The Islamic State Versus Lebanon
November 9, 2014 10:19 AM Subscribe
As the Islamic State massacred its way throughout Iraq and Syria this summer, a separate battle took place in neighboring Lebanon, as IS fighters invaded the Lebanese border town of Arsal, beheading captured soldiers and unleashing waves of lethal car bombs.
[a short Vice video documentary]
The Guardian: Tackling Islamic State: a message from Lebanon
[a short Vice video documentary]
The Guardian: Tackling Islamic State: a message from Lebanon
Fantastic video, cheers
posted by supercrayon at 11:32 AM on November 9, 2014
posted by supercrayon at 11:32 AM on November 9, 2014
I mentioned Arsal in a comment I wrote last month.
Hezbollah is part of the problem: the mostly-Sunni population of this region don't like (what they perceive to be) Hezbollah's substantial influence in the Lebanese army. Furthermore, the border between Lebanon and Syria is not well patrolled, or even respected by the locals. If matters were put to the test it's quite possible that the region would break away from Lebanon altogether.
Lebanon's Presidential Election has been dragging on since April; the fifteenth (!) round of run-offs is due to be held later this month. The General Election for Lebanon's Parliament has been delayed yet again, for a further seventeen months; it's the first time a General Election has been delayed since Lebanon's civil war, 1975-1990. These are not good signs.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:28 PM on November 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
Hezbollah is part of the problem: the mostly-Sunni population of this region don't like (what they perceive to be) Hezbollah's substantial influence in the Lebanese army. Furthermore, the border between Lebanon and Syria is not well patrolled, or even respected by the locals. If matters were put to the test it's quite possible that the region would break away from Lebanon altogether.
Lebanon's Presidential Election has been dragging on since April; the fifteenth (!) round of run-offs is due to be held later this month. The General Election for Lebanon's Parliament has been delayed yet again, for a further seventeen months; it's the first time a General Election has been delayed since Lebanon's civil war, 1975-1990. These are not good signs.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:28 PM on November 9, 2014 [1 favorite]
Hezbollah is part of the problem: the mostly-Sunni population of this region don't like (what they perceive to be) Hezbollah's substantial influence in the Lebanese army.
What problem? ISIS exists, with or without Hezbollah. ISIS kills and terrorizes, with or without Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has proven over the past few months to be Lebanon's major defense against ISIS: They are battling Nusra and ISIS in the Qalamoun mountain range that separates Lebanon and Syria, they have foiled multiple attempts at penetrating into Lebanon's Bekaa valley, they have aided the Lebanese army in locating and capturing ISIS cells in Lebanese cities, and they have located/ended a number of ISIS car-bomb/suicide-bomb operations and headquarters.
The Lebanese army is routinely hamstrung by politics, as was very evident in the resent events in Tripoli. But no action is taken against the political parties in the country that actively aid Qaeda/Nusra/ISIS terrorists, the same political parties that are, surprisingly, the Wests allies in Lebanon.
Taef enshrined sectarianism in Lebanon's political system, and made Lebanon forever pliable to the whims of external powers. If this sounds like a logical system to build a functioning nation on... well you must have a few screws loose.
posted by xqwzts at 4:59 PM on November 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
What problem? ISIS exists, with or without Hezbollah. ISIS kills and terrorizes, with or without Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has proven over the past few months to be Lebanon's major defense against ISIS: They are battling Nusra and ISIS in the Qalamoun mountain range that separates Lebanon and Syria, they have foiled multiple attempts at penetrating into Lebanon's Bekaa valley, they have aided the Lebanese army in locating and capturing ISIS cells in Lebanese cities, and they have located/ended a number of ISIS car-bomb/suicide-bomb operations and headquarters.
The Lebanese army is routinely hamstrung by politics, as was very evident in the resent events in Tripoli. But no action is taken against the political parties in the country that actively aid Qaeda/Nusra/ISIS terrorists, the same political parties that are, surprisingly, the Wests allies in Lebanon.
Young argues that the only way back from the abyss is a new order, in both Syria and in Iraq, that recognises and openly takes into account sectarian realities and that, like the 1989 Taef agreement in Lebanon, is endorsed by regional and international powers.Only someone completely ignorant to the damage Taef has done to Lebanon's ability to be a functioning democracy would say something so utterly stupid.
Taef enshrined sectarianism in Lebanon's political system, and made Lebanon forever pliable to the whims of external powers. If this sounds like a logical system to build a functioning nation on... well you must have a few screws loose.
posted by xqwzts at 4:59 PM on November 9, 2014 [3 favorites]
ISIS exists, with or without Hezbollah. ISIS kills and terrorizes, with or without Hezbollah.
