Terror returns to Beirut

A massive explosion rocked the neighborhood of Ashrafieh in Beirut shortly before midnight on Sunday Beirut time. Early reports indicated that a car bomb exploded near the southern entrance of the ABC shopping mall. One woman was reportedly killed.

The blast comes as the Lebanese government gave the Lebanese army a green light to root out the Syrian-backed terrorists in the north of the country, after a day of deadly clashes that left dozens of soldiers and Islamists dead. (update: latest death toll: 22 Lebanese soldiers, 25 terrorists).

Details of the Beirut explosion are still sketchy. One thing is clear, however. Bashar Assad is fulfilling his promise to set Lebanon and the region on fire. His objective is to turn Lebanon into another Iraq, with car bombs and bloody sectarian attacks becoming the order of the day.

Comments

[Vox]

The Syrian regime can kill scores Lebanese citizens at will, but it cannot build a momentum that will lead to civil war. The Christians will not turn against the government when Syria is bombing their neighbourhoods, and the Sunnis will certainly not turn against the government because Syria is sending armed thugs to their neighbourhoods. In fact, the exact opposite will happen: Syria's actions will strengthen the government and the 'opposition' will be shamed once more for standing with the terrorists.

When Hariri was assassinated, I thought: "what was Bashar thinking?". Now, I am wondering if Bashar ever thinks at all.

[fubar]

Not to get too far from the topic, but watching the footage of the fighting in Tripoli...

Almost none of the LAF is wearing body armor, and when they are, it does not look like standard issue. No wonder the casualty figures for the LAF today are so high.

Someone needs to put that at the top of the things we need list.

[R]

not only that fubar... the poor soldiers who were sent to fight and die there looked also badly trained and even unfit... It was a sorry sight looking at the soldiers "storming" a house by jumping thru the window. They were helping each other up a waist level ledge... these questions need to be adressed if factions like fatah il-islam are to be succesfully rooted out...

[Abu Kais]

Fubar-- the ISF who were shown storming the building looked better equipped than the army, some of whom couldn't even climb into windows. I guess years of manning checkpoints, cleaning beaches and policing social events are paying off (one of the legacies of the syrian era-- a useless army with a huge budget that never went towards buying equipment). They are in dire need of equipment and combat training, if they're to survive this one with minimum casualties.

And, I don't know if you saw this, one of the ISF guys shot himself in the foot live on camera.

[fubar]

R,

Well, I was not going to comment on the "professionalism" or "tactics" given that some of these men have just died.

But, hell, body armor is the very least you do for guys you are sending up against terrorists who will shot anything that moves and some things that don't.

[fubar]

AK,

The Red Cross guys looked better outfitted than the LAF guys.

As for the guy shooting himself, I did not see that yet. Not sure I want to... however, it does happen though - adrenalin, nerves, lack of combat experience...but on TV, damn.

[Bad Vilbel]

Maybe now people who were clamoring last summer about why the Lebanese Army can't take on Hezballah can get an idea of what some of us were talking about.

The LAF needs cold-war style "foreign training and equipment" if you ask me. The kind US or Soviet "advisers" used to offer their satellites.
But for any kind of military aid to materialize, we need a funtional government. Catch 22.

[Craig]

Fubar, in the pictures I saw the Lebanese soldiers are carrying M16-A1 rifles. That rifle hasn't been in manufacture since 1984, when it was replaced by the M16-A2. There's nothing wrong with that rifle... the differences between the A1 and the A2 are not major, and the A2 is still standard issue for US troops. I'm just pointing out that the equipment those soldiers have may be older than some of the soldiers themselves. Why do I see pictures of HAMAS guys in Gaza holding brand new M4 carbines and Lebanese Army is so poorly equipped? This makes no sense to me.

All that said, the equipment doesn't make such a big difference. At this point, training is wishful thinking, but as long as their morale and motivation is high, they will do OK. And it seems like they are getting a lot of support from the Lebanese people.

[Bad Vilbel]

It makes perfect sense when you take into account that the Lebanese Army was neglected (and splintered) between 1975 and 1990 (civil war era), followed by a period of being infiltrated and underminded during the Syrian tutelage era (1990-2005). The LAF has not really received much equipment or training (or anything) in over 30 years.

The US has pledged some equipment and assistance recently, but as I said, unless we have a stable government to manage these things, that will probably also end up falling by the wayside.

[Charlie]

Fubar,

My thoughts exactly when I saw some of the pics. I have not seen any video footage, if you have a link please pass it on. The body Armor was the first thing that came to mind, I also noticed some of soldiers or ISF were not even wearing helmets when they are in combat positions. I wonder if Murr latest trip to the US included some agreement to securing the Army with some on the ground “advisors” that can provide some “technical” guidance for this urban warfare.

[R]

The spin doctors are out already... for those that read arabic it might be worthwile to check on assafir and al-akhbar. For those that don't, they are basically insinuating that the gunmen who were fighting the army were pretty close to Hariri's future movement...

[fubar]

BV,

You mean like the kind that Iran has been offering Hezbollah pretty damn openly for 25 years...?

Well, first, you have to be a US or Russian satellite and we all know that Hezbollah will not take kindly to that. Second, you have to have the f*cking balls necessary to do the job and stop f*cking whining about we can't fight our countrymen.

Who is your enemy, BV? Who do you want the LAF trained to fight? Oh, and which units are not Hezbollah just doing reserve duty???

******

Craig,

Sorry, but I don’t think a comparative casualty rate of anywhere close to one for one is “doing OK.” FYI, so far more LAF have gone down than terrorists. NOT OK.

