By: Elias Bejjani*
Since the early eighties the United States, the free world, and Arab world have sadly been exhibiting a pathetic stance and laissez-faire leadership role regarding Hezbollah, the Terrorist Islamic Jihad organization. Meanwhile, they all recognize the fact that it is more dangerous and much better trained than Al-Qaeda.
Ironically, this Iranian terrorist army has been devouring Lebanon piece by piece with the help of both Iran and Syria while the whole world watches indifferently. In reality it now controls the country merely by force, murder, invasions and intimidation of Lebanon's institutions. It also has the upper hand in appointing almost each and every official in all levels of government.
We recall October 23, 1983 with pain and sorrow when in Beirut two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing U.S. and French military members of a multinational force. They killed 299 servicemen including 240 US Marines and 58 French paratroopers. The organization Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing. That organization was a nom de guerre for Hezbollah, a group that would later become part of the present-day terrorist Hezbollah party.
The US, Canada and Australia have put Hezbollah on their terrorist lists, while Europe and the Arab countries have succumbed to this Iranian sponsored terrorist group by falling short of adopting an actual anti-terrorism stance. Some of them, like England, have been camouflaging their position by claiming that they are against Hezbollah’s military wing, but are in support of the social and humanitarian one. Hezbollah’s leaders themselves ridicule this classification.
Many renowned US anti-terrorism experts have been raising the alarm for years. Mr. W. Thomas Smith Jr. wrote in 2008, ("Hezbollah is perhaps the most-dangerous Talibanesque terrorist-army on the planet. The organization is trained, armed and equipped, operationally supported, and heavily funded by Iran (at least $ one-billion, annually); and operationally supported by Syria. In fact, Hezbollah is so dangerous – and gaining in its global strength and influence – that Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff recently warned, the organization ‘makes Al Qaeda look like a minor league team.’”)
For the past 26 years there has been high-pitched US rhetoric against Hezbollah, but no action whatsoever. The world knows that Syria had savagely occupied Lebanon for 28 years between 1976 and 2005 and that it is fully responsible for the creation of Hezbollah. It is a mere Iranian militant brigade fully affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)”.
So instead of deterring the Syrian regime to at the very least stop transferring Iranian weapons to Hezbollah and encouraging them to help the Lebanese to contain and disarm it, the US, Europe and the Arab countries have been appeasing the Syrian leadership. Syria provides them with everything they need to remain in power and continue oppressing the people of Lebanon, spreading havoc and instability all over its neighboring countries. In this context, the US officials keep issuing more warnings to Syria and Iran. These two countries ridicule them and continue stockpiling Hezbollah's arsenal with more strategic weapons that include ballistic Scud missiles.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates held a joint press conference at the Pentagon with his visiting Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak on Tuesday April 28, 2010 in which he said: "Syria is helping Hezbollah stockpile far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world", "Syria and Iran are providing Hezbollah with rockets and missiles of ever-increasing capability and this is obviously destabilizing for the whole region”. Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah responded by telling AFP “The resistance has the right to use all legitimate means to build its capacity to defend Lebanon.” He added that U.S. arms were “annihilating” civilians in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, and that they were the “cause of all suffering in the region.”
One wonders if there is any credibility in the ongoing piles of warnings and press releases. Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas have for many years been doing what they want without restraint and without any need to pay attention to the rhetoric of warnings from Israel, the US and Europe. According to Mr. Hamid Ghoriafi, a Middle East analyst and journalist, things are going to change to the point where the U.S. becomes determined to put Syria in its place.
In a report published yesterday by the Kuwaiti Daily, Al-Seyassah, Ghoriafi quoted reliable diplomatic sources in Vienna as saying “Earlier this week the US has informed the Syrian Al Assad regime that Washington is no longer only interested in the withdrawal of the Scud missiles from Hezbollah's arsenal, in case they have already been transferred from Syria to Lebanon. It is also strongly demanding from Syria that all the Syrian and Iranian missiles that had been smuggled to Lebanon during the last four years, in the aftermath of the 2005 War, be withdrawn from Hezbollah's arsenal".