ISIS and other Syrian rebel groups would not be able to operate in north-eastern Lebanon without substantial support from local residents, any more than Hezbollah could operate in the South without support from those locals. Hezbollah cooperates with Assad's forces in attacking ISIS because they're under instructions from Iran, not because they love Lebanon.
The Lebanese army is routinely hamstrung by politics, as was very evident in the resent events in Tripoli.
It's hamstrung in the sense that it declines to place itself under Hezbollah's orders, yes.
Taef enshrined sectarianism in Lebanon's political system [...]
? The Lebanese political system has been divided along sectarian lines since the French Mandate, or at least since the National Pact of 1943. The Taif Agreement was hardly perfect, but it ended the civil war and laid the way for the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces. It also called for the disarmament of the militias who had brought so much misery to Lebanon; if only Hezbollah had done the same.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:30 PM on November 9, 2014
ISIS and other Syrian rebel groups would not be able to operate in north-eastern Lebanon without substantial support from local residents, any more than Hezbollah could operate in the South without support from those locals. Hezbollah cooperates with Assad's forces in attacking ISIS because they're under instructions from Iran, not because they love Lebanon.
The Lebanese army is routinely hamstrung by politics, as was very evident in the resent events in Tripoli.
It's hamstrung in the sense that it declines to place itself under Hezbollah's orders, yes.
Taef enshrined sectarianism in Lebanon's political system [...]
? The Lebanese political system has been divided along sectarian lines since the French Mandate, or at least since the National Pact of 1943. The Taif Agreement was hardly perfect, but it ended the civil war and laid the way for the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces. It also called for the disarmament of the militias who had brought so much misery to Lebanon; if only Hezbollah had done the same.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:30 PM on November 9, 2014
The Taif Agreement was hardly perfect, but it ended the civil war and laid the way for the withdrawal of Israeli and Syrian forces.
You are mistaken. Unless if by "laid the way for withdrawal" you mean allowed for 15 years of occupation by both forces [following Taef], and ensured that their allies could never be removed from the government.
The civil war was ended by agreements brokered between Israel, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Mainly the understanding that 1/3rd of the country would be occupied by Israel and 2/3rds by Syria. The civil war was ended by the Syrian army receiving the green light from the United States and Israel to bombard the Lebanese presidential palace and march into the capital.
Taef was simply there to give this agreement some ridiculous public Lebanese face. The legitimate Lebanese government [and therefore people] did not accept the Taef agreement until it was forced to do so under arial and artillery bombardment. The signatories to Taef formed a parallel/illegal government and have been ruling Lebanon ever since.
It's hamstrung in the sense that it declines to place itself under Hezbollah's orders, yes.
After capturing leading members of Nusra and ISIS in Lebanon, the army has been forced to release them due to political pressure. The opposite of that is maintaining law and order, not placing itself under Hezbollah's orders.
ISIS and other Syrian rebel groups would not be able to operate in north-eastern Lebanon without substantial support from local residents, any more than Hezbollah could operate in the South without support from those locals.
ISIS and Qaeda/Nusra do not have anywhere near the popular support that Hezbollah does, what they do have is funding from Wahhabist/Salafist sources, and political backing by those same sources' allies. Far from having substantial support from local residents: they move in as armed gangs and have turf wars with locals [as was evident, over the past few years, in Tripoli's Tebbaneh neighborhood].
Hezbollah cooperates with Assad's forces in attacking ISIS because they're under instructions from Iran, not because they love Lebanon.
Yes I'm sure if Iran orders them to then a force comprised largely of Shia' fighters from Baalbeck would allow that city to be overrun by ISIS. /sarcasm.
posted by xqwzts at 1:45 AM on November 10, 2014
You are mistaken. Unless if by "laid the way for withdrawal" you mean allowed for 15 years of occupation by both forces [following Taef], and ensured that their allies could never be removed from the government.
The civil war was ended by agreements brokered between Israel, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. Mainly the understanding that 1/3rd of the country would be occupied by Israel and 2/3rds by Syria. The civil war was ended by the Syrian army receiving the green light from the United States and Israel to bombard the Lebanese presidential palace and march into the capital.
Taef was simply there to give this agreement some ridiculous public Lebanese face. The legitimate Lebanese government [and therefore people] did not accept the Taef agreement until it was forced to do so under arial and artillery bombardment. The signatories to Taef formed a parallel/illegal government and have been ruling Lebanon ever since.
