Hot and Bared

Tempers were hot following the Aley explosion—hundreds took to the streets of the Druze village to shout death to Bashar, Lahoud and their gang. Meanwhile, Nahr El Bared, or the cold river, is nothing but bared. The government gave the terrorists an ultimatum—surrender or die. However, whatever heat that ultimatum may have generated got washed away when part of the task was delegated to a Palestinian militia under the command of an authority from a troubled land, the Palestinian Authority. I guess full Lebanese authority in the camps has to wait for the gods of the Arabs and Israelis to decree an end to the 60 year old misery.

The Palestinians of Nahr El Bared, many of whom came to the country in 1948 and 1967, lived their second dispossession in 2007. Ironically, both dispossessions were at the hands of terrorist gangs. Today, the force that claims to fight their battle, have set their children and their houses on fire. There is no cause without victims. And Palestinians are the Arab world's favorite victims. Watch Aljazeera and you will see how what a Lebanese views as a battle for his country, the channel presents as something about Palestine, and a fight against its treasured and infallible victims. Regardless, the 2007 ordeal of the Nahr El Bared Palestinians will soon end in a return to their temporary existence. And if they're lucky, this might be the wake up call they needed. The mythical battle was lost a long time ago, and the right of return that lives in children's drawings got buried under the boots of Arab dictators. There is no escape from reality: Israel is here to stay, and Palestine will not come back while some Palestinians look east for soldiers who believe in salvation through complete destruction. Israel was not created through mass suicide, and Palestine will not be reborn with a suicide belt.

The angry shouts of Aley could not drown the fury of the Palestinians who wore their jihad belt today in a Sidon camp. Will the events of the north trigger an uprising as one Palestinian official warned? Perhaps. The Lebanese civil war started with them, and it would be apt for it to be restarted, or perhaps conclude, with them. Maybe that is the door that leads to hell on the way to paradise. Maybe it is just hell.

Whatever it is, the battle for Nahr El Bared, which has not even begun, has to mean something. It has to mean that the country cannot move forward with militias controlling parts of the land. It has to mean that the speaker of parliament should not be allowed to condition his support for the state on a sellout to a foreign country.

It has to mean that this is about Lebanon, not Palestine, not the Arabs and certainly not their surrogate battles.

This is my last commentary until I return from a business trip. I leave you in the capable hands of David Kenner. Take it away, David.

Comments

[Ibn Kais]

Good summary, I couldn't say it any better. I am very disappointed with the Palistinian involvement...but one baby step at a time. In the meantime, I am optimistic there will be no civil war. We will prevail, Bashar's ruling regime has started its downfall, its political credit in Lebanon is Bankrupt. The Palesnian outrage on the other hand is ridculous. Oh My God! Qu'elle Horreur!! Nakba II? Mais Non! bunch of idiots, can't even see that the army is rooting out the evil out.

[Jeha]

Have a great trip, AK, and welcome, David.

I fear this story may still be unfolding when you get back. This is shaping up to be a hard battle, for several reasons;

1- Another 15,000 civilians remain in the camps,

2- There may well be far more of Fath Al-Islam in the camp and even more outside it,

3- The Syrian-controlled Palestinians in the Beqaa may soon be acting up to support them, and they can affect the Army's logistics and its northernmost positions.

[Roman Kalik]

3- The Syrian-controlled Palestinians in the Beqaa may soon be acting up to support them, and they can affect the Army's logistics and its northernmost positions.

Indeed, that's what scares me the most at this point. One camp at a time is one thing, but a general and well-coordinated mass revolt is quite another.

[Shunkleash]

AHHH, brilliant! To think I actually thought these slackers knew what they were doing. This thing needs to be finished and finished NOW!! We are allowing 300 more armed palestinians to enter the camp under the disguise of "assisting" the LAF. PALEEZE!!! What happens if abu jahash finds his cousin ibn kulb in the camp fighting for terrorists. WHAT WILL HE DO...oh yes SHOOT ON SIGHT...silly me. Who is the brain behind this retarded move?

