Lebanon (Superthread)

[zipperhead_cop]

A timely poster, albeit not a new one:

 

[geo]

I for one am happy that the people of Lebanon (for the most part) decided to sit out the Gaza dustup without meddling on their side of the frontier.  After all the hardships Lebanon has gone thru over the last 30+ years, another winless war is something they could very well do without.

 

[Yrys]

Country profile: Lebanon, 10 March 2009
Timeline: Lebanon (1920 to March 2009), 10 March 2009

Lebanon's drug mafia blamed in death of 4 soldiers

Four soldiers killed in Lebanon

Four Lebanese soldiers have been killed in an attack on an army patrol, according to media reports.

The attack was near Zahle, in the Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon. Reports said between one and 13
people were injured. The motive was unclear, but could be linked to tribal tension about the army's
recent efforts to crack down on drug smuggling in the area.

Bekaa Valley is a stronghold of the Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah. The army has not commented
on the attack. Gunmen reportedly attacked the army patrol with rocket-propelled grenades on a major
road.

The area has seen sectarian violence in recent years, and has a history of drug production. The Bekaa
Valley became notorious for the production of hashish and opium during the 1975-90 civil war, but
cultivation was largely eradicated by the government in the early 1990s. However, the failure of
alternative crops to generate income for farmers has led some to resort to illegal harvests again.

 

[old medic]

Hezbollah, allies lose Lebanon vote: politicians
Reuters
By Laila Bassam Laila Bassam  – 27 mins ago
copy at : http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090607/ts_nm/us_lebanon_election

BEIRUT (Reuters) – An anti-Syrian coalition defeated Hezbollah and its main Christian ally Michel Aoun in Lebanon's parliamentary election on Sunday, sources on both sides said.

The outcome appeared to be a blow to Syria and Iran, which support Hezbollah, and a boost to the United States, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which back the anti-Syrian "March 14" bloc led by Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri.

"We have lost the election," said a senior politician close to the alliance of Shi'ite groups Hezbollah and Amal, as well as Aoun. "We accept the result as the will of the people."

Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said he would begin announcing official results within a few hours.

The vote will also be viewed as a stinging setback to Aoun, who held the biggest bloc of Christian MPs in the outgoing assembly and had hoped to seal his claim to speak for the Christians.

Christian politician Samir Geagea said he believed the "March 14" coalition, to which his Lebanese Forces party belongs, had won, perhaps only by a narrow margin.

"In my opinion, yes, March 14 ... will return as the majority," Geagea told LBC television.

A source in Hariri's campaign predicted a decisive victory, with his bloc taking at least 70 of the assembly's 128 seats.

Perhaps 100 of the seats were virtually decided in advance, thanks to sectarian voting patterns and political deals, with Sunni and Shi'ite communities voting solidly on opposing sides.

The real electoral battle centered on Christian areas, where Aoun was up against former President Amin Gemayel's Phalange Party, Geagea's Lebanese Forces and independents.

Lebanon's rival camps are at odds over Hezbollah's guerrilla force, which outguns the Lebanese army, and ties with Syria, which dominated Lebanon for three decades until 2005.

The likeliest outcome of the poll is another "national unity" government, analysts say.

SINIORA WINS SEAT

According to unofficial results, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who has enjoyed Western and Arab support, won a parliamentary seat in the mainly Sunni southern city of Sidon.

Siniora, 66, has headed the cabinet since the Hariri-led coalition won the 2005 parliamentary election. He led the government through 18 months of political conflict with Hezbollah and its allies, but is not expected to keep his post.

Voting was relatively trouble-free across Lebanon, although there were many reports of vote-buying before the poll, with some Lebanese expatriates being offered free air tickets home.

The United States, which lists Hezbollah as a terrorist group, has linked future aid to Lebanon to the shape and policies of the next government. Hezbollah, which says it must keep its arms to deter Israel, is part of the outgoing cabinet.

The anti-Syrian majority coalition has enjoyed firm backing from many Western countries, as well as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, since the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father Rafik al-Hariri.

