22 Comments. Add your own...

• 1. fad14 | December 11th, 2007 at 1:06 am

  What would we do without Aoun ?????

  1, Wear Orange Again
  2, Get a new president fast
  3, Get HA and Amal to the government again without even thinking of another option
  4, Stop the smell that comes out every time Weam Wahab talks
  5, Jail all remaining Qawmeh Soureh survivors
  6, Totally vanish the baath party
  7, slowly cut out all weapon supply form HA
  8, Remove tent city
  9, Less traffic in both Dahyieh and Rabieh
  10, MTV and no OTV
  11, Zoubran Baseel can go back to his original job selling Orange juice at Georges Farah in Kaslik.

• 2. Nassif | December 11th, 2007 at 1:12 am

  LOL I agree brothas good work.

• 3. Danny | December 11th, 2007 at 1:15 am

  Nice post N…

• 4. wassim | December 11th, 2007 at 2:29 am

  w habeltak?

• 5. Ali1559 | December 11th, 2007 at 2:41 am

  لا أعتقد، هناك الكثير من الأمور، فلو حللنا هذه العقدة ستظهرعقدة ثانية لان الذين يلعبون لا يدركون الأساس، لقد سيروهم على الطريق الخاطىء،
  منذ الانتخابات النيابية عام 2005 وحتى الان والاخطاء تتراكم ونحن نطرح الحلول وهم يرفضونها،

  Khalikon mechyin 3la al tarik al khate2.

• 6. Silvana | December 11th, 2007 at 3:54 am

  HAHA!!! So true…..

• 7. Rodge | December 11th, 2007 at 11:31 am

  Funny post, but so true…. unfortunately

• 8. theresinia | December 11th, 2007 at 1:01 pm

  Réponse d’un PUR PATRIOTE LIBANAIS (anti-aouniste) à un aouniste qui n’arrête pas de l’accuser d’être à la solde des Hariro-Wahhabites:

  « Tu n’as rien compris : nous sommes des Wahhabites et nous touchons de l’argent de Hariri, même sans le savoir… nous faisons le travail des islamistes Sunni et nous sommes des idiots qui ne comprenons rien et nous détruisons tout le bon travail qui est fait par les bons libanais du Hezbollah qui veulent que les chrétiens puissent avoir plus de pouvoir au Liban. Grâce au Hezbollah et à ses amis, nous allons être proches des syriens et des iraniens, qui sont contre l’Amérique (mais seulement en apparence). Car la Syrie, l’Amérique et Israël sont des alliés, mais nous ne le savons pas : La Syrie aide et abrite le terrorisme seulement pour faire croire qu’elle est contre l’Amérique. L’Iran est aussi avec l’Amérique (qui secrètement l’aide à fabriquer sa bombe atomique) ; mais cela ne doit pas paraître, c’est pourquoi l’Amérique pour faire croire qu’elle est contre l’Iran, déclare que le Hezbollah est un groupe terroriste. Et si un jour, l’Amérique bombarde l’Iran, c’est seulement pour faire croire que l’Iran est un ennemi alors que secrètement ils sont des amis. Et si la Syrie a été chassée du Liban, c’est pour faire croire que l’Amérique était fâchée à cause de l’assassinat de Hariri (qui d’ailleurs a été décidé par Israël et par l’Amérique et exécuté par les syriens) ; mais maintenant on va donner le Liban à la Syrie pour la remercier d’avoir assassiné Hariri ainsi que 13 députés qui étaient contre la Syrie, car ils étaient tous contre la Syrie, donc contre l’Amérique. C’est pourquoi, aujourd’hui les Russes (qui étaient avec les syriens et qui sont toujours avec les syriens) ont décidé de soutenir l’Iran car ils ne veulent pas que l’Amérique devienne amie avec l’Iran. Mais l’Amérique et l’Iran sont amis (secrètement grâce au Hezbollah qui a fait la guerre à Israël. La vérité est qu’Israël a déclenché une guerre contre le Hezbollah et a perdu la guerre EXPRES contre le Hezbollah, pour renverser les alliances entre l’Iran, la Russie et la Chine). En vérité, le Hezbollah et Israël sont de vrais alliés contre les Forces Libanaises qui sont des alliés à la France. C’est pourquoi Sarkozy a envoyé Kouchner à plusieurs reprises au Liban, pour convaincre les Forces Libanaises de prendre la place de Aoun à coté du Hezbollah. Mais AOUN a tout découvert et il a dit « c’est moi le président – ou personne » alors il a été en Belgique signer un accord de paix avec Israël. La Syrie s’est fâchée et l’a dit aux Russes. Alors les Forces Libanaises ont envoyé Georges ADWAN chez AOUN pour calmer le jeu et pour que AOUN soit élu la semaine prochaine. Mais les Wahhabites veulent le général SLEIMANE comme président, car ils doivent acheter des Airbus de la France et que le prix en Euros est très élevé ; alors ils ont demandé aux Syriens de dire à leurs alliés américains de réévaluer le dollar. Mais les syriens ne veulent pas faire pression sur les américains car les israéliens leur ont dit d’attendre le démantèlement de certaines colonies qui seront payées en Shekels et le Shekel est lui-même lié au dollar. On pourra acheter les Airbus seulement après le démantèlement des colonies. Les Wahhabites sont fâchés et ne donnent plus de l’argent à Hariri (qui est l’allié des Israéliens) ; c’est pourquoi, ce mois-ci (Novembre 2007) NOUS N’AVONS PAS ENCORE RECU NOTRE PAIEMENT DE HARIRI…alors on peut soit attendre soit faire un autre « Nahr El Bared ». Moi je pense qu’il vaut mieux attendre, car on pourra aller chercher l’argent en avion AIRBUS…

  Signé : « UN BON AMI qui a tout compris…à un ami (aouniste) qui n’a rien compris»

  P.S 1 : Hilary Clinton n’est pas au courant de ce plan, c’est pourquoi elle veut aussi devenir PRESIDENT !!!

  P.S 2 : C’est une grande FETE: un an d’occupation du Centre-Ville.

  Fêtons ensemble cet événement démocratique et bénéfique pour l’économie libanaise. Fêtons ensemble le retour de l’influence syrienne et la consécration du style politique à l’Iranienne.

• 9. nabil | December 11th, 2007 at 3:09 pm

  All of u, Read this:

  نقلا عن صحيفة الشرق حرفيا هذا الخبر: “ينقل كل الذين يزورن “جنرال الرابية” انه يعيش حال توتر عصبي دائم.. وانه لا يحتمل كلمة واحدة مخالفة لرأيه، او تناقشه في رأي أو موقف أو قرار.. وان هذه الحال العصبية بلغت مداها قبل أيام قليلة، عندما أقدم على رمي احد زوراه (فريد هيكل الخازن) بتفاحة تعبيراً عن غضبه… اللامحمود واللامحدود.. أهكذا تريد إدارة البلاد يا جنرال.. من لم يعجبك كلامه تتناوله بالذي يتوفر بين يديك؟!

  w Air …

• 10. theresinia | December 11th, 2007 at 5:03 pm

  I HAVE PITY FOR THE GENERAL. HIS MENTAL HEALTH IS RAPIDLY DEGENERATING … THE FAULT IS ON THE “YES MEN” AROUND HIM WHO KEPT LYING TO HIM AND TELLING HIM HE WAS THE GREATEST OF ALL….THE FABULOUS NAPOLEAOUN !!!!

  HE ALWAYS BELIEVED THEM AND NOW HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND WHY HE IS NOT THE PRESIDENT SINCE HE IS THE GREATEST!!!

• 11. Sys | December 11th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

  Hi.
  Do you have any ground for calling hezbollah terrorist?
  How would you describe some of the horrific Lebanese Forces actions during the war, then? (And where do you see such actions done by hezbollah?)?

• 12. Bachir 7ay Fina | December 11th, 2007 at 8:11 pm

  heda rejjel:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXFr3I9ETok&feature=related

• 13. ZouZou | December 12th, 2007 at 8:30 am

  I’m sorry dear Sys,
  But as u said “some” LF actions and you added “during the war”. So wake up the war is over 10 years ago.
  Besides don’t forget they (and may be you) did the actions and we did the reactions.
  So again I say, do u want to live with me, or on my expense, do u want to accept me, or you want a full right and wrong ballance cuz Aoun, Berry, Nasrallah won’t get that far from jail too.