Forget the Shunkleash...give me arak!

[Markus]

Beat the drums of war wont ya? The lebanese are prone to mediocracy, they cant even take credit for their own civil wars and racism, just pure mediocracy. Your visions of whats wrong in lebanon are whats hellish here, you are the propagator of the hell u speak of not the palestinians.
"Israel was not created through mass suicide" of course not, it was created by treason and deception and ethnic cleansing. The Palestinians are accused of being suicidal today, for the mere notion that they are asking for their rights, your rehtorict is that of the israelis and as such are just as credible. Again, Lebanon once again shows how mediocre its existance is.

[Roman Kalik]

"Israel was not created through mass suicide" of course not, it was created by treason and deception and ethnic cleansing. The Palestinians are accused of being suicidal today, for the mere notion that they are asking for their rights, your rehtorict is that of the israelis and as such are just as credible. Again, Lebanon once again shows how mediocre its existance is.

And some view history through a twisted lens, to reinforce the beliefs they hold. You yourself are more mediocre than most people will ever be.

[fubar]

(AP) "If you think that by bombing and assassinating Palestinian leaders you are preparing ground for new attacks on Lebanon in the summer, I am telling you that you are seriously wrong," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a rally in the city of Isfahan.

"If this year you repeat the same mistake of the last year, the ocean of nations of the region will get angry and will cut the root of the Zionist regime from its stem," added Ahmadinejad, speaking live on state television.

Ahmadinejad warned Israel that "60 years of invasion and assassination is enough. If you do not cease invasion and massacre, soon the hand of power of the nations of the region will rub you criminals with earth."

*****

There is just no denying that Shorty has a way with words. Iran, the great defender of the Arab Palestinian cause. One guess who "the hand of power of the nations of the region" is?

Do not worry your little heads, Arabs. The Islamic Republic will save you from both the evil Zionist regime and from yourselves.

[fubar]

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Lebanese forces battling Islamic militants inside Lebanon will be re-supplied by a shipment of U.S. military ammunition, which is expected to arrive within two days, senior U.S. officials told CNN's Barbara Starr on Thursday.

In the meantime, both sides flatly rejected calls to surrender.

A statement attributed to Fatah al-Islam was sent Thursday to several media outlets in Lebanon, saying the militant group intends "to blow up several crusaders' universities and schools tomorrow in the event the Lebanese army does not surrender." Crusaders usually refers to Americans or Westerners.

Responding to Lebanon's call for immediate military assistance, the U.S. military will send as many as six cargo flights carrying ammunition to Lebanon, the officials said.

One senior U.S. military official said it is rare to send military flights on such a mission, considering the sensitive nature of the United States' role in the Middle East. But the Bush administration decided it could not wait to charter commercial cargo planes for the resupply mission, the official said.

The senior officials stressed that the flights are carrying only supplies for Lebanese forces, and the U.S. military has no intention of involving its troops in the fighting, which began Sunday.

*******

Can the parallels between last summer and now be any clearer...

[BadVilbel]

Yup.

And this is good news. The LAF needs all the help it can get when it comes to logistics, training and equipment.

[fubar]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States delivered plane loads of ammunition to Beirut on Friday as the U.S. Congress agreed on $770 million in new funds for Lebanon, of which more than a third is for military aid.

The U.S. aid boost for Lebanon is part of the Bush administration's strategy to bolster moderate Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his security forces, with Friday's ammunition delivery targeted to fight Islamist militants.

"What the Lebanese are doing right now is trying to bring law and order and establish a rule of law in Lebanon and that is something that is in the interests of everyone," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

The ammunition was delivered following a request from Siniora's government for urgent help to fight the al-Qaeda affiliated group Fatah al-Islam in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

At least 33 soldiers and 25 militants have been killed in what is the worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon.