The coalition took power in an election following Hariri's killing, but struggled to govern in the face of a sometimes violent conflict with Hezbollah and its allies.

Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said any new government had to be based on partnership, not on one side monopolizing power.

"Whatever the results of the election, we cannot change the standing delicate balances or repeat the experiences of the past which led to catastrophes on Lebanon," he told Reuters.

"Whoever wants political stability, the preservation of national unity and the resurrection of Lebanon will find no choice but to accept the principle of consensus."

Hezbollah and its allies insisted on being given veto power in a unity cabinet -- a demand that caused an 18-month political deadlock until it was granted under a Qatari-brokered deal that followed street fighting in Beirut in May 2008.

Jumblatt said he opposed the idea of veto power for the opposition. Asked if they should be in the government, he told Reuters: "Yes, but I cannot decide on my own. I am part of a coalition and it should be a unanimous decision."

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who heads a team of international observers, urged Lebanese parties and their foreign backers to accept the result of the vote.

Tensions in Lebanon have mostly been kept in check by leaders whose rivalries pushed the country to the brink of civil war last year. A thaw in ties between Saudi Arabia and Syria has also helped maintain stability in Lebanon in recent months.

Security was tight, with 50,000 troops and police deployed across Lebanon, especially in the most contested districts.

Security sources said one person was wounded by gunfire in the northern city of Tripoli and there were brawls between rival supporters elsewhere, but no reports of serious fighting.

Baroud said after polls closed at 7 p.m. (12 p.m. EDT) that preliminary figures showed a turnout of more than 54 percent, a high figure for Lebanon, where hundreds of thousands of the 3.26 million eligible voters live abroad.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I wonder how the Druze fit into all of this; there are hundreds of thousands of Druze in both Israel and Lebanon. Israeli Druze serve in the army, do Lebanese Druze serve in that country's army? From what I've read, the Druze are excellent soldiers but what happens when they are torn between national and religious loyalties or obligations? What a mess!

The Druze have shown their loyalty lies with their home. When Hezbollah made attempts to move into the Druze hill villages at the same time they occupied the city centre, the Druze working for Hezbollah deserted and fought them, in fact the Druze fought them to a standstill and gave them a bloody nose. Israel has generally been very careful not to alienate the Druze. From my read the Druze working for Hezbollah were basically working as mercenaries.

 

[Yrys]

Rockets hit Israel from Lebanon

Two rockets have been fired into northern Israel from Lebanon. The Israeli military
responded with eight shells fired into a fruit plantation near the city of Tyre, reports
said. Remnants of a Katyusha rocket were found in Israel, police said. There were
no reports of casualties.

Israel and the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah fought a devastating
34-day war across the border in 2006. Israeli resident Ephraim Gold, who heard the
sound of up to six explosions in the city of Nahariya - some 6 miles (9.6km) from the
border with Lebanon - told the BBC News website that the rockets had sparked panic.

"People were screaming, running away," he said. "It's been quiet here for so long, this
was completely unexpected. "The sirens went off. Everybody is in bunkers. The children
had to leave their schools." He said Israeli troops were in the area to investigate the
source of the attacks.

Both UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, who have a remit to monitor the Israeli border, and
the Lebanese army deployed extra troops following the rocket launches, a UN spokes-
woman said.

Unifil (the UN Interim Force in Lebanon) said: "Unifil is in contact with both sides, urging
them to exercise maximum restraint, uphold the cessations of hostilities and avoid taking
steps which would lead to further escalation." Unifil was set up in 1978 after Israel invaded
Lebanon, and was expanded after Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah. The 2006 war was trig-
gered by a Hezbollah raid into Israel, in which the group seized two soldiers and killed others.

On the Lebanese side more than 1,000 people died, mostly civilians. About 160 Israelis - most
of them soldiers - died in the fighting and rocket fire. The border has been tense, but largely
quiet. There have been occasional clashes and rocket fire. The Associated Press says this is the
fourth such attack in 2009.

Palestinian militant groups operating in Lebanon are often blamed.