Remember how the entire world called on Israel to stop the ‘violence’ after Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers? Remember how people thought that the U.N. force could actually do something against Hezbollah?
Good news for all those who favored the above: Hezbollah has re-armed itself and is currently actively trying to remove Siniora from power. In fact Hezbollah members have become so ‘courageous’ that they are fighting against Siniora supporters already…
Thursday’s clashes in Beirut showed just how quickly any spark can turn into a wildfire.
Students said it began with a scuffle in the cafeteria of Beirut Arab University between Sunni Muslims and supporters of the Shiite Hezbollah. As Sunnis in the surrounding Tarik el-Jadideh district moved in, Hezbollah activists called in reinforcements.
Hezbollah activists with walkie-talkies were seen coordinating as a ragtag convoy of hundreds of vigilantes raced to the campus. Gangs – many wearing blue and red construction hard hats and wielding clubs made from sticks and even chair legs – poured into the area and battled Sunni students and riot police and soldiers.
Hezbollah backers claimed Sunni gunmen fired from apartment balconies near the school, wounding several people. The claim could not be independently confirmed.
Thick black smoke rose over the campus and the neighborhood on the southern edge of Beirut as rioters set fire to vehicles, tires and trash. Bands of youths clashed with stones and clubs in running street battles as the army tried to close off streets with tanks and armored vehicles. Troops fired tear gas and warning shots into the air.
Goody!
Rick Moran has more:
It seems to me that Nasrallah basically has two options at this point. He can embrace the horror and continue down the path he has chosen – a path that he must realize by now can only end in sectarian conflict. Or he can sit down with Siniora and hammer out a compromise that he can live with.
As for the latter, he is getting plenty of cover from his own allies. Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri of the Amal party, Hizbullah’s major partner in the anti-government coalition has called for all parties to negotiate. And Siniora has constantly issued pleas for Nasrallah to come to the table and find a way to untie the knot of civil war that seems to be tightening every day that Hizbullah is in the streets.
But after making grandiose claims about bringing down the government, can Nasrallah afford to back down? The answer to that question will determine if Lebanon sinks into the nightmare of civil war.
His options narrowing, his people perhaps getting beyond his control, resistance stiffening among the opposition parties, and his main benefactors in Iran and Syria split over what is the best course for the future, Nasrallah is in a bind of his own making. If he plays the statesmen, Lebanon will probably settle back into an uneasy peace. But if he decides to play the fiery revolutionary leader, it is very likely that in the not too distant future, the streets of Beirut and Tyre and Tripoli will once again run red with the blood of innocents and combatants alike and Lebanon will sink to its knees in agony.
All of that, of course, could have been prohibited if the International Community would have done the logical thing: supporting Israel when it decided to take on Hezbollah. Hezbollah was severely weakened, Israel was capable of destroying Hezbollah, but the ‘International Community’ decided that we’re all engaged in a war against terrorism, that force should be used against terrorism, except for when Israel is the one being attacked and fighting back in order to secure its borders.
Great decision, wasn’t it, to call back Israel? The result is a possible full-blown civil war in Lebanon and/or a take-over by Hezbollah.
And, once again, it has been proven that the ‘solutions’ of the anti-Israel, also called ‘pro-peace’, crowd don’t work.
Cross posted at Michael P.F. van der Galiën.
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