• 14. theresinia | December 12th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

  SYS:

  This is one report among many that details why Hezbollah is a TERRORIST Group:

  “Testimony before the House Committee
  on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Europe
  Delivered June 20, 2007″:

  “Hezbollah (”Party of God”), the radical Lebanon-based Shiite revolutionary movement, poses a clear terrorist threat to international security. Hezbollah terrorists have murdered Americans, Israelis, Lebanese, Europeans, and the citizens of many other nations. Originally founded in 1982, this Lebanese group has evolved from a local menace into a global terrorist network strongly backed by radical regimes in Iran and Syria and funded by a web of charitable organizations, criminal activities, and front companies.
  Hezbollah regards terrorism not only as a useful tool for advancing its revolutionary agenda but also as a religious duty as part of a “global jihad.” It helped to introduce and popularize the horrific tactic of suicide bombings in Lebanon in the 1980s, developed a strong guerrilla force and a political apparatus in the 1990s, and became a major destabilizing influence in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the last decade.
  Hezbollah murdered more Americans than any other terrorist group before September 11, 2001. Despite al-Qaeda’s increased visibility since then, Hezbollah remains a bigger, better equipped, better organized, and potentially more dangerous terrorist organization, in part because it enjoys the unstinting support of the two chief state sponsors of terrorism in the world today: Iran and Syria. Hezbollah’s threat potential led former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to dub it “the A-Team of terrorism.”
  Hezbollah is a cancer that has metastasized, expanding its operations from Lebanon to regional targets in the Middle East and then far beyond. It now is truly a global terrorist threat that draws financial and logistical support from the Lebanese Shiite diaspora in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, North America, and South America. Hezbollah fundraising and equipment procurement cells have been detected and broken up in the United States and Canada. Europe is believed to contain many more of these cells.
  Hezbollah has been implicated in numerous terrorist attacks against Americans, including:
  • The April 18, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people, including 17 Americans;
  • The October 23, 1983, suicide truck bombing of the Marine barracks at Beirut Airport, which killed 241 Marines deployed as part of the multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon;
  • The September 20, 1984, bombing of the U.S. embassy annex in Lebanon; and
  • The 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, which killed 19 American servicemen stationed in Saudi Arabia.
  Hezbollah also was involved in the kidnapping of several dozen Westerners, including 14 Americans, who were held as hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s. The American hostages eventually became pawns that Iran used as leverage in the secret negotiations that led to the Iran-Contra affair in the mid-1980s.
  Hezbollah has launched numerous attacks at far-flung targets outside the Middle East. It perpetrated the two deadliest terrorist attacks in the history of South America: the March 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 29 people, and the July 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 96 people. The trial of those implicated in the 1994 bombing revealed an extensive Hezbollah presence in Argentina and other countries in South America. Hezbollah also was involved in aborted attempts to bomb the Israeli Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1994 and in a failed plot in Singapore.
  Hezbollah’s Terrorist Threat in Europe
  Hezbollah poses a direct threat to EU citizens at home and those traveling abroad, especially in the Middle East. Hezbollah established a presence inside European countries in the 1980s amid the influx of Lebanese citizens seeking to escape Lebanon’s brutal civil war and the recurring clashes between Israel and Palestinian terrorists based in Lebanese refugee camps. Hezbollah took root among Lebanese Shiite immigrant communities throughout Europe. German intelligence officials estimate that roughly 900 Hezbollah members live in Germany alone. Hezbollah also has developed an extensive web of fundraising and logistical support cells spread throughout Europe.
  France and Britain have been the principal European targets of Hezbollah terrorism, in part because both countries opposed Hezbollah’s agenda in Lebanon and were perceived to be enemies of Iran, Hezbollah’s chief patron. Hezbollah has been involved in many terrorist attacks against Europeans, including:
  • The October 1983 bombing of the French contingent of the multinational peacekeeping force in Lebanon (on the same day as the U.S. Marine barracks bombing), which killed 58 French soldiers;
  • The December 1983 bombing of the French Embassy in Kuwait;
  • The April 1985 bombing of a restaurant near a U.S. base in Madrid, Spain, which killed 18 Spanish citizens;
  • A campaign of 13 bombings in France in 1986 that targeted shopping centers and railroad facilities, killing 13 people and wounding more than 250; and
  • A March 1989 attempt to assassinate British novelist Salman Rushdie that failed when a bomb exploded prematurely, killing a terrorist in London.

  Hezbollah attacks in Europe trailed off in the 1990s, after Hezbollah’s Iranian sponsors accepted a truce in their bloody 1980–1988 war with Iraq and no longer needed a surrogate to punish states that Tehran perceived to be supporting Iraq. But this lull could quickly come to an end if the situation changes in Lebanon or Iran is embroiled in another conflict. Significantly, the participation of European troops in Lebanese peacekeeping operations, which became a lightning rod for Hezbollah terrorist attacks in the 1980s, again could become an issue today, as Hezbollah attempts to revive its aggressive operations in southern Lebanon. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden have contributed troops to the UNIFIL peacekeeping force. Troops from EU member states may then find themselves attacked by Hezbollah with weapons financed by Hezbollah supporters in their home countries.
  According to intelligence officials, Hezbollah operatives are deployed throughout Europe, including Belgium, Bosnia, Britain, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the Ukraine.
  Hezbollah’s Radicalizing Influence on European Muslims
  Europe’s vacation from Hezbollah terrorist attacks could come to a swift end if Hezbollah succeeds in its attempts to convert European Muslims to its harsh ideology. Young Muslim militants in Berlin, asked in a television interview to explain their hatred of the United States and Jews, cited Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV as one of their main sources of information. Ideas have consequences. In July 2006, four months after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in an interview broadcast on al-Manar TV, called for Muslims to take a decisive stand against the Danish cartoons featuring the prophet Mohammed, two Lebanese students sought to bomb two trains in Germany as a reprisal for the cartoons, but the bombs failed to detonate.
  Clearly, Europeans are exposing themselves to increased risks of terrorism as long as they allow Hezbollah’s political and propaganda apparatus to spew a witch’s brew of hatred, incitement, and calls for vengeance.
  Hezbollah’s Role as a Proxy for Iran
  Hezbollah is a close ally, frequent surrogate, and terrorist subcontractor for Iran’s revolutionary Islamic regime. Iran played a crucial role in creating Hezbollah in 1982 as a vehicle for exporting its revolution, mobilizing Lebanese Shia and developing a terrorist surrogate for attacks on Iran’s enemies. Tehran provides the bulk of Hezbollah’s foreign support: arms, training, logistical support, and money. Iran provides at least $100 million (probably closer to $200 million) of annual support for Hezbollah and has lavishly stocked Hezbollah’s expensive and extensive arsenal of Katyusha rockets, sophisticated mines, small arms, ammunition, explosives, anti-ship missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, and even unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that Hezbollah can use for aerial surveillance or remotely-piloted terrorist attacks. Iranian Revolutionary Guards have trained Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and in Iran.
  Iran has used Hezbollah as a club to hit not only Israel and its Western enemies, but also many Arab countries. Iran’s revolutionary ideology has fed its hostility to other Muslim governments, which it seeks to overthrow and replace with radical allies. During the Iran-Iraq war, Iran used Hezbollah to launch terrorist attacks against Iraqi targets and against Arab states that sided with Iraq. Hezbollah launched numerous terrorist attacks against Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which extended strong financial support to Iraq’s war effort, and participated in several other terrorist operations in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Iranian officials conspired with the Saudi branch of Hezbollah to conduct the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. Today, Hezbollah continues to cooperate with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to destabilize Iraq, where both help train and equip the Mahdi Army, the radical anti-Western Shiite militia led by the militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
  By refusing to use its economic leverage over Iran to dissuade Tehran from continuing its troubling nuclear weapons program, the EU is making a military clash between the United States and Iran much more likely. In that event, Hezbollah cells throughout Europe are likely to be activated to strike at American and perhaps NATO targets. Even if Hezbollah elects to restrict its focus to American embassies, businesses, and tourists, many Europeans are likely to perish in such attacks.
  Hezbollah’s Ties with Other Terrorist Groups
  In addition to the direct threat Hezbollah poses to Europeans, it also poses an indirect threat by virtue of its collaboration with other terrorist groups that have targeted Europeans. Many of these groups already have been placed on the EU terrorism list.
  Hezbollah has developed a cooperative relationship, on an ad hoc basis, with the al-Qaeda terrorist network and several radical Palestinian groups. In June 2002, U.S. and European intelligence officials noted that Hezbollah was “increasingly teaming up with al-Qaeda on logistics and training for terrorist operations.” Both al-Qaeda and Hezbollah established training bases in Sudan after the 1989 coup that brought the radical National Islamic Front to power. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, which also established a strong presence in Sudan to support the Sudanese regime, ran several training camps for Arab radical Islamic groups there and may have facilitated cooperative efforts between the two terrorist groups.
  Another worrisome web of cooperation between Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and Hamas support networks is flourishing in the tri-border region at the juncture of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. This lawless and corrupt region has provided lucrative opportunities for Hezbollah supporters to raise funds, launder money, obtain fraudulent documents, pass counterfeit currency, and smuggle drugs, arms, and people.
  Modern terrorist networks often are comprised of loosely organized transnational webs of autonomous cells, which help them to defeat the efforts of various law enforcement, intelligence, and internal security agencies to dismantle them. This decentralized structure also helps to conceal the hand of state sponsors that seek to use terrorist groups for their own ends while minimizing the risk of retaliation from states targeted by the terrorists.
  The amorphous non-hierarchical nature of the networks, and their linkages with cooperative criminal networks, leads to a situation in which some nodes of the web function as part of more than one terrorist group. This cross-pollination of terrorist networks makes it difficult to determine where one terrorist group ends and another one begins. Therefore, giving Hezbollah a free pass to operate inside the European Union also aids other groups who are plugged into the same web of criminal gangs, family enterprises, or clan networks.

