invade Lebanon? I hope we have a counter somewhere else |
| Posted by: Spike Snaique4152 2008-05-12 00:56 |