But didn't you notice how some of the LAF have their sleeves neatly turned up, no loose threads there, for sure. At least, that’s something, right?

[Craig]

Fubar, I don't mean to say a 1 for 1 casualty rate is "OK" - it's not. But how much worse would it be if they were defeated? That's what I mean by "OK". At this point in time, their state of mind is the most important thing. There's nothing that can be done about equipment or training in the short term.

[fubar]

Charlie,

On the web,...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg3W7Kbj1Zs

(Blacksmith Jade is hosting that one on his site too)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkrrsKK-tZ8&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJvNnp_eMn8 (caution-graphic)

[Charlie]

Thanks for the links Fubar...

[Bad Vilbel]

Fubar,

You know very well who I want the Lebanese Army to fight and what to fight for.

And where did I say "we can't fight our countrymen" ??? I don't recall ever saying that.

I said that we (Lebanese) are responsible for our wars. I said I don't buy the old excuse that wars are "imposed" upon us. I don't see where I said I didn't want the LAF to fight Hezbollah (or anyone else for that matter).
I don't think the LAF will fight Hezbollah (for the simple reason that half of LAF is probably at the very least sympathetic to the opposition or to Syria). But just because I don't THINK it will happen doesn't mean i can't WISH it would happen.

As far as I'm concerned, IF Lebanon had a strong central government and a strong Military that was LOYAL TO LEBANON, I'd want said Armed Forces to impose law and order, which in my book includes disarming Hezbollah by force if necessary, disarming the Palestinian camps and securing our borders, ALL OUR BORDERS ON ALL SIDES, against any intruders. I'd want the LAF and ISF to be the sole bearers of arms inside the entire country, and the central government being the sole decision maker with regards to war and peace (including peace with Israel).

But that's what I want. Far cry from what I'm likely to get...

You said the other day you knew how to read. Try re-reading my previous comments, eh? (All in good humour of course).

[Renée]

Thank you, Fubar, for those links.

[fubar]

Sorry, BV, that was the royal "we" I was using. The Lebanese, collectively. Directed at you because you brought up the military training.

It's not been a good day, in Lebanon or Iran today.

I can be just as frustrated as you some days...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sno63cdPvp4

Truce?

[Bad Vilbel]

Truce :)

I have some cool Hoffenbrau with your name on it.

Trust me though, I hear what you're saying. And yes, we all get frustrated at times. Half my comments are 75% frustration ;)

[ghassan karam]

The video scenes were shocking because they displayed total and utter lack of training and discipline. The impression that I was left with is a bunch of guys who were not prepared, had no plan, were arguing with each other about what to do and how to do it, improvising on the spot and displaying individual uncoordinated initiatives. But they showed lots of heart and readiness to sacrifice. We are grateful to them but we owe them , not only better equipment, but much better training , planning and discipline if we are to put them in harms way.

[fubar]

Ghassan,

Craig is right. There is not much that can be done about training and equipment when the war has already come to you. Someone has to fight it. Body armor. It not only will improve the LAF survival rate but it says loudly, you are not cannon fodder, you are the Army of Lebanon, now go and do your duty.

[R]

They are at it again

[ghassan karam]

A "sovereign" state must exercise its power over all its territories otherwise it cannot claim to have honored the concept that has been central to the existence of the nation-state, namely the inviolability of sovereignty. Very simply stated this implies that the official government must apply its rules and control all over its land. To permit the existence of specific areas where the law of the land does not exist would be tantamount to dereliction of duty.
Lebanon has effectively permitted HA to become the law in some areas of Lebanon and to create a state within a state. The result of such failures by the state are at the heart of the ongoing Lebanese crisis. Unfortunately there exists in Lebanon even a more blatant violation of state sovereignty due to the imposed agreement of 1969 that ceded Lebanese authority over the Palestinian camps in the country. Such an agreement has created in effect a number of lawless "islands" inhabited by close to 10% of the population of Lebanon that is effectively ruled by gangs and militias of all stripes.
The events that have unfolded in Northern Lebanon over the week end make it very clear that the Lebanese government should call for an emergency meeting of the Arab League to discuss the 1969 agreement that was worked out under different circumstances that do not apply anylonger. The Lebanese government should in principle settle for nothing less than the total regain of its sovereignty over all its land.Anything less is treasonous. It should also be clear that the Lebanese demand for spreading the control of the state to the Palestinian camps cannot be logically opposed by any Arab state since non of them would ever contemplate yielding control over areas within their own territories. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

[Raees al Jumhuriyeh]

The reason the Army is so poorly equipped is because many governments can only provide non-lethal aid to the Lebanese Army. The United States is the number one donor to the Lebanese Army, but the US will not provide weaponry.

The Lebanese Army was a patronage institution during the Syrian era. It's existence had little to do with defense. It's still being led by Michel Sleiman, the brother-in-law of Bashar Assad's spokesman. If the derek hadn't struck first, the Army position would not have been targeted, and this fight would not be happening.

The derek is fighting because they ARE better trained than the Army, and they are controlled by the Lebanese government without Syrian interference.

[Jeha]

Has anyone considered that the real issue was not that the army was not merely ill-equipped, but that it was;

a- Unprepared because of all the diversions Hezb is imposing on it.

b- It may have tried to stay on the sidelines initially; it now appears that much of the initial fighting was civilians attacking Fath-El-Islam

c- All of the above.

[BadVilbel]

Ghassan,

I don't even see why Lebanon should have to go to the Arab League to ask for permission to amend the 1969 agreement. You're contradicting your own principles right there. I expected better.
As far as I'm concerned, the Lebanese government can say "fuck the 1969 agreement. No one tells us what to do inside our 10,452km2".