  In 2002, Germany closed down a charitable fundraising organization, the al-Aqsa Fund, which reportedly was a Hamas front that also raised money for Hezbollah. Hezbollah also has colluded with al-Qaeda affiliates in Asia. Abdul Nasser Nooh assisted both Hezbollah and al-Qaeda activities, and Muhammad Amed al-Khalifa, a Hezbollah member, was involved in sending a shipment of explosives to the Philippines through an al-Qaeda front company.
  According to U.S. intelligence officials, Hezbollah has cooperated with the terrorist network led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in Iraq in 2006. This network officially became part of al-Qaeda in 2004. Despite Zarqawi’s militantly anti-Shia views, the two groups have reportedly coordinated terrorist efforts against Israel on an ad hoc basis. Zarqawi’s network, comprised of Sunni extremists from the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and other countries, has a strong fundraising and support infrastructure in Europe that poses a significant threat to Europeans as well as citizens of a wide range of other countries.
  In the Middle East, Hezbollah has cooperated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades to launch terrorist attacks against Israelis. After the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada in 2000, Hezbollah’s notorious terrorism coordinator, Imad Mugniyah, was selected by Iran to assist Palestinian terrorist operations against Israel. Mugniyah reportedly played a role in facilitating the shipment of 50 tons of Iranian arms and military supplies to Palestinian militants on board the freighter Karine A, which was intercepted by Israeli naval forces in the Red Sea in January 2002 before its cargo could be delivered. Hezbollah has also provided Hamas and other Palestinian extremist groups with technical expertise for suicide bombing.
  Hezbollah’s Destabilizing Influence in the Middle East
  Hezbollah threatens the security and stability of the Middle East, and European interests in the Middle East, on a number of fronts. In addition to its murderous campaign against Israel, Hezbollah seeks to violently impose its totalitarian agenda and subvert democracy in Lebanon. Although some experts believed that Hezbollah’s participation in the 1992 Lebanese elections and subsequent inclusion in Lebanon’s parliament and coalition governments would moderate its behavior, its political inclusion brought only cosmetic changes.
  After Israel’s May 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the September 2000 outbreak of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, Hezbollah stepped up its support for Palestinian extremist groups such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It also expanded its own operations in the West Bank and Gaza and provided funding for specific attacks launched by other groups.
  In July 2006, Hezbollah forces crossed the internationally recognized border to kidnap Israeli soldiers inside Israel, igniting a military clash that claimed hundreds of lives and severely damaged the economies on both sides of the border. Hezbollah is rebuilding its depleted arsenal with financial support from its European fundraising networks. This poses a threat to European soldiers in the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. To be consistent, the E.U. should ban such fundraising.
  Hezbollah uses Europe as a staging area and recruiting ground for infiltrating terrorists into Israel. Hezbollah has dispatched operatives to Israel from Europe to gather intelligence and execute terrorist attacks. Examples of Hezbollah operatives who have traveled to Israel from Europe include: Lebanese national Hussein Makdad, who used a forged British passport to enter Israel from Switzerland in 1996 and injured himself in a premature bomb explosion in his Jerusalem hotel room; Stefan Smirnak, a German convert to Islam who was trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon, was arrested at Ben Gurion airport after flying to Israel in 1997; Fawzi Ayoub, a Canadian citizen of Lebanese descent, was arrested in 2000 after traveling to Israel on a boat from Europe; and Gerard Shuman, a dual Lebanese-British citizen, who was arrested in Israel in 2001.
  Hezbollah Drug Smuggling
  Long before al-Qaeda and the Taliban began to finance their operations using profits from drug smuggling from Afghanistan, Hezbollah was a major supplier of illicit drugs to Europe and other regions. The organization tapped into longstanding smuggling networks operated by Shiite clans in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold. Hezbollah raises money from smuggling Lebanese opium, hashish, and heroin. It also traffics in illicit drugs in the tri-border region of South America. Hezbollah cells also engage in other forms of criminal activity, such as credit card fraud and trafficking in
  “conflict diamonds” in Sierra Leone, Congo, and Liberia to finance their activities.
  The EU’s Ostrich-Like Policy Regarding Hezbollah
  The United States long has designated Hezbollah as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands have followed suit. The United Kingdom has placed the “Hezbollah External Security Organization” on its terrorist list. But the European Union has dragged its feet on taking serious action against Hezbollah.
  In May 2002, the EU added 11 organizations and 7 individuals to its financial sanctions list for terrorism. This was the first time that the EU froze the assets of non-European terrorist groups. But it did not sanction Hezbollah as an organization—only several individual leaders, such as Imad Mugniyah.

  By taking these half-measures, the EU mistakenly has embraced the fallacy that terrorist operations can be separated from the other activities of a radical organization. Attempts to compartmentalize the perceived threat by accepting the fiction that a “political wing” is qualitatively different from a “military wing” are self-defeating. This is a distinction without a difference.
  Hezbollah’s raison d’etre is to violently impose its totalitarian ideology on Muslims and forge a radical Islamic state determined to destroy Israel and drive out western and other non-Islamic influences from the Muslim world. No genuine “political party” would finance suicide bombings and accumulate an arsenal of over 10,000 rockets to be indiscriminately launched at civilians in a neighboring country.
  Agreeing to accept a false distinction between political and terrorist wings is also dangerous. It allows Hezbollah to continue raising money for violent purposes. Money is fungible. Funds raised in Europe, ostensibly to finance charitable and political causes, can free up money to finance terrorist attacks or can be diverted to criminal activities. The recent violent convulsion in Gaza and last summer’s war in Lebanon underscore the great dangers inherent in treating radical Islamic movements as normal political parties.
  Hezbollah leaders themselves see little distinction between political and terrorist activity (which they consider to be “military” or “resistance” actions). Mohammed Raad, one of Hezbollah’s representatives in the Lebanese parliament, proclaimed in 2001: “Hezbollah is a military resistance party, and it is our task to fight the occupation of our land…There is no separation between politics and resistance.” In 2002, Mohammed Fannish, a Hezbollah political leader and former Lebanese Minister of Energy, declared: “I can state that there is no separating between Hezbollah military and political aims.”
  The E.U. also excluded the fundraising network of Hamas from the terrorism list in 2002. But in August 2003, the EU reversed itself and classified all of Hamas as a terrorist organization. It is high time to do the same with Hezbollah.
  Some Europeans may hope that by passively accepting Hezbollah’s fundraising activities, the EU can escape its terror. But this ostrich-like policy ignores the fact that fundraising cells easily can transform themselves into operational terror cells, if called on to do so. Hezbollah cells are like stem cells that can morph into other forms and take on new duties. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned that Hezbollah support cells inside the United States could also undertake terrorist attacks. The same is true in Europe.
  Individual EU member states, such as France and Germany, have previously taken legal action against Hezbollah. Germany has deported Hezbollah operatives and France banned Hezbollah’s al-Manar television network in 2004. But such actions were undertaken in an ad hoc manner on a country by country basis, not in a systematic manner by the EU as a whole. Given that protecting citizens is the highest duty of the state, such half-hearted piecemeal policies are irresponsible.
  Putting Hezbollah on the EU terrorism list would require the consent of all 27 EU member states. Such action would oblige each member to prohibit the channeling of money from European entities and individuals to Hezbollah, and to seize Hezbollah assets in the EU.On March 10, 2005, the EU Parliament voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution that affirmed Hezbollah’s involvement in terrorist activities and ordered the EU Council to “take all necessary steps to curtail” Hezbollah.
  But France, Spain, and Belgium have blocked action in recent years. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier in February 2005 justified French opposition to declaring Hezbollah to be a terrorist group by saying: “Hezbollah has a parliamentary and political dimension in Lebanon. They have members of parliament who are participating in parliamentary life. As you know, political life in Lebanon is difficult and fragile.” But one major reason that life is so “difficult and fragile” in Lebanon is that Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, seeks to intimidate democratic forces in Lebanon through the use of terrorism. Taking a stand against Hezbollah not only would undermine its ability to finance terrorism against its Lebanese opponents, but would also make life much less difficult in Lebanon in the long run.
  Classifying Hezbollah as a terrorist organization would significantly constrain its ability to operate in Europe and severely erode its ability to raise funds there and use European banks to transfer funds around the globe. All EU member states would be required to freeze Hezbollah assets and prohibit Hezbollah-related financial transactions. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recognized the damage that this would do to his organization in a March 2005 interview aired on Hezbollah’s al-Manar television network: “The sources of [our] funding will dry up and the sources of moral, political, and material support will be destroyed.”
  But France in particular has blocked action on taking the logical next step with Hezbollah. The recent election of Nicolas Sarkozy as France’s new president offers hope for a major shift in the French position. Sarkozy hopefully will replace Jacques Chirac’s “See No Evil” wishful thinking with a principled stand against permitting a lethal killing machine from infecting alienated European Muslims with its violent ideology, milking them of money to finance mass murder, and brainwashing them to become suicide bombers against a wide array of targets.
  How Can EU Leaders Be Persuaded To Take Concerted and Systematic Action Against Hezbollah?
  First and foremost, they must understand that in the long run, this is the best way to protect their own people, the highest duty of government. Wishful thinking about inducing Hezbollah to stray from the fundamental tenets of its own ideology will compromise the security of EU citizens. Turning a blind eye to Hezbollah’s activities will only allow it to metastasize into a more deadly threat. Cracking down on Hezbollah activities would not only reduce the potential terrorist threat, but would reduce the threat of its ancillary activities, such as drug smuggling, criminal enterprises, and efforts to radicalize European Muslim communities.
  Second, EU leaders can be criticized for the strained logic behind their current position. It makes little sense to designate individual Hezbollah leaders as terrorists, but continue to permit the organization to raise money for their deadly work. It is a mistake to exempt Hezbollah’s “political wing” from responsibility for the crimes perpetrated by the “military wing” that executes its orders. Running a hospital or an orphanage does not absolve an organization for the murder of innocents. The EU must be proactive and uproot Hezbollah’s support infrastructure in Europe in order to curtail the activities of its terrorist thugs around the world.
  Third, EU leaders should be asked to join the multilateral efforts of their democratic allies to protect all of their citizens from the attacks of totalitarian Islamic extremists. There is an ideological dimension to this conflict, as well as a terrorist dimension. It would be irresponsible for the EU to stay neutral in this global ideological struggle, given the presence of a growing Muslim population inside Europe that could fall prey to radical Islamic ideologies.
  Banning Hezbollah also would be a step that would help stabilize the volatile Middle East and support Arab-Israeli peace efforts. Even the Palestinian Authority requested that the EU ban Hezbollah in 2005, complaining that Hezbollah was recruiting Palestinian suicide bombers to sabotage the tenuous truce with Israel.
  Putting Hezbollah on the EU terrorism list also would help stabilize Lebanon. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, jointly sponsored by France and the United States, calls for the disarming of all militias in Lebanon. Yet EU toleration of Hezbollah fundraising operations inside its own borders enables efforts to finance the purchase of arms and ammunition for the biggest and most dangerous militia in Lebanon. Adding Hezbollah to the EU terrorism list would be an important step toward disarming its militia and restoring the rule of law in Lebanon.
  Banning Hezbollah also would contribute to the containment of Iran’s rising power. Tehran has used its Lebanese surrogate to advance its own radical foreign policy agenda in the past and is sure to do so again.
  Congress has played a role in appealing for greater cooperation from the EU in curtailing Hezbollah’s activities. The House of Representatives in March 2005 passed H.Res. 101, which urged the EU to add Hezbollah to its terrorist list. The Senate followed suit the next month. Congress should continue to press the EU to do the right thing regarding Hezbollah by passing further resolutions and holding hearings such as this one to educate EU leaders and their constituencies about the potential challenges posed by Hezbollah.
  The EU can no longer afford to ignore Hezbollah’s festering threat or hope to deflect its attacks on to other countries. The longer the EU balks at effective action, the stronger the potential threat grows, funded by the free flow of donations, diverted charitable funds, and criminal booty out of the EU and the payments for drugs smuggled into the EU. As Winston Churchill observed: “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” The Hezbollah crocodile has eaten half of Lebanon and has laid dangerous eggs around the world. The EU must take proactive action, not wait for these eggs to hatch.