According to the same source, the U.S. is insisting that all Hezbollah’s missiles with a range of 20 kilometers and more to be returned immediately to Syria. This is because they are classified as strategic weapons that threaten not only Israel, but also other countries in the region. They are also a hazard to U.S., European and particularly Arab countries' interests.
The report further revealed that the U.S. has provided NATO, Israel and Egypt each with a detailed list outlining and describing all types of these strategic missiles. The list of missiles includes Scud, Zelzal, Fatah version one and two, plus other Iranian and Syrian missiles that were piled into Hezbollah's arsenal during the last few years. The list was handed over to Syria with a clear warning demanding that every one of the listed four thousand missiles from Hezbollah’s 30 to 40-thousand missile arsenal be returned to Syria.
The warning included an expectation that this step by Syria would be followed by disarming Hezbollah in accordance with the UN Resolutions 1559 and 1701. The report stated that western efforts are underway to rectify UN Resolution 1701 at the UN Security Council. These efforts seek to add certain clauses that will give the UNIFIL forces in South Lebanon a new role in deploying along the Lebanese-Syrian border and in helping the Lebanese army put all of Hezbollah's weapons under the authority of the Lebanese State.
Ghoriafi also revealed the affirmation by diplomatic sources in London that President Obama's administration has already made Al-Assad fully aware of its serious concern not only about the Scud missiles Syria has transferred to Hezbollah, but about the entire Hezbollah missile arsenal estimated to be in the thousands. The administration told Al Assad that he must take care of this matter as soon as possible and without delay or hesitation. Otherwise, the US and the international community will resort to all options available to them to stop Hezbollah from using these stockpiled missiles regardless of Syria's national security.
In the same context the report quoted Dr. Chuck Freilich, a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Centre’s International Security Program and Israel’s former Deputy National Security Adviser for Foreign Affairs, as saying "In case Israel is actually sure and definite that any of its enemies is in possession of weapons that is capable of causing destruction to the Jewish State, it will pre-emptively destroy these weapons using all means including weapons of mass destruction pursuant to the principle: "Shoot first and then ask.”
The question remains, will the US stop Syria's terrorism before it is too late?
*Click here to read the Arabic original version of Hamid Ghoriafi's report
http://www.10452lccc.com/h.geriafi07/hamid29.04.10.htm
*Click here to read Mr. W. Thomas Smith Jr. editorial/ 2008
http://www.worlddefensereview.com/dropzone/archives/50
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Iran, not Israel, will start the war
By: Elias Bejjani*
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday: "There is no truth to insinuations that Israel is allegedly planning a move against Syria. I estimate that this is an attempt made by Iran and Hezbollah to distract the international community from the sanctions planned against Iran."
Mr. Netanyahu's short but decisive statement actually unveils the ongoing vicious Iranian scheme that is in the works. The mullahs in Iran are cunningly working day and night on the last details of a devastating war that they are planning to ignite against Israel from Lebanon through their militant terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, when the time is appropriate for them, exactly as was the case in 2006.
Meanwhile, Iran's intentions to annihilate the Jewish state are becoming bolder and more aggressive. On 18/04/2010, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel was on its way to collapse, as Iran's military displayed a range of home-built drones and missiles at the annual Army Day parade. In a speech marking the event, Ahmadinejad also reiterated his view that the presence of foreign forces is causing conflict in the region. "The Zionist regime is on its way to collapse. This regime is the main instigator of sedition and conflict in the region," the Iranian president added. "This is the will of the regional nations that after 60 odd years, the root of this corrupt microbe and the main reason for insecurity in the region be pulled out... Its supporters and creators ought to stop backing it and allow the regional nations and the Palestinians to settle things with them," he said.
In 2006 Iran was under tremendous pressure from Western countries to halt its nuclear program or face very tough sanctions. To distract the entire world away from their program they gave orders to their Hezbollah army in Lebanon to engage the Jewish State in a war that they did without any hesitation. The war lasted for 33 days and shifted all the heat away from Iran and its suspicious nuclear activities.
In fact, Syria under President Bashar Al Assad has become an Iranian puppet and has no say in what Hezbollah in Lebanon does or does not do. Meanwhile, the current relationship between Syria's president Bashar Al Assad and Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a replicate of the master-slave one that existed during World War II between Hitler and Mussolini where the first was in full control of the decision making process and the second just a puppet who carried out his orders with no say whatsoever.
