BEYOND THE DROPZONE

LEBANON UPDATE: Cedars Revolution rejects Arab agreement

Posted by editor-at-large on 17 May 2008 at 2:52 am UTC

 

“The New Cairo Agreement; What Hezbollah couldn’t take by force, it will receive through the Arab delegation.”After the failed attacks, which were carried out by Hezbollah and its Divine Ruler, against the people of West Beirut and the Chouf; and given Hezbollah’s catastrophic failure and the exposure of its leadership’s planning of oppressing the Lebanese people through the use of weapons of ambush under its control, it now seems that scheming and colluding will take place to provide Hezbollah with the political Arabic protection which will be imposed upon the government and will result as happened in 1968 when the government accepted that despicable Cairo agreement, which cost Lebanon 30 years of Syrian occupation and tyranny, a price which we are still paying until now through attacks against our identity and existence, the assassinations of our symbols of democracy; and the oppressors’ imposition of their opinion through the power of the gun.

“It is from this position that the World Council of the Cedars Revolution calls for the tight scrutiny of the following;

1) That any dialogue outside the principle of the surrendering of arms to the legitimate force is totally rejected and completely unacceptable.

2) That any relief for those who are imposing themselves upon the people of any region of Lebanon, will be considered as aiding and abetting the enemies of Lebanon and the abrogating of responsibilities in the building of a nation of the rule of law which will protect everyone under its wings of justice and equality.

3) Any initiative be it Arab or otherwise which endorses maintaining foreign or external impact against the law, encouraging the possession of weapons which are not under the control of the Lebanese authority, is totally rejected and will not be acceptable to people of Lebanon who are prepared and not afraid to confront the arms and those who trade in them in any situation.

4) That our people’s preparedness to take a solid stand with conviction, particularly in Beirut and Mount Lebanon; and having absorbed the oppression and aggression, makes it impossible to underestimate them and we will not accept the dismantling of the honorable sacrifices of the land of the martyrs.

5) At the very least, the restoration of the honor of the people of Lebanon which has been offended, requires the dissolving of Hezbollah, the unconditional disarming of all groups and the placement of all arms at the hands and control of the nation.

6) That any responsible person who accepts dialogue with Hezbollah prior to the surrender of arms, will be brought to justice before the people of Lebanon, for they must realize that they are creating new conflicts. Everyone knows that leniency towards criminals contributes to further crimes such as the assassination of people and the destruction of the Nation.”

As I mentioned in my previous post, there will be updates and analysis over the next few days.

(photo - Lebanon.at)

— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.

LEBANON UPDATE: Lights out in Lebanon … at least temporarily

Posted by editor-at-large on 16 May 2008 at 2:06 pm UTC

The proverbial lights have gone out in Lebanon … at least temporarily. 

Heartbreaking to say the least — strategically problematic to be sure — but the Lebanese government, the Lebanese army, and the Western nations which vowed to stand with them (Lebanon, remember, is a vital front in the war on terror) have apparently all caved to the will and guns of the Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah axis.

Be assured, however, the brave, freedom-loving Lebanese people — a majority in that country — have not surrendered to anyone: Nor does that majority have any intention of surrendering.

I know these people — some of the best friends and allies America can ever hope to have — and this fight they have against a Taliban-like terrorist army in Lebanon is not over.
 
I’ll have more on this, this weekend.

(Hezbollah photo - StrategyPage.com)

— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.

YIKES! and a dangerous concession to the terrorists

Posted by editor-at-large on 14 May 2008 at 7:33 pm UTC

Reminds me of the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz … except this is real-world scarier.

Even scarier — actually more disturbing — is the announcement earlier by Lebanon’s Information Minister Ghazi Aridi that the Lebanese Cabinet was revoking its previous decision to fire the security chief at Beirut International Airport (Remember. the security chief is reportedly either a member of Hezbollah or he has close ties to the terrorist group.). And apparently the government is also going to let Hezbollah keep its extensive telecommunications network operational.

So let’s boil it all down: The legitimate Lebanese government makes two national-security decisions about a full-blown Iranian-financed, Syrian-backed, Taliban-like, terrorist army operating on sovereign Lebanese territory. The terrorist army doesn’t like the decisions, so it responds with armed aggression against the Lebanese people. And so the Lebanese government — whose own national army and police forces barely fired a shot in the defense of Lebanon when Hezbollah attacked – says, “OK, we’re sorry. We reverse our decisions against you.”

According to the AP:

“Seconds after [Aridi’s] announcement, celebratory gunfire erupted south of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.“

Oh, and let’s not forget seven months ago — as I was reporting on this telecommunications system and other unreported or underreported activities by Hezbollah in Lebanon — I also described the southern suburbs of Beirut (Dahiyeh) as a “Hezbollah stronghold.” Those who tried their damndest to silence me, scoffed at my reference of Dahiyeh as a stronghold.

(cartoon by Michael Ramirez)

— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.