  James Phillips is Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation.

• 15. theresinia | December 12th, 2007 at 1:51 pm

  SYS:

  Here is another report:

  H E Z B O L L A H A N D I R A N :
  S e c u r i t y R i s k s B e y o n d t h e MIDDLE EAST

  I n t r o d u c t i o n

  The Israel Defense Forces are striking hard at Hezbollah fighters, who began
  launching rockets from Lebanon into Israel in mid-July. The militant group’s
  headquarters building in southern Beirut has been utterly destroyed and
  its command-and-control network, training camps and arms-storage depots
  have been struck repeatedly in bombing raids. Military action from the
  Israeli side began with a week-long air campaign – designed to cripple
  Hezbollah’s infrastructure and shape the battle field – and commenced to
  ground action. The configuration of forces does not favor Hezbollah in a
  toe-to-toe military confrontation with the IDF, though fierce resistance on the
  ground should be expected. Without the assistance of third parties – such
  as state sponsor Iran, which is poorly positioned geographically for sending
  reinforcements – Hezbollah’s chances for survival in Lebanon would appear
  slim, unless it abandons conventional military tactics and resorts to insurgency.
  Should this occur, it is entirely possible that Hezbollah would return to the
  methods it employed during the 1980s and early 1990s: bombings,
  assassinations and kidnappings. It is noteworthy that, with the Hezbollah
  organization in Lebanon under severe pressure, its counterpart in Iran
  publicly threatened to strike at Israeli and American targets around the
  world – if given the order by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
  Khamenei. The fact that such a threat was issued does not mean that attacks
  are imminent or necessarily even likely, but it does point to a security risk that
  Stratfor believes is altogether plausible for the near and medium terms.
  To understand and protect against this potential threat, it is important to
  understand, first, the relationship between Iran and Hezbollah – both the
  strategic goals behind the relationship and the history of tactical
  coordination between the two. Beyond this, history provides significant
  insights into Hezbollah’s motivations and speed of movement in conducting
  terrorist attacks, which will remain particularly relevant so long as the
  Lebanese group’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, remains a priority
  assassination target for Israel. We believe that, from Hezbollah’s perspective,
  Nasrallah’s death would be justification for a terrorist attack against Jewish
  or American targets in other parts of the world. Moreover, given the
  operational planning model that Hezbollah has used in the past, strikes could
  be carried out very swiftly – within a matter of days or weeks – once a “go”
  order has been given.

  This scenario becomes even more credible should Iran – which has provided
  assistance for Hezbollah strikes in the West in the past, as well as carrying
  out assassinations and kidnappings of its own accord – find any advantage
  in doing so again. That, too, is not a given: Iran maneuvers in incredibly
  complex ways as it pursues power and influence in its own region and on the
  global stage. Nevertheless, the relationship between Iran and Hezbollah, and
  the events that are unfolding in the Middle East, make this a possibility that
  should not be quickly dismissed.
  H e z b o l l a h : A n I d e o l o g i c a l a n d Ta c t i c a l To o l
  Prior to the rise of the Shia in post-Hussein Iraq, Hezbollah –- as a radical
  Shiite Islamist organization — was Iran’s main asset in the Arab world. In fact,
  it likely will continue to be used by Tehran as a key tool for furthering Iranian
  geopolitical interests in the region, until such time as Shiite power has been
  consolidated in Baghdad and Iran’s interests there secured.
  In its earliest days, Hezbollah was a classic militant organization — the
  creation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the elite unit of the
  Iranian military. It was founded as a way to export the ideals of Ayatollah
  Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamic revolution to the Shiite community of Lebanon, and
  served as a model for follow-on organizations (some even using the same
  name) in other Arab states. It did not take long, however, for Hezbollah to
  emerge in Lebanon as a guerrilla movement, whose fighters were trained in
  conventional military tactics.
  In the mid-1980s, Iran’s premier intelligence agency, the Ministry of
  Intelligence and Security (MOIS), assumed the task of managing Tehran’s
  militant assets — not just in the Middle East, but in other parts of the world
  as well. This allowed the Iranians, through a special unit within MOIS, to strike
  in places as diverse as Latin America and Southeast Asia.
  In Lebanon, Hezbollah has evolved over the years: It is now a political party
  in its own right, with seats in the Lebanese parliament, as well as an armed
  militia. Iran has been the chief source of funding and weapons for this
  militant wing, and the Iranians continue to supply extensive training in weapons,
  tactics, communications, surveillance and other methods to its fighters.
  In Iran, the local Hezbollah organization claims that it takes its orders from
  Khamenei; however, the government says the militant group is not an arm of
  official policy. These statements are not, however, mutually exclusive.

  I r a n : A s s e t M a n a g e m e n t
  Iran divides its efforts in managing assets abroad. The IRGC (which is led
  by a professional military officer with strong Islamist ideological credentials)
  oversees the Lebanese Hezbollah, while MOIS (which almost always is
  headed by a cleric) manages militant operatives and groups in other parts
  of the Muslim world — Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, India. Moreover,
  MOIS also maintains contacts among the Shiite immigrant populations in
  non-Muslim countries, including those in the West.
  As it decides how and when to use these assets, radical Shiite Islamist
  ideology is only one factor in the Iranian calculus: Ethnicity and nationalism
  also play an important role in Iran’s dealings with Shiite allies of Arab, South
  Asian and other descent. The Persians claim a rich cultural heritage, which
  they view as superior to that of the Arabs. This attitude impacts the level of
  trust and cooperation between the Iranians and other Shiite groups —
  including Hezbollah — when it comes to sensitive operations. It is little
  wonder, then, that the Lebanese organization’s sphere of operations does
  not extend much beyond the Levant.
  It follows that Hezbollah is a useful tool for Iran in its dealings with Israel,
  but in few other areas. However, Iranian intelligence has cultivated numerous
  groups that can serve its interests in other parts of the world, and it
  maintains contact with these groups through MOIS operatives placed in
  diplomatic posts.