Retired Lebanese army officer, and renowned worldwide expert on Hezbollah and terrorism, Colonel Charbel Barakat, wrote yesterday for our site, the LCCC, an analysis with the title, "Who is beating the war drums this time?" In this article he addresses the Scud missile crisis that has led to a war of rhetoric between Iran, Syria and Hezbollah on one side, and Israel and the USA on the other.
Barakat, based on his extensive first hand military and anti-terrorism expertise, strongly believes that Iran, and not Syria, is in full control all the Middle East Axis of Evil and Islamic fundamentalist terror groups’ (Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, Jihad, etc.) activities, finances, plans, leadership, cadres and decision making processes, while Hezbollah is a mere militant Iranian brigade.
In contrast to many Western analysts who have claimed that Hezbollah does not strategically need the Scud missiles due to its self defense military resistance status, Barakat said: "these claims would have been true if Hezbollah was actually Lebanese and in an actual self defense status, but it is not, and it is totally affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)”.
Barakat concluded that Iran desperately wants Hezbollah to pile these Scud missiles in its arsenal because their longest range is 700 km and thus they are a must for its scheme that aims to reach Israel's nuclear plant in Demona, the Israeli Nagave airports and other vital military and civil institutions.
He added that "The Iranian improved M 600 missiles that are currently in Hezbollah's possession have a range that does not go beyond Tel Aviv, and here comes the importance of the Scud missiles that can reach locations all over Israel. The M 600 missile and the Scud both can carry a load of up to 500 kg”.
Were the Scud missiles actually transferred from Syria to Hezbollah's military bases in Lebanon or not yet? Barakat played down the importance of such futile, time wasting and camouflaging rhetoric because he believes that Syria's rulers have merely become Iranian puppets and accordingly they will without a shred of a doubt transfer these missiles or any other weapons in their arsenal to Hezbollah whenever the Iranian leadership orders them to do so.
What is actually very striking and scary in Barakat's in depth analysis is his strong conviction that Iran is the one which will soon launch through its militant proxy, Hezbollah, a preemptive war against Israel's nuclear plants, before the Israelis or the US attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
Barakat stressed the pivotal role of the Scud missiles in such an Iranian war scenario and urged the Free World to take such an impending possibility into consideration and act swiftly in a bid to abort it.
He reminded all those concerned in the Middle East,US, and Europe of a possible repeat by Iran of the surprise tactics that Israel used in 1976 in which its air force attacked all of Egypt's military airports and won the war before it started. He therefore thinks the issue of the Scud missiles should be taken seriously and dealt with accordingly.
Barakat considered that all the Lebanese officials' statements with regard to the Scud smuggling crisis to be baseless and have no credibility because of Hezbollah’s hegemony over the whole country including its military institutions.
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Related topics
*Click Here to read the above Barakat's complete analysis in Arabic
http://www.10452lccc.com/barakat/barakat26.4.10.htm
Colonel Charbel Barakat's two testimonies before the USA Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Near Eastern & South Asian Affairs Subcommittee in 1977 & 2000
*Colonel Charbel Baraket's full English written text testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Near Eastern & South Asian Affairs Subcommittee/14/6/2000/Click Here
http://www.10452lccc.com/special%20studies/barakatjune2000.htm
2-Colonel Charbel Baraket's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Near Eastern & South Asian Affairs Subcommittee June 7/1997/
Click Here
http://www.10452lccc.com/barakat/barakat.june.97.teste.htm
3-Scud ballistic missiles/Click here to know all about these Russian ballistic weapons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scud#Scud-D
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday: "There is no truth to insinuations that Israel is allegedly planning a move against Syria. I estimate that this is an attempt made by Iran and Hezbollah to distract the international community from the sanctions planned against Iran."
Mr. Netanyahu's short but decisive statement actually unveils the ongoing vicious Iranian scheme that is in the works. The mullahs in Iran are cunningly working day and night on the last details of a devastating war that they are planning to ignite against Israel from Lebanon through their militant terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, when the time is appropriate for them, exactly as was the case in 2006.
