America, Lebanon, and Russia

 

Previously, Take Your Cross has covered U.S. Lebanon policy here and here.

 

 

 

By Olivier Guitta in The Middle East Times on June 30, 2008 (Hat Tip: Counterterrorism Blog): 

After the Hezbollah (the Party of God) coup in May and its “official” endorsement by Lebanese political forces and the international community in Doha, Lebanon is still very much facing an explosive situation.

 

One may deduct [sic] from this latest violence that the Doha agreement that allowed the election of the pro-Syrian Gen. Michel Suleiman and de facto handed Hezbollah the keys of the country, is not going down well with the Sunnis, the Druze, a large portion of the Christian community and finally some anti-Hezbollah forces within the Shiite community. In fact, they feel that once again the United States and France have sold out Lebanon to fit their geopolitical interests.

For instance, a majority politician expressed his resentment of the major world powers: “They wanted Munich! Today, Iran controls the country. Tehran has restored its “border” with Israel, which had been destroyed during the war of 2006. Bravo to the international community!”

Blame is not limited to France and the United States, but also to the majority’s leadership and in particular the Future Movement, Saad Hariri’s party. The Hariris know that they will pay dearly among their base their decision not to call to take up arms against the Shiites. Indeed, scores of Tripoli residents that long regarded the Party of God as the “resistance” of Lebanon, view it now as the party of the devil.

Already, in Tripoli, the Salafist extremists are gaining ground. A group of them told the French daily Libération: “Hariri is our leader, we respect and support him. Now, this is the nice option. If it fails, we have another option called Bin Laden.”

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Indeed, Hezbollah has been indirectly targeting the U.S. forces in Iraq. A senior Hezbollah official was recently arrested in Sadr City and dozens of Hezbollah operatives are allegedly training Shiite and Sunni radical groups in Iraq.

This veiled war could explain why according to analyst Elizabeth Picard the U.S. administration recently asked Israel to hit hard at Hezbollah during the May crisis. Hezbollah could also decide to strike at U.S. interests in the United States, Canada, South America, Africa or Europe.

To add to the already potentially explosive cocktail, the well-informed Jane’s revealed that Syrian troops are deployed in Lebanon. With so many players present in that small country, the likelihood of a new armed conflict is growing by the day. Lebanon could end up being the next stage of the war between the West and radical Islam.

Read the whole article.

 

Remember, both al-Qaeda and Hezbollah are under Russian influence.

Tags: al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Iran, Lebanon, Russia, Salafi