  H e z b o l l a h : A B u s i n e s s M o d e l
  Despite its historical roots and deep relationship with Iran, Hezbollah is not
  solely an ideological tool to be wielded by Tehran. It has its own leadership
  structure and commands rich streams of revenue – with illicit business interests
  spanning much of the globe – that are quite separate from the support it
  receives from Iran and Syria.
  Hezbollah has a long-standing and well-known presence in the tri-border
  region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, where the U.S. government
  estimates it has earned tens of millions of dollars from selling electronic
  goods, counterfeit luxury items and pirated software, movies and music.
  It also has an even more profitable network in West Africa that deals in
  “blood diamonds” from places like Sierra Leone and the Republic of the
  Congo. Cells in Asia procure and ship much of the counterfeit material sold
  elsewhere; nodes in North America deal in smuggled cigarettes, baby
  formula and counterfeit designer goods, among other things. In the United
  States, Hezbollah also has been involved in smuggling pseudoephedrine and
  selling counterfeit Viagra, and it has played a significant role in the
  production and worldwide propagation of counterfeit currencies.
  The business empire of the Shiite organization also extends into the drug
  trade. The Bekaa Valley, which it controls, is a major center for growing
  poppies and cannabis; here also, heroin is produced from raw materials
  arriving from places like Afghanistan and the Golden Triangle. Hezbollah
  earns large percentages of the estimated $1 billion drug trade flowing out
  of the Bekaa. Much of the hashish and heroin emanating from there
  eventually arrive in Europe — where Hezbollah members also are involved
  in smuggling, car theft and distribution of counterfeit goods and currency.
  Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. government has targeted the financial
  networks of Hezbollah along with those of al Qaeda and other groups.
  Federal authorities have had some success in locating and seizing Hezbollah
  assets, and several Hezbollah suspects have been arrested in North Carolina
  and Michigan; nevertheless, the flow of illicit funds has not been completely
  stemmed. There are indications, however, that these efforts have cut into the
  profitability of Hezbollah activities in North America and South America and
  rendered the organization more dependent on nodes in places like West
  Africa.

  For the most part, the cells beyond the Middle East are used as financial
  assets, but – as we shall see – they also have been called upon in the past to
  assist Hezbollah’s military wing in conducting attacks. Thus, the geography of
  Hezbollah’s business network is an important consideration in assessing
  current or future targets and likelihood of attack.
  R e v e n g e a n d R e p r i s a l s
  Historically, many of Hezbollah’s serious attacks outside the Middle East have
  been prompted by desires to avenge the death of a leader, as reprisals for
  Israeli strikes or for personal reasons.
  For instance, following Hezbollah’s 1983 strikes against the U.S. Embassy and
  the Marine barracks in Beirut, a closely related Shiite organization in Kuwait
  carried out a series of attacks — including a truck bombing targeting
  the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City. Kuwaiti authorities later arrested and
  convicted 17 Shia for involvement in that plot. This group became known as
  the “Kuwaiti 17” or the “Dawa 17.” Among its members was Mustafa Youssef
  Badreddin, a cousin and brother-in-law of senior Hezbollah operative Imad
  Mugniyah, who has been described alternately as the head of Hezbollah’s
  security apparatus, as the group’s chief of intelligence and as its chief of
  special operations.
  Securing Badreddin’s freedom became a personal cause for Mugniyah, who
  directed Hezbollah’s military wing to undertake a rash of operations for that
  end. These operations often involved Hezbollah resources outside of
  Lebanon. Demands for the freedom of the Dawa 17 became standard in
  Hezbollah’s hijackings and other activities. (Badreddin escaped from prison
  after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.)
  This pattern of personally motivated strikes continued. Israel’s assassination
  of Hezbollah leader Abbas Musawi in February 1992 was followed by the
  bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in March — immediately
  after the end of the 30-day mourning period. And in July 1994 — after the
  IDF had killed dozens of Hezbollah members in a strike against the
  organization’s Ein Dardara training camp — Hezbollah struck again at
  Jewish targets overseas, with the vehicle bombing of the Jewish community
  center in Buenos Aires and the attacks, eight days later, against the Israeli
  Embassy in London and a Jewish charity in north London.

  The pattern of attacks is noteworthy now, in light of Israel’s efforts to kill
  Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon. Whether an unsuccessful
  attempt would be sufficient, in Hezbollah’s thinking, to have set the clock
  ticking for a reprisal is not yet clear. However, in either scenario, it remains
  possible that – because Hezbollah has been known to use an “off the shelf”
  planning model for operations — any attacks could follow swiftly once
  a “go” order has been given.
  “ O f f t h e S h e l f ” P l a n n i n g
  After the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, a team of
  experienced U.S. post-blast investigators was dispatched to assist the
  Argentine government with its investigation. One of their key findings was
  that, due to the short lapse between the assassination of Musawi and the
  attack on the embassy in Buenos Aires, the target likely had been selected in
  advance and that most of the planning for a strike occurred well before the
  operation was authorized. Then, when the “launch” order was sent, the attack
  plan was quickly updated and executed.
  Observation of known Hezbollah operatives since that time, by U.S. and
  allied government agencies, has affirmed that this appears to remain the
  organization’s preferred method of operation. In the 12 years since its last
  overseas attack, Hezbollah operatives have been seen conducting
  surveillance in many parts of the world (including the United States) — at
  times, triggering arrests — but no attacks have ensued. Therefore, it is
  believed that these operatives have been carrying out preliminary
  operational planning for hypothetical, future attacks. It is believed that the
  leadership of Hezbollah’s military wing has a large selection of “off-theshelf”
  plans that it can choose from should it decide to mount attacks anywhere
  in the world. In all probability, targets for “off-the-shelf” plans
  already have been mapped.
  Using the Buenos Aires and London attacks as a gauge, it is believed that
  Hezbollah is able to carry out strikes within four to five weeks of a launch
  order.

  H e z b o l l a h a n d M O I S : O r g a n i z a t i o n a l C o o p e r a t i o n
  With these motives and methods in mind, then, it is instructive to consider past
  Hezbollah operations that were assisted by Iran, and the modalities that
  applied.
  Investigations into the 1988 hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 422 out of
  Bangkok and two bombings in Buenos Aires — in 1992 and 1994 — both
  revealed involvement by MOIS, coordinating with local Hezbollah operatives.
  However, to provide plausible deniability, the hijacking and bomb teams
  were deployed from outside the targeted country; the assets in place were
  used to conduct preoperational surveillance on potential targets.
  In realistic terms, what this would mean is that the MOIS officer at the Iranian
  embassy in the target country or city would maintain close contact with the
  Hezbollah cells in his area of responsibility. Given the rules of intelligence
  work, an “official asset” like a diplomat is usually under suspicion and
  surveillance as an intelligence officer (or IO); therefore, less-prominent
  Hezbollah members could be used to case potential targets. In situations
  where a MOIS agent is believed to be under such tight surveillance that he
  cannot function effectively, the Iranians might call on the services of a
  clandestine MOIS agent instead. In the case of the 1992 bombing of the
  Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, the MOIS officer was the Iranian cultural
  attache, who oversaw the operation from the safety of his embassy office.
  The Argentines eventually declared seven embassy employees as “persona
  non grata” due to suspected connections to the bombing.
  Upon receiving a “go” order for an operation — such as assassinations of
  Iranian dissidents or the kidnappings of Western diplomatic and intelligence
  personnel (for instance, CIA station chief William F. Buckley in 1984 and U.S.
  Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in 1988) — activity levels at the embassy
  spike. The role of MOIS frequently would be to provide the cash or supply
  weapons or materials needed for an attack carried out by its “militant
  assets.” In some countries, such as Britain (where Hezbollah bombed a Jewish
  charity and the Israeli embassy, within hours of each other, in 1994), it can
  be difficult to obtain items like blasting caps and explosives; these can be
  supplied with the protection of a diplomatic pouch.
  Many MOIS intelligence operatives have been educated in the United States
  or in Britain, wear nice suits, are multilingual and move easily in Western
  social circles — unlike the IRGC operatives in Lebanon, who, socially
  speaking, are rougher around the edges. The combination of their brains and
  Hezbollah’s willingness to pursue martyrdom can produce formidable
  capabilities.
  M a p p i n g P o t e n t i a l Ta r g e t s
  In the current circumstances, Israeli and Jewish targets likely would face the
  severest degree of risk (though the United States, due to its relationship with
  Israel, incurs some risk as well). Should the Iranians find it worthwhile – either
  for purposes of geopolitical leverage or for some other reason – to at least
  consider participating in a future Hezbollah attack, it is logical that those
  countries where both Iran and Israel maintain a diplomatic presence fall
  within the targeting sphere.
  The risk obviously does not apply evenly to all countries, for a variety of
  reasons.
  Historically, Hezbollah has had much greater success with attacks in the
  developing world — where weapons and materiel were readily available
  — than in more industrialized and secure regions like Europe. The size
  differential between the vehicle-borne bombs employed in 1994 in Buenos
  Aires (where Hezbollah was able to purchase explosives commercially) and
  the smaller device operatives were forced to use in London (where explosives
  were difficult to obtain) is quite dramatic.
  While there is some risk of a strike in the United States and Europe, there
  also are several mitigating factors to consider. First, authorities could be
  expected to be stepping up their monitoring of known and suspected
  Hezbollah members. Second, defenses in these parts of the world have been
  strengthened in recent years, due to the Sept. 11 attacks, rail bombings in
  Madrid and London, and heightened cooperation and intelligence-sharing
  about the activities of Islamist militants.
  Finally, and quite significantly, there is the risk of a severe backlash to
  Hezbollah’s financial apparatus. Given the distribution of its network and
  the placement of its most lucrative business practices – such as the trade in
  illicit diamonds in West Africa – the site of any future terrorist attacks would
  require careful consideration by Hezbollah.

  In our assessment, the risk of a Hezbollah strike would be greatest in parts
  of the developing world, in areas where the overall backlash to the financial
  networks would be least severe. Logic weighs against another strike in
  Argentina; with Hezbollah having attacked there twice already, security
  would be stiffened. Instead, strikes might come in nearby countries like
  Paraguay (where Hezbollah suspects were arrested while casing the U.S. and
  Israeli embassies in Asuncion, in 1998) or Brazil.
  Beyond South America, there are other countries that have strong ties to
  Israel — such as South Africa and Kenya — which also present themselves
  as potential targets. These are sufficiently removed from the blood diamond
  operations in West Africa to be safe for action, and they are target-rich
  environments. The same argument applies to Bangkok as well, where
  Hezbollah has conducted operations before.
  C u r r e n t S i t u a t i o n a n d C o u n t e r m e a s u r e s
  There is a distinct possibility that, with the heavy strikes launched against
  Hezbollah over the past week — far worse than that visited upon the group
  in the 1994 attack against Ein Dardara — Hezbollah might consider
  ordering reprisals against pre-selected Israeli or Jewish targets in various
  places around the world. If that hypothesis is true, it is logical that Hezbollah

  J u l y 2 0 0 6
  Strategic Forecasting, Inc. • 700 Lavaca Street, Suite 900 Austin, TX 78701 • Tel: +1 512.744.4300 • Email: info@stratfor.com • http://www.stratfor.com

• 16. Sys | December 12th, 2007 at 7:15 pm

  Dearest Theresinia,

  First thank you for googling “hezbollah AND terrorist” and copying some results for me, but I could have done it myself.
  You see not everything “written in the internet” is true, there are some things called biased reporting and propaganda that you should be very aware of. And hence there is something called checking the sources and the facts and the words. Otherwise I could show you “reports” proving that Elvis is still alive and well, and others mathematically proving that Gorbatchev is the antichrist.
  If you just want to be comforted in your views, in being always right, in knowing that “Hezbollah is bad, very bad!” then go ahead and read American reports without questioning any fact, any quote in them; nobody can stop you; but if you want to try to know stuff for what they are, you have to doubt, to do more than that.
  Hezbollah is not chess club or a faction of the Salvation Army, no. But a terrorist organization, come on! And just because some neocon pro-Israeli person said so “on the internet”. Have Hezbollah been INCRIMINATED in these bombings? Isn’t bombing hostile soldiers in Lebanon a military operation?
  Didn’t the “Progressist Socialist Party” massacre scores of Lebanese civilians? Didn’t the “Lebanese Forces” murder scores of lebanese and palestinian civilians? Didn’t Amal movement murder hundred of lebanese and palestinian civilians? (Please add your other favorite lebanese or palestinian murderous faction). Isn’t that, by definition, Terrorism.
  YET, Hezbollah just Hezbollah keeps being called a terrorist organization.
  If you want to hate them because they have beards, wear turbans, pray five times a day and fast the Ramadan, that’s your own RACIST “right”; but for God’s sake, don’t try to rationalize it.

  Sorry for the sarcasm. I’ve had a bad day.

• 17. theresinia | December 13th, 2007 at 1:57 am

  SYS,

  Thank you for your comments.

  I did not go on the internet to “GOOGLE” some info.

  The Stratfor info is reserved: 1)to university students studying political affairs, 2) to industries and businesses, 3) to administrations. They are worldwide.They are not free of charge.

  The info in N° 14 was a “testimony” before the House Committe on Foreign Affairs…

  There are many other ones in Europe before the European Parliament.

  My opinion is NOT important. What is important is what the facts are, and how the professionals perceive reality.

  I am not concerned if the people in Hezbollah have beards or if they shave. I am not interested if they dress casually or with a necktie. I ALSO DON’T CARE IF THEY GO AND BOMB PEOPLE IN ZIMBABWE.

  MY ONLY CONCERN is: when people receive their salaries from a foreign country (Iran), receive 20 000 missiles from Iran and receive their POLITICAL ORDERS from Iran; it CLEARLY means that their loyalty goes to IRAN and NOT TO LEBANON.

  Our problems will NEVER be solved if we continue to follow orders from Syria, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, America, France or ZIMBABWE.

  When are we going to PUT LEBANON FIRST????

• 18. Why Hezbollah LOST the War in Lebanon! | December 13th, 2007 at 8:00 am

  Why Hezbollah LOST the War in Lebanon!
  And the Current ‘Present’ Situation in Southern Lebanon

  By Gabriel al-Amin
  Beirut, Lebanon

  http://www.lebanonwire.com/0709MLN/07092429MN.asp

  On July 12, 2006 Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers that led to Israel’s war with them and, by extension, Lebanon itself. Hezbollah has been on Israel’s fence since the latter’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. Israel always requested from the international community and from the Lebanese government to deploy its Lebanese Army there instead of Hezbollah militants. Hezbollah, quite naturally, refused! Hezbollah vowed to NEVER allow any other force other than itself to occupy southern Lebanon. Even during the conflict, Hezbollah said it would never agree to allow either the Lebanese army nor international monitors to patrol southern Lebanon.

  Then finally, when two IDF (Israeli Defense Force) soldiers were kidnapped, Israel found the perfect excuse it was looking for to go into Lebanon and push Hezbollah well away from the Lebanese-Israel border. Israel pursued a limited invasion and killed over 500-600 Hezbollah members during the one month war. Additionally, Israel took over every single village in southern Lebanon. During the conflict even though Hezbollah received such a blow and all its members were freaked out and on the run. Yet when the hostilities ended, Hezbollah claimed victory! But did it really win?

  Firstly, Israel agreed to a cessation of hostilities NOT because it surrendered and defeated militarily, but because of international pressure from the European Union and the United States. During this conflict Israel endured more international pressure, than it ever did in the past 10 years. Israel was put forth conditions and international agreements, such as the deployment of 15,000 Lebanese soldiers and 15,000 United Nations peace keepers into southern Lebanon, and arms embargo on Hezbollah. “This” proposal which was presented to Israel which EVEN Hezbollah agreed to accept, was something Israel was yearning for for many decades and was a once in a life time opportunity, it was a REAL “golden opportunity,” even the far right in Israel said “this is an excellent proposal, so give it a shot.” This cessation of hostilities, known as “The August Ceasefire”, was initiated by the United Nations and International Community, and was put forward before both parties, Israel and Hezbollah, Hezbollah JUMPED right on the wagon to accept, because they saw it as the only way out of the mess they got themselves into. While at the same time, Israel was more stubborn on accept this ceasefire-agreement, since they were on a winning streak. Ever since then Hezbollah has not been seen or heard from in Southern Lebanon! At long last the frail Lebanese Government has finally had a degree of sovereignty over all of its state and is finally monitoring and guarding its own borders.

  Not too long ago, nearly all television and print media images coming out of southern Lebanon were that of armed Hezbollah fighters with their guns, outposts, and banners. Not anymore! Hezbollah is now hiding under rocks in Southern Lebanon, its military might having received a substantial blow. In addition, Hezbollah is no longer enjoying the freedom and luxury of easily transferring Syrian/Iranian weaponry across the Lebanese-Syrian border or via the Beirut seaport. Much of this due to the combined efforts of a stronger Lebanese army and U.N. forces keeping a lid on such transferals.

  But even though the International Troops and the Lebanese Army keep Hezbollah in check, isn’t there still Hezbollah presence in Southern Lebanon, EVEN THOUGH they are hiding “under rocks?” The same could be said for Al Qaeda presence in the United States, who are also hiding under rocks.

  Hezbollah may portray themselves as fearsome “militants” but they are in fact cowards cowering behind Lebanese civilians. Yet, through mostly pin-point targeting, the IDF dealt a heavy blow to Hezbollah. Five to six hundred Hezbollah terrorists were killed and nearly all of their bases, headquarters and tactical infrastructure destroyed.

  Some might say, “But didn’t Hezbollah manage to shoot over one hundred rockets into Israel every single day? AND why, during the war, didn’t the Israel army/air-force ever manage to stop the Katyusha fire?” Well the answer to that would be “What’s so impressive about groups of one or two rag heads pointing and setting off an unguided Katyusha southward into Israel?” In addition to the fact that Hezbollah only needed 1% of their military might in order to shoot Katyushas from their scattered fields and caves, into Israel every day. Plus, the only way to have completely stopped the Katyusha fire would have been to occupy every square inch of South Lebanon, including 20 miles north of the Litani, and to stay there for a few months.

