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An Escalating Crisis in Lebanon
In Lebanon, there’s been an upsurge in fighting in the past few days. In Beirut, there have been several major bomb attacks and, in the northern part of the country (near Tripoli), the Lebanese army has been openly fighting Palestinian militants. Nearly all of this violence can, reportedly, be traced back to a group known as Fatah al-Islam, led by a Palestinian man named Shakir al-Abssi.
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4 Responses to “An Escalating Crisis in Lebanon”
Lebanon is right to destroy the group, and storm and even destroy the camp if need be.
Nasrallah has (and Iran has) warned that this should not be done,
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708683535&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
which is proof, not merely additional evidence, that Lebanon seeks the right thing.
(Sympathizers with and fans of Nasrallah and his terrorist thugs will object, of course, but that is not surprising.)
Meanwhile, it’s time for the Good Guys to build up and be decisive:
“The United States and Arab allies rushed military aid to Lebanon Friday, boosting its strength ahead of a possible army assault to crush Islamic militants barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp.”
http://news.bostonherald.com/international/middleEast/view.bg?articleid=1003163
I’m waiting for the world community to accuse Lebanon of using disproportionate force and of war crimes and massacres. Oh, that’s right, only Israel is required to exercise restraint. Only Israel is required to allow its population to be targeted for mass murder and not defend itself.
Laura – The Lebanese(fighting in their own country, no invasion) are using restraint in going after this terrorist/criminal group. The Israelis used less restraint.
DLS – Yes, the Lebanese army could storm the refugee camp and kill everyone and everythng they encounter. But sometimes, the most violent approach is not always the best. In Lebanon, there are a dozen Palestinian refugee camps with 400,000 people, a bit more than 10% of it’s population. A massacre could cause all the Palestinian camps to erupt and the Lebanese army is an ill-equiped and ill- trained force of 60,000 that would not be up to the task of an insurrection in all the camps.
Just as in a hostage situation in the United States, the SWAT teams first priority is the civilians and negotiations. Storming in comes later if at all.
As an aside, these 400,000 Palestinians are not allowed to be citizens of Lebanon or have access to meaningful employment. They have a bleak existence that is partially responsible for this situation.