LEBANON UPDATE: Bloodying Iran’s Foreign Legion

Posted by editor-at-large on 14 May 2008 at 3:45 am UTC

I posted a few hours ago at Family Security Matters:

“Regions of Lebanon burned overnight as Hezbollah continued its unjustified offensive against Lebanese civilians with virtual impunity. The exception being the underreported bloody nose the Iranian-Syrian-backed terrorist group suffered at the hands of the Druze in the Chouf Mountains.

“Today there reportedly are pockets of fighting, and Lebanon’s Future Movement leader Saad Hariri (son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri) — whose own life has been in great danger over the past week — has vowed not to surrender to Hezbollah or its supporters.

“I continue writing about the fighting in my piece ”Bloodying Iran’s Foreign Legion” in today’s Townhall.com.

“Prayers for our good friends and allies in Lebanon.”

Still no word yet from Sayyed Husseini (see previous post).

LEBANON UPDATE: Source purportedly flees from Hezbollah

Posted by editor-at-large on 12 May 2008 at 12:07 pm UTC

My piece in this morning’s Human Events, discusses a phone call I had with Hezbollah’s former chief of security, Al Sayyed Mohammad Ali El Husseini, a high-ranking Shiia cleric who some say was to replace the terrorist group’s secretary general Hassan Nasrallah. The two however split over ideological differences, and I’ve since interviewed Husseini on four separate occasions (twice face-to-face when I was in Lebanon last year, including time spent with him when others of us were running a photo reconnaisance of Hezbollah’s stronghold in Dahiyeh).

On Friday evening, I interviewed Husseini (Read it here) from his home in Dahiyeh, the southern suburbs of Beirut. And I specifically asked him if he felt his life was in danger. After all, Hezbollah had tried assassinate him once before, and that was when I was in Lebanon in September and October.

Husseini said he did not feel as if he was in danger at that time, again Friday. But several hours ago (Sunday evening), he informed another of my sources that he and his family were packing up and fleeing to south Lebanon, close to where UNIFIL forces are positioned.

Apparently, Hezbollah gunmen have been asking questions about him in Dahiyeh.

Not sure where Husseini is right now. But we hope to make contact with him at some point today.

— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.

Hezbollah is a terrorist group, not an “opposition” force

Posted by editor-at-large on 12 May 2008 at 1:14 am UTC

Hezbollah – an Iranian-funded Lebanon-based army of mass murderers (designated foreign terrorists by the U.S. government) – has been christened “the opposition” by several Western press organizations. And supporters of freedom and democracy in Lebanon want to know why.

“As we continue to witness the unfolding of events in Lebanon, I wonder why we are seeing and reading news stories infused with this new unsettling reference of the Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah axis as nothing more than ‘an opposition force,’” says John Hajjar, U.S. director for the World Council of the Cedars Revolution. “Why can’t they be referred to by their proper and less-ambiguous nomenclature? They are terrorists, officially, and nothing more.”

Indeed, the so-called “opposition” – which includes Hezbollah (literally a terrorist army with a vast array of heavy weapons), members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Syrian intelligence and paramilitary operatives in Lebanon – are officially designated terrorists: As if anyone, who knows the extraordinarily dark history of these groups needs an official designation anyway.

The U.S. State Department has designated Hezbollah a “foreign terrorist organization,” and Iran and Syria as “state sponsors of terrorism.” And Treasury has designated Iran’s IRGC as a “supporter of terrorists.”

Interestingly, Al Jazeera (AJZ) – which almost always refers to Hezbollah either by its primary name or its militant-wing title, “Islamic Resistance” – has taken a deliberate approach in its recent reference of Hezbollah as an “opposition” force. It’s fairly obvious that AJZ is attempting to eradicate any negative “labeling” connotation surrounding Hezbollah; and – according to our media and counterterrorism sources – AJZ is doing so to appease sympathizers in the Arab world as Hezbollah continues to attack civilians in Lebanon. (Actually the entire Hezbollah organization is “militant,” similar to the Taliban in Afghanistan, but we’ll save that for another piece.)

Funded by the oil industry of the Qatari regime, AJZ wants to protect – and perhaps enhance – Hezbollah’s legitimacy and credibility in the Arab world. Hezbollah is occupying and brutalizing those within the Sunni and Druze communities in Lebanon. This could have a backlash in the Arab world, particularly among the Sunni populations. Hence, a softer book-cover was deemed necessary.

None of this is really new in terms of Hezbollah’s and its sympathizers’ now-legendary media manipulation efforts. According to sources within the pro-democracy movement in Lebanon:

“We indicated months ago a massive Iranian propaganda effort was able to target major Western media outlets starting with their correspondents in Beirut [those correspondents were either threatened or bought with Iranian money]. We were warning about it in November. Now it is simply happening.”

George Chaya, director of the Lebanese Information Center in Argentina, which monitors Middle East Terrorism, has previously said:

“Hezbollah’s propagandists have been able to win the battle of information worldwide. They were able to influence newsrooms around the world and impose their lexicon. Readers from Berlin to Santiago de Chile think it is a classical confrontation between an opposition movement and a government. In reality it is a terrorist organization devouring a democracy.”