  Israel ‘BADLY’ miscalculated Hezbollah, those past 6 years since it withdrew from Lebanon. Why? Because in 2004, it was estimated that if Israel was to engage in war with Hezbollah, their Katyusha arsenal would result in 100 deaths per day on the Israeli side, but instead only 2 people per day were killed by those rockets. But during the war, Israel came to the realization that 99.9% of all those rocket attacks, mostly result in a lot of noise and broken windows. Prior to the war it was also estimated that if Israel launched a ground invasion, it would result in the deaths of over 70 Israeli soldiers per day, which would have left over 2000 dead on the IDF side at the end of the 34 day conflict. But only 120 soldiers were killed in total, which makes it 3-4 soldiers per day. Also, prior to the war AND during the war, both the ‘poor’ Israeli intelligence and Hezbollah itself even claimed, that the “Mighty Hezbollah Rocket Arsenal” would hit Tel-Aviv, but ‘no rocket ever made it to Tel-Aviv!’ Instead, Hezbollah, tried to send little remote controlled ‘toy’ planes there.

  The reason 120 soldiers were killed in the first place, is because what would someone expect if an army deployed 30,000 soldiers squashed together in a small, tight, open space (South Lebanon)! It was amazing that after the war, those soldier didn’t all suffer from cluster phobia. But even though Israel deployed so many soldiers in the open, Hezbollah didn’t manage to deliver that harsh blow as was estimated before the ground invasion. But after all, Hezbollah didn’t fight as courageous as the Egyptians during the Suez Canal invasion, nor as the Syrians during the war in the Golan heights.

  It shouldn’t shock the world that Hezbollah bombed a couple Israeli Merkava Tanks, because even the Palestinians have done it in the past too. Blowing up a Merkava Tank is NOT an ‘uncommon’ operation. But at the same time Israel was still advancing and still taking over every village in South Lebanon, bombing every headquarter and outpost, all Hezbollah members were on the run. Even though Israel lost a couple of tanks and didn’t destroy Hezbollah, it still doesn’t mean they (Israel) were defeated militarily. The definition of military defeat, mean: to crush the other side, force it to flee and or be on the run, or force it into surrender. Israel was not defeated militarily!

  The same can be said about the Israeli naval ship that was bombed by Hezbollah of the coast of Lebanon, during the first week of the conflict, which caused a tiny bit of damage to the ship and which resulted in the deaths of 4 Israeli naval soldiers. Once again this wasn’t a military defeat, but it was an internal flaw, which meant that; Israel needed a better anti missile naval detector radar, a better anti missile interceptor, and better armor for its ship. But did Hezbollah succeed in sinking the ship and destroying it completely, did they destroy all the Israeli naval ships of the Lebanon Coast, did Israel scurry away with all its ships with its tail in between its legs, or did Israel ask for a cease-fire? NO! Instead, Israel simultaneously the same day, brought the damaged ship back into Israel for repair and sent another ship to the Lebanon Coast to replace it.

  During and after the war, Hezbollah regretted starting the war in the first place, by kidnapped the two Israeli soldiers. But Israel on the other hand, didn’t regret going to war with Hezbollah, not even 1%. In fact Israel was ready to go for round two, but Hezbollah, will not dare even consider thinking about it.

  During the fighting, many people (both inside and outside Lebanon) finally saw Hezbollah as they really are… a terrorist group. It’s strategy had little or no military value. The rockets they launched were intended to cause terror among Israel’s citizenry. They were not aimed at Israel military targets.

  Israel never managed to destroy Hezbollah. As much as the IDF might have wanted to, the wiping out of Hezbollah was not Israel’s goal. Nor could it ever be its goal. It is against the laws of physics to destroy a guerilla/terrorist group (America is learning it the hard way with Al Qaeda) since their operatives and members are always blending in and out of the civilian populations from which they so cowardly operate. In fact NEVER in history has a guerilla group ever been destroyed.

  Additionally, rescuing the kidnapped IDF soldiers without a strong intelligence as to exactly where they were hidden, would have been a nearly impossible mission.. assuming they had not already been secreted out of Lebanon into Syria or Iran!

  We constantly hear phrases such “Hezbollah emerged stronger,” “Hezbollah is now stronger than ever,” or “Hezbollah is now seen stronger than before!” There is some truth to that. Since before the Israeli withdrawal of 2000, Hezbollah was seen as more of a small arms, home made explosive, cut and run group, but during this conflict they were able to show off their Iranian made weapons. But they were no match for the Israeli army, whom they bowed down to at the end, by feeling too threatened to attack and provoke ever again.

  When the United Nations wanted to impose a 48-hour ceasefire, it was Hezbollah which rushed to accept while Israel had to be pressured. Obviously this was because Israel had the military momentum in her favor. And when the month-long conflict ended, Hezbollah leader, Nasrallah, remained in an underground bunker, no longer enjoying frequent visits to central Beirut, giving daily “Hate Israel” speeches, driving down to his home town of southern Lebanon or enjoying first class flights to Damascus and Tehran. Nasrallah even admitted that had he known that even one percent of this war would have gone as it had, he would have NEVER kidnapped the soldiers and thus started the war!

  “We did not think, even 1 percent, that the capture would lead to a war at this time and of this magnitude. You ask me, if I had known on July 11 … that the operation would lead to such a war, would I do it? I say no, absolutely not.” - Hezbollah Leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, August 27, 2006

  In February 2007, there was a skirmish between Israeli troops and the Lebanese army on the Israel/Lebanon border, even though this skirmish that resulted in a shoot out and was unfortunate, the ray of light from all this, was that Israel was confronted and attacked by the Lebanese army and not by Hezbollah. This was one of the first signs that showed that the Lebanese army was doing its job. This was mostly due to the fact that Hezbollah lost its kingdom in Southern Lebanon, and is NOW in constant check by UNIFL, Lebanese Army, and International Troops. At least the Lebanese army was able to stand its ground and take control, unlike BEFORE the August 11 ceasefire! At least Israel finally got its wish, after 40 years, to FINALLY have the Lebanese army in control of the border. Since August 11, 2006 when the Lebanese army began its deployment in Southern Lebanon, not a single Katuysha, let alone a singe bullet was fired toward the Israeli side of the fence by Hezbollah. Unlike after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, when Hezbollah would look for any excuse to shoot Katyushas into Israel at least once every three months, but not anymore. No longer will the Israeli citizens of Northern Israel will ever live in fear once again!

  People in the Lebanese Government now hate Hezbollah, for bringing destruction to Lebanon. All of Hezbollah’s southern Beirut strong posts were destroyed by Israel. Even after the cease fire, Israel stayed in Lebanon for two more months in order to destroy all remaining Hezbollah outposts and bunkers while Hezbollah stood by and did nothing. During the conflict some of the Israel/Lebanon border fence was destroyed and torn down, and Israel was in no rush to fix it, since what’s the point? Hezbollah will not want to mess with the IDF again! Even until today some of that fence has not been fixed yet, since the only threat of infiltration, now, is from drug dealers smuggling Hashish across that border.

  But what about the Winograd Commission, “which is an independent Israeli government-appointed commission of inquiry, chaired by retired Israeli chief judge Eliyahu Winograd, which is set out to investigate and draw lessons from the failures experienced by Israel during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Which resulted in a war panel, and even the resignation of high figures such as the Israeli chief of staff Dan Halutz.” The reason THIS is currently taking place in Israel, is it goes to show that Israel is a democratic country! If a “Lebanese-Winograd Commission” would be done to Hezbollah; for launching an illogical irresponsible attack on Israel, by kidnapping the two soldiers which led to the war and the destruction of Lebanon. And if a Lebanese Winograd Commission would be done to the Lebanese government; for not controlling its southern border by allowing thuggish armed militias (Hezbollah) to roam free there, allowing illegal weapon shipments via the Lebanese seaport, air port, and Syrian Lebanese border to those armed “non-governmental” militias, and allowing Syria and Iran to meddle in its politics, then Lebanon would crumble to dust! But after all, Lebanon is not a Democracy.

  Worst case scenario, the Winograd Commission and some of the failures of this war, prove, that Israel might have been defeated from within, but not militarily.

  Furthermore there hasn’t been one complaint filed against Hezbollah on behalf of UNIFL and the International Troops since last year’s August cease-fire, the only complaint filed, was against the Israeli army for their over flights over Lebanese territory. Speaking about Israeli over flights, even the Israeli army itself, hasn’t complained even once, about hostile enemy fire against its planes by Hezbollah. Since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000, up until the war last summer, they continued their daily over flight and breaches over Lebanese territory, only to find themselves being confronted by Hezbollah anti-aircraft artillery. But after the August cease-fire Israel ‘STILL’ continued its breaches over Lebanese airspace, but this time, Hezbollah hasn’t even shot one pellet at them! Maybe because they are deterred and maybe because UNIFL and the Lebanese army are now in control.

  After the war, Hezbollah saw that it could no longer push around and bully Israel, and are therefore now trying to bully the “weak” Lebanese government by; their mass demonstration, camping out in front of the Lebanese Parliament, and political assassinations.