Meanwhile, Iran's intentions to annihilate the Jewish state are becoming bolder and more aggressive. On 18/04/2010, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Israel was on its way to collapse, as Iran's military displayed a range of home-built drones and missiles at the annual Army Day parade. In a speech marking the event, Ahmadinejad also reiterated his view that the presence of foreign forces is causing conflict in the region. "The Zionist regime is on its way to collapse. This regime is the main instigator of sedition and conflict in the region," the Iranian president added. "This is the will of the regional nations that after 60 odd years, the root of this corrupt microbe and the main reason for insecurity in the region be pulled out... Its supporters and creators ought to stop backing it and allow the regional nations and the Palestinians to settle things with them," he said.
In 2006 Iran was under tremendous pressure from Western countries to halt its nuclear program or face very tough sanctions. To distract the entire world away from their program they gave orders to their Hezbollah army in Lebanon to engage the Jewish State in a war that they did without any hesitation. The war lasted for 33 days and shifted all the heat away from Iran and its suspicious nuclear activities.
In fact, Syria under President Bashar Al Assad has become an Iranian puppet and has no say in what Hezbollah in Lebanon does or does not do. Meanwhile, the current relationship between Syria's president Bashar Al Assad and Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a replicate of the master-slave one that existed during World War II between Hitler and Mussolini where the first was in full control of the decision making process and the second just a puppet who carried out his orders with no say whatsoever.
Retired Lebanese army officer, and renowned worldwide expert on Hezbollah and terrorism, Colonel Charbel Barakat, wrote yesterday for our site, the LCCC, an analysis with the title, "Who is beating the war drums this time?" In this article he addresses the Scud missile crisis that has led to a war of rhetoric between Iran, Syria and Hezbollah on one side, and Israel and the USA on the other.
Barakat, based on his extensive first hand military and anti-terrorism expertise, strongly believes that Iran, and not Syria, is in full control all the Middle East Axis of Evil and Islamic fundamentalist terror groups’ (Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, Jihad, etc.) activities, finances, plans, leadership, cadres and decision making processes, while Hezbollah is a mere militant Iranian brigade.
In contrast to many Western analysts who have claimed that Hezbollah does not strategically need the Scud missiles due to its self defense military resistance status, Barakat said: "these claims would have been true if Hezbollah was actually Lebanese and in an actual self defense status, but it is not, and it is totally affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)”.
Barakat concluded that Iran desperately wants Hezbollah to pile these Scud missiles in its arsenal because their longest range is 700 km and thus they are a must for its scheme that aims to reach Israel's nuclear plant in Demona, the Israeli Nagave airports and other vital military and civil institutions.
He added that "The Iranian improved M 600 missiles that are currently in Hezbollah's possession have a range that does not go beyond Tel Aviv, and here comes the importance of the Scud missiles that can reach locations all over Israel. The M 600 missile and the Scud both can carry a load of up to 500 kg”.
Were the Scud missiles actually transferred from Syria to Hezbollah's military bases in Lebanon or not yet? Barakat played down the importance of such futile, time wasting and camouflaging rhetoric because he believes that Syria's rulers have merely become Iranian puppets and accordingly they will without a shred of a doubt transfer these missiles or any other weapons in their arsenal to Hezbollah whenever the Iranian leadership orders them to do so.
What is actually very striking and scary in Barakat's in depth analysis is his strong conviction that Iran is the one which will soon launch through its militant proxy, Hezbollah, a preemptive war against Israel's nuclear plants, before the Israelis or the US attack Iran's nuclear facilities.
Barakat stressed the pivotal role of the Scud missiles in such an Iranian war scenario and urged the Free World to take such an impending possibility into consideration and act swiftly in a bid to abort it.
He reminded all those concerned in the Middle East,US, and Europe of a possible repeat by Iran of the surprise tactics that Israel used in 1976 in which its air force attacked all of Egypt's military airports and won the war before it started. He therefore thinks the issue of the Scud missiles should be taken seriously and dealt with accordingly.
Barakat considered that all the Lebanese officials' statements with regard to the Scud smuggling crisis to be baseless and have no credibility because of Hezbollah’s hegemony over the whole country including its military institutions.
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Related topics
*Click Here to read the above Barakat's complete analysis in Arabic
http://www.10452lccc.com/barakat/barakat26.4.10.htm
Colonel Charbel Barakat's two testimonies before the USA Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Near Eastern & South Asian Affairs Subcommittee in 1977 & 2000
*Colonel Charbel Baraket's full English written text testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Near Eastern & South Asian Affairs Subcommittee/14/6/2000/Click Here
http://www.10452lccc.com/special%20studies/barakatjune2000.htm
2-Colonel Charbel Baraket's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Near Eastern & South Asian Affairs Subcommittee June 7/1997/
Click Here
http://www.10452lccc.com/barakat/barakat.june.97.teste.htm
3-Scud ballistic missiles/Click here to know all about these Russian ballistic weapons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scud#Scud-D
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Syria's Al Assad is digging his own grave
By: Elias Bejjani*
For the last 30 years, Al Assad’s Syrian Baathist dictatorship has been an evil, poisonous and deadly ailment in the Middle East and a major force in spreading instability to regional peace and order. It is the number one notorious regime that breeds, recruits, trains, finances and exports terrorist and Islamic fundamentalist groups to instigate havoc and volatility all over the world and especially in its neighboring countries. In actuality Syria is a real disaster for both the Syrian people and its neighboring countries, as well as for the whole world considering the issue of terrorism and fundamentalism.
Besides an ongoing Stalinist criminal oppression that it afflicts by force on the Syrian people, Al Assad's regime still governs Syria by marshal laws and keeps on brutally and mercilessly liquidating all Syrian politicians and activists who advocate a free and democratic country. Thousands and thousands of Syrian citizens are either murdered or incarcerated on forged trials and left to rot in Nazi-style jails and detention centers while deprived of all their basic rights.
Al Assad's regime has committed massive ethnic cleansing and bloody massacres in both Syria and Lebanon and keeps on gnawing the whole Middle East and interfering in the affairs of all its neighboring countries, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.
Sadly, the USA, Europe and all the Arab countries have been appeasing and cajoling this terrorist regime either to keep its terrorism away from their countries or to use its expertise in crime, terrorism and oppression.
Many analysts in the Middle East, especially in Syria itself and Lebanon, are wondering why the whole world is courting this rogue regime and is turning a blind eye on all its horrible domestic, regional and international ongoing atrocities.
Why is the Obama administration turning the other cheek on all the overt insults that Al Assad and his top-notch officials have been throwing on her Middle East policies and officials when this administration sadly has been opening to Syria in a series of questionable overtures and naively equipping its rulers with all the support they need to go on with their murderous interfering in Lebanon, Iraq and Gaza?
In a report, Hamid Ghoriafi, the well known Middle East analyst and journalist, published today in the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, it was revealed that Syrian President Bachar Al Assad is extremely worried and scared, feeling the Israeli heat, and taking the Jewish state's threats of an imminent attack on his country very seriously.
In this realm Al Assad has started urgently re-evaluating Syria's tense relations with some influential Arabic countries and apparently his first step in this track will be a cozy meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, within the coming 24 hours at Sharm Al Sheik Egyptian tourist resort. It is expected that Saudi King Abdullah will join the two presidents and hold a summit conference with them to discuss the current Israeli threats to attack Lebanon and Syria extensively after Al Assad provided its militant terrorist proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, with long range Scud ballistic missiles.
The report attributed to reliable diplomatic Arabic resources in Abu Dubae that Al Assad is planning to seriously ask both Mubarak and Abdullah to use their influence with the USA and Israel and pressure them to abort an imminent Israeli attack on both Syria and Lebanon.
Al Assad is alleging that all the Israeli and other reports on the Scud missile smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah are mere empty allegations and that the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, has inflated out of proportion this issue to justify his war against Syria in a bid to dramatically change the whole status quo in the region.
The same sources believe that it is too late to prevent the war because the Israeli campaign against Syria, whether the Scud reports are true or not, has reached its maximum in a very well orchestrated pattern. Mr. Ghoriafi said that it would be futile on Alassad's side to deny in the presence of Mubarak and Abdullah the Scud smuggling reality, because they both already know the truth.