Casey did not have specific details on the ammunition delivery but security sources in Lebanon said at least six U.S. and Arab military supply planes arrived at Beirut airport carrying ammunition and other light equipment from U.S. depots in the region and from Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
. . .
The United States has provided about $45 million in military aid to Lebanon over the past year.
Late on Thursday, Congress approved a budget request of $770 million in aid for Lebanon, with $280 million of that earmarked for military assistance. This is in addition to $230 million agreed on last year for Lebanon, bringing U.S. aid until the end of this year to $1 billion.

********

(Jpost) Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday warned the Lebanese government against storming a Palestinian refugee camp where Islamic militants are holed up and criticized US weapons aid to the military in the standoff.

Nasrallah warned that Lebanon risked getting dragged into the United States' war against al-Qaida, which he said would draw more Islamic militants into the country and potentially destabilize it.

"The problem in the north can be solved politically and through the judiciary in a way that protects the Lebanese army, our Palestinian brothers, the state and peace and stability without transforming Lebanon into a battleground in which we fight al-Qaida on behalf of the Americans," he said in a televised address.

It was the first comment by the powerful opposition leader on the military's standoff with the Fatah Islam militant group, holed up in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

The Syrian and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hizbullah leads the Lebanese political opposition to the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. But it also views Sunni extremists like Fatah Islam as enemies. Fatah Islam's leader says he embraces al-Qaida's "jihad" or holy war, though he denies any connection to the terror network.

Nasrallah said the Fatah Islam fighters who attacked the military should be brought to justice. But he said Hizbullah opposed any military incursion into the camp to crush the militants.

"The Nahr el-Bared camp and Palestinian civilians are a red line. We will not accept or provide cover or be partners in this," he said.

Hizbullah and the opposition accuse Saniora of being a puppet of the United States and are pushing for his ouster.

Nasrallah called a large airlifting of US military supplies to the Lebanese military to help in the Nahr el-Bared fight "a dangerous thing."

"Does it concern us that we start a conflict with al-Qaida in Lebanon and consequently attract members and fighters of al-Qaida from all over the world to Lebanon to conduct their battle with the Lebanese army and the rest of the Lebanese?" he asked.

He stressed his position was not in defense of Fatah Islam but to preserve the army, which he described as the last bastion that is keeping the country together.

********

Well, there you go. Nas is sounding just like American Democrats - protect the troops, bring them home now - only Nas' version is protect the army, Fatah al-Islam can be handled politically and through the judiciary.

RIGHT! Just like everything else in Lebanon is handled so competently and routinely both politically and through the judiciary.

Nas won't even let the Lebanese prosecute the killers of Rafic Hariri...but Fatah al-Islam, murderers of LAF soldiers, will be dealt with politically and through the judiciary.

ROFLMAO!

Lebanon is so fucked...

[Charlie]

NAS is so fucked, he really has nothing left. I think he just discovered Law and Order...The TV Show that is!!!

[Bad Vilbel]

Lebanon is indeed "so fucked".

[fubar]

So here is Nas' newest conspiracy theory...

Hariri set up Fatah al-Islam as a strawman to attack the LAF and create mischief in Lebanon so that Siniora could seek US and Arab military arms and equipment to use against the terrorists and, thereby, beef up the Lebanese security forces without anyone being able to complain; of course, said security forces will then be used by M14 against Hezbollah politically as Hezbollah will no longer have a monopoly on firepower and, if necessary, literally, making for a much fairer fight.

It really sounds good, doesn't it? Who knew Hariri was that skillful?

[Charlie]

Oh come on Fubar it is a good story, if it is good enough for Symore and Nancy, it is good enough for me...:-)

[fubar]

(Der Speigel) "These militants are not religious people; they're sadists," says Husam [LAF], whose voice is hoarse from shouting over the noise of battle. "They decapitated some of our people."

(NPR) The fact that Fatah Islam beheaded four Lebanese soldiers in the first hours of the confrontation has not been widely reported in the Lebanese media. Government sources say it's been suppressed because the gruesome attack on the army, one of the last institutions in the country with widespread support, could inflame the public.