  Israel did loose the war last summer, but not in Lebanon, but instead in Gaza. After Gilad Shalit was kidnapped, Israel began a massive military campaign in Gaza, destroying infrastructure, entering towns and cities, going after terrorists, and also trying to stop the Qassam rocket fire. But instead, all it achieved was nothing, and the results of it were, that now, the Palestinians saw even more of a weakness in Israel. After the Israeli military campaign in Lebanon, deterrence was at least achieved, BUT unlike in Gaza, after the massive military campaign took place there (Gaza), the Israeli deterrence was lost for good, and now, the Palestinians are, even, more UNDETERRED from Israel that ever! And therefore have increase their rocket fire into Israel. In addition to the fact that as soon as Israel stopped its military campaign, Hamas and other groups said, “They are now even more determined than ever to kidnap another Israeli Soldier.” In April of 2007, they acted on their promise, under the cover of intense rocket fire on the Israel town of Sderot, Hamas terrorists again attempted to infiltrate Israel in order to abduct another soldier, but failed. A month later the militant group Islamic Jihad successfully infiltrated Israel, to also try to kidnap an Israeli soldier, but also failed. At least they weren’t afraid to try!

  After the war some Arab Governments, including the Palestinians, claimed Hezbollah achieved a divine victory! But hey, lets not forget, that some of those Arab governments and Palestinians which claimed Hezbollah won that “divine victory,” are some of those “same” Arab governments who “STILL” until today claim that Syria, Egypt, and the rest of the Arab World won the 1967 War and the 1973 War! That is why after this war Israel lost its deterrence against the Palestinians, Iran, and Syria. BUT gained heavily, its deterrence, against Hezbollah.

  Conclusion:

  People from around the world, before the August cease-fire, would have never believed nor imagined that the Lebanese army would EVER be in control of its southern border. Nor, people would have never believed Lebanon would EVER be able to establish control over “illegal” arms shipments across its Lebanese/Syrian border, sea ports, and airports, and, well, it finally is!

  Hezbollah will most likely never dare kidnap IDF soldiers because they saw the might and strength of the Israeli army, and they now feel threatened. Sure, some Hezbollah sympathizers may throw rocks, wave Hezbollah flags or scream “Allah Akbar” at the Lebanese-Israeli border fence but Hezbollah rank and file are laying low. Very low! And Hezbollah is no longer the imminent threat at that very same border.

  Since the ‘moment’ the two soldiers were kidnapped and even during the war, Israel knew, they would not succeed in getting them back, in addition to the fact that destroying a guerilla group is against the laws of physics! Once people will get those two facts into their heads, then THEY will realize that, the outcomes that were achieved as a result of this conflict, were the best possible “REALISTIC” outcomes that Israel could have achieved.

  Obviously this past year, the Northern Israeli border has been the quietest it has ever been over the past 40 years.

  By, Gabriel al-Amin
  Beirut, Lebanon

  Articles and Refernces:

  UNIFL: Not ‘ONE’ complaint filed against Hezbollah since last years cease-fire
  (Jerusalem Post 6/14/2007)
  http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1181813036239&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

  Again, Israeli gloom is misplaced (First Post - 4/17/2007)
  http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=1&subID=688&WT.srch=1

  Lebanese army, UNIFIL are keeping Hezbollah in check (Haaretz - 2/21/2007)
  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/828765.html

  Hezbollah’s ‘Victory’? (Washington Post 9/1/2006)
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/31/AR2006083101444_pf.html

  The Lebanese Winnograd Commission (Thomas Friedman, New York Times 5/10/2007)
  http://www.theolympian.com/109/story/104847.html

  The Egyptian, 1973 October Victory (Egyptian State Information Service)
  http://www.sis.gov.eg/VR/october/english/7.htm

  Lebanon’s Army Chief “the Lebanese Army is properly controlling its borders with Syria” (Moqwama.net [Hizbollah’s Official Website])
  http://www.moqawama.org/english/_nos.php?filename=20070330111424153

• 19. danny jaajaa | December 13th, 2007 at 12:25 pm

  The lebanese forces were strictly put in place because of the defending of the christians.
  we never murdered any palestinians if any non finatic muslim just took a step back and actually listed to what was going on you wouldnt make such biased comment.you would hav to be blind not to see that the palestinians were trying to take over Lebanon the biggest POOFTA of all history Arafat or who i like to call the dog of the arabs said on camera that he wanted to open a road from palestine to jouni Remenber???????????????????????????????????????
  or is that to biased for everyone
  You comment that the lebanese forces were teroists what a load of crap Dr samir Geagea never planned to kill or masacre any type or breed of people we always lived in peace and harmony christians, muslims etc our problem was always external and thanks to the few narrow minded arabs or should i say the majority on all parts the rest of the arab world controls us like dogs at least the hakim looks ahead for lebanon not syria an iran so grow up

• 20. Sys | December 13th, 2007 at 6:12 pm

  Theresinia,

  Again and ad nauseam, the value of an information or of an opinion is not in it being “reserved: 1)to university students studying political affairs, 2) to industries and businesses, 3) to administrations. They are worldwide. They are not free of charge”. Can you picture a Nazi university curriculum in WWII Germany? You cannot argue with points like “this was said in front of the congress” or “This is a prestigious Institute.” Any institute can be biased; any “professional” can be biased; any “fact” can be reported inappropriately or in a “convenient context”. The whole American Academia, Media etc… is prejudiced in favor of Israel and calls Hezbollah terrorist. Recently two american scholars (Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer), authors of a paper on the Israeli Lobby influence on US foreign policy were literally PERSECUTED by many american “prestigious” universities. How many Congresspersons dare to criticize Israel?

  But the main issue I initially raised was: It is not OK to call Hezbollah “Terrorist”; FACTS do not support this; yet FACTS do so for other Lebanese factions. If you have concerns about the Huge Iranian Financial & Military support to Hezbollah and its possible consequences on the Hezb’s autonomy, it is a very rational reaction, in my opinion. But calling them terrorists, bashing them with racist, inhuman expressions as it is usually done by the author and some commentators of this blog, is not. Treat them as a political opponent, not as the Evil army of the “Lord of the Rings”. Was it that bad that they fought Israel successfully?

  And finally, “putting Lebanon first”: What does it mean? First compared to what? And what comes second? I cherish the humans that live next to me on this land; I do not give a s… how Lebanon came to exist, or about discussing its “ethnic” origin (Phoenician vs. Arab; as if it was as simple as that; as if it mattered). I am here, now with this bunch of people scattered on this land who think very differently; I want to live now with them; I do not want to dilute the state of Lebanon, with Neighboring police states (like Syria) or Apartheid Criminal Sates (Israel); but I will not create myths about an Idol named Lebanon, and give human sacrifices at its feet. Humans come first. Everything else is vanity and madness (I would say evil, but I would sound a lot like GW Bush.).

  PS: You SHOULD care if Hezbollah killed someone in Zimbabwe.

• 21. theresinia | December 13th, 2007 at 9:18 pm

  SYS,

  Thanks again for your comments.

  The matter of terrorism is not the IMPORTANT one. The essential matter is NOT TO SELL OUR SOULS to foreign countries as it is happening NOW.

  To put LEBANON FIRST means the opposite of what allows the Syrian Vice President FAROUK AL CHAREH to say proudly: “thanks to its internal allies, Syria is now stronger than ever in Lebanon”: To whom do you think he was refering to ?? (can you answer honestly?).

  If IRAN can change the Leadership of Hezbollah, without refering to the party itself, guess who is ruling the Hezbollah? (can you answer honestly?).

  Do you see my dear FRIEND, THIS is the PROBLEM!!!! In dictionaries it is called TREASON. In normal countries “traitors” are punished; BUT NEVER IN LEBANON…

  THIS problem is a million times more acute than discussing whether Hezbollah is terrorist or NOT. Hezbollah is an IRANIAN army in Lebanon. This is a fact. Very PAINFUL but reality.

  FINALLY, WE MUST AGREE TOGETHER THAT IF we want to live ALL TOGETHER in this same land called Lebanon, we must STOP OBEING ORDERS FROM OUTSIDE.

  I have NO OTHER concerns. Not even Zimbabwe.

  God bless you my friend because you seem to be an honest patriot.

• 22. Sys | December 13th, 2007 at 9:38 pm

  Mr. Danny Jaajaa,

  I should point out that calling people “dogs”, referring to their ideas as “crap” or condescendingly telling them to “grow up” while not mastering: how to write, how to spell, and not having the slightest historical serious notion (other those written in some propagandist pamphlet) is not a sane way to conduct a discussion. Try to read yourself again after you type. Or try to look at the keyboard WHILE you type. I’m not even sure I understood you correctly with all these misspellings. And by all means, read a little: History is not just documentaries on the LBCI, or what your grandma told you.

  Anyway, lots of people held arms to defend themselves and their children in the civil war of Lebanon; there were Scary armed factions EVERYWHERE. Lots of groups were trying to take over Lebanon (An entity that was never really someone’s anyway). But to say that LF never murdered anyone, I mean that was really really funny. You should have your own standup comedy show.
  As for the rest of your reply, try to use some punctuation, and check the spelling, because it is hieroglyphs to me. Unreadable.
  Good Night.

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