It is now confirmed that Al Assad will be heading to Sharm Al Sheik today after he has ordered his armed forces to be on full alert all over the country; and meanwhile, Hezbollah has taken the same precautionary measures in its Beirut southern suburb ministate (Al Dahea) and all over its military bases in the Bekaa valley and the southern Lebanese region that is adjacent to the Israeli border.
Both Al Assad and Hezbollah leadership are confirming according to the report that the Israeli zero hour for starting the attack is approaching with a very fast pace. Al Assad is scared that Israel will manipulate the Scud crisis and use it as a pretext for a well planned and prepared war against his country, as it did in 1982 when it invaded Lebanon following an assassination attempt on its ambassador in London.
The report quoted an Egyptian official in Cairo saying that, "Al Assad is fully aware that there is a high price for him to pay to the Egyptians and the Saudis in return for their joint mediation with Washington and Tel Aviv in order to prevent the imminent devastating Israeli war against his country.
It added that this price will not be less than a full cancellation of all the accords and deals that he recently inked with Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah's general secretary, Hassan Nasrallah ,in the so called "Challenge Summit” that was convened few months ago in Damascus. The accords and deals committed its three signatories to establish a front line against Israel in south Lebanon, and to give Hezbollah full accessibility to the Syrian and Iranian arsenals, including all the long range missiles to attack Israel.
Al Assad is also expected to distance his country from Iran and to put an immediate halt on his support to its nuclear program. He is required also to mind his own business and stop his country's bold interference in the neighboring countries' internal affairs, or otherwise face the doomed end that Iraq's Saddam Hussein chose.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Haaretz daily reported yesterday that Egypt is pushing for a conference to discuss the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , in which all Middle East countries will participate including Israel, noting that the objective of this Summit is to persuade the Jewish state to sign the treaty. The Egyptians are saying that the five permanent UN Security Council members do support a nuclear conference on the Middle East, but it is not yet clear whether Tel Aviv would agree on this very sensitive matter. The newspaper said that al-Assad will fly to Libya to meet with President Muammar Gaddafi after the Sharm el-Sheikh summit conference is over.
The actual problem with Al Assad, as was with his late father, Hafez Al Assad, lies in the plain fact that he cannot be trusted and that he has been for years playing on the odds and going back on all his promises and commitments to the USA, as well as the Arab and European countries.
Is Al Assad going to change his mockeries this time while the fire is approaching his palace and could burn the future of his family in ruling Syria? Up till now there is no reason to trust him, which simply means that Egypt and Saudi Arabia must make him pay the price for their mediation before they deliver.
The Lebanese proverb says: "The wise man does not fall in the same hole twice." Hopefully President Mubarak and King Abdullah have already learned their previous Syrian bitter lessons as have many patriotic Lebanese!
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
For the last 30 years, Al Assad’s Syrian Baathist dictatorship has been an evil, poisonous and deadly ailment in the Middle East and a major force in spreading instability to regional peace and order. It is the number one notorious regime that breeds, recruits, trains, finances and exports terrorist and Islamic fundamentalist groups to instigate havoc and volatility all over the world and especially in its neighboring countries. In actuality Syria is a real disaster for both the Syrian people and its neighboring countries, as well as for the whole world considering the issue of terrorism and fundamentalism.
Besides an ongoing Stalinist criminal oppression that it afflicts by force on the Syrian people, Al Assad's regime still governs Syria by marshal laws and keeps on brutally and mercilessly liquidating all Syrian politicians and activists who advocate a free and democratic country. Thousands and thousands of Syrian citizens are either murdered or incarcerated on forged trials and left to rot in Nazi-style jails and detention centers while deprived of all their basic rights.
Al Assad's regime has committed massive ethnic cleansing and bloody massacres in both Syria and Lebanon and keeps on gnawing the whole Middle East and interfering in the affairs of all its neighboring countries, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.
Sadly, the USA, Europe and all the Arab countries have been appeasing and cajoling this terrorist regime either to keep its terrorism away from their countries or to use its expertise in crime, terrorism and oppression.
Many analysts in the Middle East, especially in Syria itself and Lebanon, are wondering why the whole world is courting this rogue regime and is turning a blind eye on all its horrible domestic, regional and international ongoing atrocities.
Why is the Obama administration turning the other cheek on all the overt insults that Al Assad and his top-notch officials have been throwing on her Middle East policies and officials when this administration sadly has been opening to Syria in a series of questionable overtures and naively equipping its rulers with all the support they need to go on with their murderous interfering in Lebanon, Iraq and Gaza?
In a report, Hamid Ghoriafi, the well known Middle East analyst and journalist, published today in the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, it was revealed that Syrian President Bachar Al Assad is extremely worried and scared, feeling the Israeli heat, and taking the Jewish state's threats of an imminent attack on his country very seriously.
In this realm Al Assad has started urgently re-evaluating Syria's tense relations with some influential Arabic countries and apparently his first step in this track will be a cozy meeting with his Egyptian counterpart, Hosni Mubarak, within the coming 24 hours at Sharm Al Sheik Egyptian tourist resort. It is expected that Saudi King Abdullah will join the two presidents and hold a summit conference with them to discuss the current Israeli threats to attack Lebanon and Syria extensively after Al Assad provided its militant terrorist proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, with long range Scud ballistic missiles.
The report attributed to reliable diplomatic Arabic resources in Abu Dubae that Al Assad is planning to seriously ask both Mubarak and Abdullah to use their influence with the USA and Israel and pressure them to abort an imminent Israeli attack on both Syria and Lebanon.
Al Assad is alleging that all the Israeli and other reports on the Scud missile smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah are mere empty allegations and that the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, has inflated out of proportion this issue to justify his war against Syria in a bid to dramatically change the whole status quo in the region.
The same sources believe that it is too late to prevent the war because the Israeli campaign against Syria, whether the Scud reports are true or not, has reached its maximum in a very well orchestrated pattern. Mr. Ghoriafi said that it would be futile on Alassad's side to deny in the presence of Mubarak and Abdullah the Scud smuggling reality, because they both already know the truth.
It is now confirmed that Al Assad will be heading to Sharm Al Sheik today after he has ordered his armed forces to be on full alert all over the country; and meanwhile, Hezbollah has taken the same precautionary measures in its Beirut southern suburb ministate (Al Dahea) and all over its military bases in the Bekaa valley and the southern Lebanese region that is adjacent to the Israeli border.
Both Al Assad and Hezbollah leadership are confirming according to the report that the Israeli zero hour for starting the attack is approaching with a very fast pace. Al Assad is scared that Israel will manipulate the Scud crisis and use it as a pretext for a well planned and prepared war against his country, as it did in 1982 when it invaded Lebanon following an assassination attempt on its ambassador in London.
The report quoted an Egyptian official in Cairo saying that, "Al Assad is fully aware that there is a high price for him to pay to the Egyptians and the Saudis in return for their joint mediation with Washington and Tel Aviv in order to prevent the imminent devastating Israeli war against his country.
It added that this price will not be less than a full cancellation of all the accords and deals that he recently inked with Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah's general secretary, Hassan Nasrallah ,in the so called "Challenge Summit” that was convened few months ago in Damascus. The accords and deals committed its three signatories to establish a front line against Israel in south Lebanon, and to give Hezbollah full accessibility to the Syrian and Iranian arsenals, including all the long range missiles to attack Israel.
Al Assad is also expected to distance his country from Iran and to put an immediate halt on his support to its nuclear program. He is required also to mind his own business and stop his country's bold interference in the neighboring countries' internal affairs, or otherwise face the doomed end that Iraq's Saddam Hussein chose.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Haaretz daily reported yesterday that Egypt is pushing for a conference to discuss the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , in which all Middle East countries will participate including Israel, noting that the objective of this Summit is to persuade the Jewish state to sign the treaty. The Egyptians are saying that the five permanent UN Security Council members do support a nuclear conference on the Middle East, but it is not yet clear whether Tel Aviv would agree on this very sensitive matter. The newspaper said that al-Assad will fly to Libya to meet with President Muammar Gaddafi after the Sharm el-Sheikh summit conference is over.
The actual problem with Al Assad, as was with his late father, Hafez Al Assad, lies in the plain fact that he cannot be trusted and that he has been for years playing on the odds and going back on all his promises and commitments to the USA, as well as the Arab and European countries.