It's hamstrung in the sense that it declines to place itself under Hezbollah's orders, yes.
After capturing leading members of Nusra and ISIS in Lebanon, the army has been forced to release them due to political pressure. The opposite of that is maintaining law and order, not placing itself under Hezbollah's orders.
ISIS and other Syrian rebel groups would not be able to operate in north-eastern Lebanon without substantial support from local residents, any more than Hezbollah could operate in the South without support from those locals.
ISIS and Qaeda/Nusra do not have anywhere near the popular support that Hezbollah does, what they do have is funding from Wahhabist/Salafist sources, and political backing by those same sources' allies. Far from having substantial support from local residents: they move in as armed gangs and have turf wars with locals [as was evident, over the past few years, in Tripoli's Tebbaneh neighborhood].
Hezbollah cooperates with Assad's forces in attacking ISIS because they're under instructions from Iran, not because they love Lebanon.
Yes I'm sure if Iran orders them to then a force comprised largely of Shia' fighters from Baalbeck would allow that city to be overrun by ISIS. /sarcasm.
posted by xqwzts at 1:45 AM on November 10, 2014
Not Lebenon, but:
Baboons roam Libya’s Benghazi after escaping zoo amid fierce fighting
posted by Golden Eternity at 7:28 AM on November 10, 2014
Baboons roam Libya’s Benghazi after escaping zoo amid fierce fighting
posted by Golden Eternity at 7:28 AM on November 10, 2014
First, there is comprehensive evidence of the Iranian-Hezbollah penetration into Latin America.
Second, the damning admission this week that Hezbollah had been training operatives in Nigeria -
Third, the Iranian-Hezbollah strategic partnership has intensified with its involvement in Syria -- where some 4,000 Hezbollah fighters are aiding and abetting Bashar al-Assad's criminal regime
Fourth, Hezbollah's criminal complicity in Syria has further destabilized Lebanon, a country whose political independence and territorial integrity have been both mortgaged to Hezbollah.
Fifth, Hezbollah has been playing a particularly prejudicial and pernicious role in the Middle East, threatening the government of Bahrain, which has itself declared Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, killing civilians in Iraq, undermining Yemen and Egypt, and stockpiling over 50,000 missiles, in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, for terrorist attacks against Israel.
Sixth, Hezbollah has once again emerged as a terrorist threat in Europe.
Seventh, Hezbollah's global terrorist footprint, as set forth above, has been further exposed in the recent U.S. State Department's annual Country Reports on Terrorism, where it documents the "clear resurgence of Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism and that of "Tehran's ally Hezbollah."
It is old Huff-Puff but hey, it's good to know your local good guy who fights ISIS.
posted by clavdivs at 9:19 AM on November 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
Second, the damning admission this week that Hezbollah had been training operatives in Nigeria -
Third, the Iranian-Hezbollah strategic partnership has intensified with its involvement in Syria -- where some 4,000 Hezbollah fighters are aiding and abetting Bashar al-Assad's criminal regime
Fourth, Hezbollah's criminal complicity in Syria has further destabilized Lebanon, a country whose political independence and territorial integrity have been both mortgaged to Hezbollah.
Fifth, Hezbollah has been playing a particularly prejudicial and pernicious role in the Middle East, threatening the government of Bahrain, which has itself declared Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization, killing civilians in Iraq, undermining Yemen and Egypt, and stockpiling over 50,000 missiles, in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, for terrorist attacks against Israel.
Sixth, Hezbollah has once again emerged as a terrorist threat in Europe.
Seventh, Hezbollah's global terrorist footprint, as set forth above, has been further exposed in the recent U.S. State Department's annual Country Reports on Terrorism, where it documents the "clear resurgence of Iran's state sponsorship of terrorism and that of "Tehran's ally Hezbollah."
It is old Huff-Puff but hey, it's good to know your local good guy who fights ISIS.
posted by clavdivs at 9:19 AM on November 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
Has the ISIS Crisis Pushed the CIA into Bed with Hezbollah?
posted by clavdivs at 9:26 AM on November 10, 2014
posted by clavdivs at 9:26 AM on November 10, 2014
Bodyguard of Syrian rebel who defected to Isil reveals secrets of the jihadist leadership
posted by Golden Eternity at 1:52 PM on November 11, 2014
posted by Golden Eternity at 1:52 PM on November 11, 2014
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When the soldiers have gone?
posted by SansPoint at 11:14 AM on November 9, 2014