Hizbullah's temporary triumph

All pictures in this entry were sent to me by friends and colleagues in Beirut. A.M.

As I start to write this post, a friend wrote to say that,

The fighting has spread throughout the country. In Tripoli and Akkar in the north, Sunnis are fighting and killing Alawites and vice versa. Hizbullah and the Druze PSP have been settling scores in the Chouf Mountains just east of Beirut, including heavy shelling. Muslim-on-Muslim, Sunni-Shi'ia violence has broken out in the ancient cities of Sidon and Tyre in the south and the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border. The way it looks now, things will be getting a lot worse before they get any better; the dieing continues. To date, the minority Christian population and the Palestinians have managed to stay out of the fighting. However, with would-be president General Michel Aoun gloating on TV yesterday about the successful siege of Beirut having "put the cart back on the right track" and that we can now return to business as usual, it seems to be only a matter of time before his predominantly Maronite Free Patriotic Movement starts taking some flack from the utterly humiliated Sunni and Druze population."

In these past few days I've spoken to many people in Lebanon . The division could not be clearer. Some were glad that Hizbullah and Amal took the streets. Well, they were glad that the above-mentioned private armed forces took, and I quote, "Hariri's gang down", "cleared the streets of PSP and Future Movement thugs", and that Hizbullah protects the country against conspirators that want to transform it into a second Iraq. Oh boy!

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Why not neutrality?

I don't care that Syria doesn't want it, or the Palestinians, Iran, the US or the Saudis. To heck with them all! Why can't the Lebanese stand up and say, 'we have had enough of all your plots and we refuse to be used as tools. Is it better to have the ongoing dialogue of the deaf?

If and when that happens, it will be the start of Lebanon's rejuvenation. The idea in itself is not revolutionary. If anything, it is common sense. That is what is lacking in Lebanon's political leadership. From Amal to Hizbullah, to the Lebanese Forces, to Jumblatt's PSP, to Kataeb, communists, leftists, Sunni extremists - all blame the other (s) for asking and following orders from outside.

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Losing the cause

Do not isolate the Shias because of Hizbullah. Not all support the party and many would stop supporting the party given a chance to do so. I have actively advocated this idea for a long time now, and I am glad to see this is the message Walid Jumblatt sent in one of his recent editorials for Al Anbaa.

Hizballah will always have a core of passionate supporters. However, I have seen no serious attempt to work with those who feel compelled (for financial reasons) to follow Hizbullah and take them away from the party.

An important development, if true, is the revelation of the Syrian Al-Hakika daily that Mugniyeh's body has been taken out of Damascus at the direct request of Sheikh Nasrallah, before the Syrian investigation into the assassination.

The presidential 'consensual candidate'

Abdul Halim Khaddam, the former Syrian Vice President, who lives in France claims that President Assad put his brother in law, Maj General Assef Shawkat, head of the military intelligence, under house arrest. Apparently, Shawkat was on the Bashar Assad's black list since 2005 - the same year that Rafiq Hariri was killed. More recently, Mugniyeh was assassinated and it seems impossible to believe that it was done without some help from the Syrians. Now Khaddam claims that the "Syrian regime had attempted to assassinate Mugniyeh through Gen Ali Mamlouk, head of Syria's General Intelligence Department, who was personally tasked with this mission."

Daniel Bellemare, head of the UN probe into the assassination of former Premier Rafiq Hariri will brief the Security Council on April 8. Thus far he's said very little about his work and spoke of a network that carried out the assassination and is likely to be involved in other assassinations. I particularly liked what Prof. Chibli Mallat -a human rights lawyer, Islamic law scholar and presidential candidate - has said about the investigation.

The Damascus Summit

Lebanon did not send a representative to the summit. From a certain perspective, they tried (did they succeed? that is yet to be seen) to salvage their national pride. Walid Jumblatt called in an editorial published by al-Anbaa for the Syrian regime to be toppled.

Should Lebanon have attended?

Walid Jumblatt, current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party and prominent figure in the Druze community, said that participating in the Damascus Summit is treason. The reasons are obvious.

Syria's behavior towards Lebanon has not changed for the past few decades, ever since Syria entered Lebanon with the Arab force, only to have the Arab force withdraw to let Damascus take over the country with the blessing or complicity of the US, Vatican, Europe, and so on.

In Lebanon (or elsewhere) you do not have independent parties or politicians - all are affiliated with this or that country, their intelligence, in most cases both.

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About the South...

Whenever I am in Lebanon, I try to spend a few days in Bint Jbeil. Away from the city. And more importantly, with people I do not get to see or meet elsewhere. In a Christian village nearby, I sometimes see a priest for a brief conversation. It gives me a better perspective to see all the sides, aside from observing the situation on my own.

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The quest for a president

The Presidential elections were again postponed from the 11th to the 25th of March. That was to be expected in light of the political deadlock in Lebanon.

The Lebanese fail to agree among themselves, the French and Arab initiatives failed and now everyone is waiting for something to happen between the major players (and here we have two circles - Saudi Arabia - Syria and US, Israel and Iran) that influence Lebanese internal affairs.

The Lebanese have lost the momentum. All of them are to blame for that. Somehow they always rely on others. States do not have friends or allies, they have only interests, and as such it is stupid of Lebanese politicians to rely on "friends" - they have no friends period. They only have countries that use it to advance their own agenda. Now we have Iran and Syria discussing Lebanon and deciding which course of action/reaction to choose. This is madness in its purest form.

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A day in Beirut

Monday should have been a normal day. The plan was to get up at 7 o'clock, have breakfast, make a few calls, go to a meeting, then an interview and see a friend in the evening.

It did not happen this way. At 7 o'clock I could barely open my eyes. The previous weekend was for everything except relaxation. After breakfast, I found out that the official I was supposed to interview is out of the city for a day or so.

I am the kind of gal who does not have indefinite patience. In fact, I lack patience. I decided to go to Dahyeh. Yes, the suburbs also known as Hizbullah's area. I have been there on a few occasions. This time I went to the party's media office.

I gave them a copy of my passport, some information they requested on a paper form for journalists and analysts and people who want to reach one of their MPs. I still have to fax them a letter and afterwards I have to wait for 48 hours for them to make a decision. I cannot say I am optimistic about it. Last year I refused to give them this information and as such I could not officially meet anyone from the party. It's not like I changed my mind, but if this is the only way, then I have to try it.

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