Nevertheless, the Associated Press, CNN, Agence France Presse, the U.S.-sponsored Al Hurra network, and other news organizations have increasingly seen fit to use a label which – wittingly or not – soft-soaps one of the world’s most notorious terrorist groups, Hezbollah (which up until the Al Qaeda attacks of 9/11, had killed more Americans than any other terrorist organization in the world); and the label attempts to “clean the faces,” as my Lebanese friends like to say, of rogue states like Iran and Syria.   

The Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah axis, as terrorism-expert Dr. Walid Phares often refers to it, is not simply an “opposition” movement. It is an international terrorist force.

And it is trying to cut the heart out of Lebanon.

— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.

URGENT BULLETIN - World Council for the Cedars Revolution

Posted by editor-at-large on 11 May 2008 at 2:39 pm UTC

[We’ve just received the following bulletin from the WCCR]

CALL TO STOP IRANIAN ATTACK IN LEBANON 
 
Beirut/Washington, D.C., May 11, 2008
 
As of this morning, Sunday May 11, our sources in Lebanon are reporting that a full- fledged offensive has been launched and is being conducted by Hezbollah, backed by Iranian Pasdaran and Syrian armed groups; and that this offensive has been launched against the southern Mount Lebanon area on several axis.

The Iranian-backed forces are using long-range artillery as well as armor and Katusha rockets. Hezbollah has massed around 10,000 troops for this invasion of the Druze villages along the Beirut-Damascus road.
 
Reports confirm that the commander of the Lebanese Army, General Michel Sleiman, who was appointed under the Syrian occupation in 1998, has ordered his troops not to intervene to help the Lebanese population, which is now under a terrorist attack (Sleiman also abandoned the Sunni neighborhood in the capital few days ago when Hezbollah and its Iranian militias invaded the city.).

According to sources, unless the Lebanese Army intervenes, it is expected that Hezbollah’s forces will ultimately overrun the Druze villages in the Aley district and link up with their forces in the Bekaa valley. 
 
Representing the aspirations of Lebanese around the world, the WCCR has been flooded with calls and emails from Lebanon desperately urging help from the international community.

It should be noted that the United States has spent millions of dollars training the Lebanese Army over the past several years. Additionally, the U.S. president and many congressional leaders (from both parties) have expressed a commitment to defending the pro-democracy Cedars Revolution. Pres. Sarkozy of France has expressed a similar commitment.
 
The WCCR urges the governments of both the United States and France to extend immediate support to the Lebanese people resisting the onslaught of Hezbollah and its Iranian and Syrian backers. We expect Washington and Paris to take immediate action in this regard by preventing the Iranian-backed forces from overrunning the Druze, Sunni and Christian areas of Lebanon.

Every hour of inaction is an hour of loss for freedom in Lebanon.

The WCCR also calls on Lebanese around the world to mobilize in support of the mother country by all legitimate means.
 
Executive Committee
Joe Baini, President
Tom Harb, Secretary General

Heavy Fighting in Lebanon

Posted by editor-at-large on 11 May 2008 at 2:13 pm UTC

In the wake of Hezbollah’s withdrawals from sectors in Beirut, heavy fighting — including both mortar and machinegun fire — has reportedly erupted in the mountains just east of the capital, in the Bekaa Valley, and in-and-around the northern city of Tripoli.

Some of our sources have reported the use of light artillery (though we have not yet confirmed that). Hezbollah certainly has artillery pieces, as well as missiles and other such weapons in its inventory.

We also understand that elements of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as well as Syrian operatives have been directly involved in some of the fighting. No surprise there.

And, yes, the U.S. continues to maintain a Naval task force just over the horizon.

More to follow.

Hezbollah in control of West Beirut

Posted by editor-at-large on 9 May 2008 at 6:16 pm UTC

Just got off the phone with a former Hezbollah senior commander in Beirut.

Don’t yet want to detail what we chatted about (though there is more to come).

Just know that the situation in Lebanon is grim. Could take a dramatic and unexpected turn within hours, and as I just told a friend in an email:

“Like all Jihadists, they [Hezbollah] are patient, probing, posturing, extremely dangerous.”

Take a look at the seeming indecisiveness of Mugtada al Sadr in Iraq. It’s not indecision at all. The actions of his Mahdi Army – full-blown offensive fighting, feinting, testing defenses, withdrawing — are all deliberate and based on any number of political and strategic factors at a given moment in time, as well as a desire to keep us off-balance.

Anyway, for the time being, Hezbollah has basically seized much of west Beirut. They control the airport and seaport, key neighborhoods, and the major roads.

More here.   

Could it get any clearer than this?

Posted by editor-at-large on 9 May 2008 at 12:49 am UTC

Last week, addressing an audience at Kansas State University, CIA Director Michael Hayden said:

“It is my opinion, it is the policy of the Iranian government, approved to highest level of that government, to facilitate the killing of Americans in Iraq. Just make sure there’s clarity on that.”

Archives: