Crisis Intensifies in Lebanon As Hezbollah Takes to Streets

Posted by johnhouk on Dec 02, 2006
The situation in Lebanon mystifies me. Hezbollah and a Christian faction led by the Aoun family have united to bring down the government of Prime Minister Siniora.

Here is the thing. I can understand Hezbollah attempting to bring Siniora. I can also understand Christians wishing the Siniora government’s demise.

Hezbollah Shi’ites is because Siniora has not totally walked the Syrian line. Christians are because of Siniora’s ineptitude in protecting anti-Syrian government PM’s and voices in Lebanon. In fact the last assassination (Pierre Gemayel) in Lebanon was a Christian that was murdered by Syrian agents or Hezbollah or both in collusion.

If Aoun has made some kind of deal with Hezbollah, he must be delusional. Does he not realize that a Hezbollah controlled Lebanon will be disastrous for Christians in Lebanon.

******************************************

Crisis Intensifies in Lebanon As Hezbollah Takes to Streets

By Anthony Shadid
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 2, 2006
Source: Sound An Alarm

BEIRUT, Dec. 1 -- Hezbollah and its allies escalated Lebanon's month-long political crisis into a popular confrontation Friday, sending hundreds of thousands of supporters into the streets, parking lots and sidewalks of downtown Beirut, vowing to topple the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and reorient the country.

The city's stylish downtown, to some a symbol of recovery from the 15-year civil war that ended in 1990, was awash in red-white-and-green Lebanese flags, interspersed with banners in the colors of various sectarian and political leaders. The winter sun glinted off coils of wire and barricades encircling the colonnaded government headquarters nearby, where Siniora and other ministers have taken up residence. But the crowd was more festive than angry, more celebratory than militant, as the theater of the moment intersected, perhaps a little dissonantly, with the drama of a struggle as decisive as any in Lebanon's history.

"I wish that our prime minister and his ministers were here among us today, rather than hiding behind army tanks and barbed wire," Michel Aoun, an influential Christian leader allied with Hezbollah, told the crowd. "The one who has support of his people does not need barbed wire." Moments later, he added, "I call on the prime minister and his ministers to resign."

In symbolism, numbers and aims, the protest marked a collision between two countries that have coexisted uneasily inside Lebanon following the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in February 2005, when dueling protests convened in downtown Beirut over Syria's 29-year military presence here. They share almost no common ground: the culture of resistance to Israel celebrated by Hezbollah or the accommodation promoted by Siniora's government; the influence of Hezbollah's patrons in Iran and Syria or that of the government's French and American allies; a divided social perspective, one more religiously traditional, one more liberal. Also at issue is the extent of power due the long-disenfranchised Shiite Muslim community, the country's single largest, that Hezbollah and its militia largely represent.

"One Lebanon, one voice!" some people shouted Friday. But the question playing out across downtown Beirut, under the statue of one of Lebanon's founders, Riyad es-Solh, was the same question asked at Lebanon's independence in 1943 and so often since: What kind of Lebanon?

What is happening is more than just a political struggle unleashed by Hezbollah's demand in October for a share of the cabinet that would give it an effective veto over government decisions. Competing narratives of the country's past and future are on display.

Both sides utter the same words -- independence, sovereignty, national unity -- yet they hold two visions of what those words represent. In broadcasts, both Hezbollah's leader, Hasan Nasrallah, and Siniora urged their supporters to fly the Lebanese flag, either at the protest or, for the prime minister's supporters, from their homes. Each man speaks with sincerity underlined by the desperate conviction that the other side poses an existential threat. Both claim legitimacy from a long list of martyrs, whether Hezbollah's dead in this summer's war with Israel or Hariri and other anti-Syrian figures assassinated in Beirut since his death.

And both speak with certainty of a majority they claim to represent in Lebanon.

"Us," sign after sign read Friday. In Arabic, the consonants used can also mean, "We want a clean government."

"The government ruling us right now is dictatorial. It's a minority claiming to be a majority," said Boudy Mbarak, 24, a Christian supporter of Aoun from the village of Balouneh. "And I think we're showing today who's the majority."

Behind him, chants cascaded across the crowd: "Siniora out! We want a free government!" Drums added a cadence to the slogans thundering from banks of speakers. Youths danced in circles: "Hey, hey, you government of thieves!"

With Friday's protest, the crisis now gains momentum. Hezbollah has said the demonstrations will be open-ended. Long after nightfall, white tents went up in the downtown area, where thousands of people were expected to stay indefinitely, and speakers blared Hezbollah anthems. Groups lit fires with placards, one reading, "All of us for the nation." Others played cards or smoked water pipes in a carnival-like atmosphere.

FRONT PAGE PROPHETIC HEADLINE NEWS: http://www.soundanalarm.net.

Originally posted: WashingtonPost.com.