Is Al Assad going to change his mockeries this time while the fire is approaching his palace and could burn the future of his family in ruling Syria? Up till now there is no reason to trust him, which simply means that Egypt and Saudi Arabia must make him pay the price for their mediation before they deliver.
The Lebanese proverb says: "The wise man does not fall in the same hole twice." Hopefully President Mubarak and King Abdullah have already learned their previous Syrian bitter lessons as have many patriotic Lebanese!
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Syria & Iran are the actual threat
By: Elias Bejjani*
A high pitched war of rhetoric has been escalating during the last few days between Israel and its three Axis of Evil foes, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah. The Israeli anger, frustration and threats overtly broke last week after a report published in the Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Rai, revealed that Syria had recently transferred to Hezbollah's military bases in Lebanon an unidentified number of long range Scud missiles that can hit the depths of the Jewish State. The report also stated that the Syrian military has been massively training members of the Hezbollah militia on how to fire these advanced Scud ballistic missiles.
The Lebanese Naharnet news bulletin reported on Sunday April 18/10 that the U.S. Ambassador in Beirut, Michele Sison has informed Lebanon's Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Saad Hariri about Israel's intention to bomb a truck transporting arms to Hezbollah. Sison informed the two officials that Washington asked Israel to stop the operation at the last minute to avoid the eruption of war. The bulletin said Sison showed aerial photos and documents of the truck carrying the weapons, and asked Berri and Hariri to work on putting an end to the danger that is emanating from the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah.
Western and Arabic diplomats told reliable sources in Beirut on Sunday that the Israeli government has recently sent numerous urgent harsh and very serious warnings to Syria via Turkey, Qatar, France, Egypt and the USA, plainly delineating that its armed forces will strongly and massively attack numerous vital targets in Syria and Lebanon if the missiles that were handed over to Hezbollah are fired on any Israeli target.
According to a report published in the British Sunday Times on Saturday April 17/10, a prominent Israeli minister said if Hezbollah dares to attack our country with these ballistic missiles, the responsibility will fall on Syria's shoulders and Israel will mercilessly attack strategic targets. "President Assad is playing with fire", said the minister and he must know that we will return Syria back to the Stone Age because we define Hezbollah as a “division of the Syrian army". The paper reported that this sentiment was communicated to Damascus via a third party. According to the same report, the minister, speaking off the record, warned that Israel will do so by "crippling Syria's power stations, ports, fuel storage facilities and every bit of strategic infrastructure if Hezbollah dares to launch ballistic missiles against us."
In the same context, a set of serious urgent warnings were sent on the highest diplomatic level to Syria from the USA, France, Russia and many European and Arabic countries. These warnings made it very clear to the Syrian leadership that Israel is very adamant on seeing that the Scud missiles that were transferred to Hezbollah are returned back to Syria as soon as possible, or otherwise the consequences to the Syrian Baathist regime are going to be extremely devastating. The Syrian government described the Scud reports as fake, denied any involvement and accused Israel of forging the whole story as a pretext for its planned war against Lebanon and Syria.
On this backdrop, the Syrian ambassador in Washington was summoned for a warning. Washington, which since president Obama took office is appeasing and cajoling the Syrian terrorist regime, has voiced contradictory viewpoints on the Scud issue. The State Department reported that they are "very concerned" by reports of the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah. However, over the weekend, senior administration officials expressed doubts as to whether the Scuds really made their way across the border Syria-Lebanon border. This hesitation and vagueness in stances shows plainly that the USA overture towards Syria has been a big failure and Syria is taking advantage of the new Obama middle policies to extend its interference in not only Lebanon, but also Iraq.
Meanwhile, it is comforting and encouraging for many patriotic Lebanese that the Israelis are for the first time somewhat addressing the Hezbollah problem as they should have done since 1982. Israel has now defined Hezbollah as a “division of the Syrian army." As such, it has decided according to the Sunday Times report to hold Syria directly responsible for Hezbollah's activities following intelligence assessments that the Beirut government has lost control over the strengthening of this Shiite terrorist organization. Until now, Israel has said that Lebanon will be responsible for any attack made by Hezbollah on Israel. “We’ll not hesitate to attack Syria if our national security is in jeopardy,” said an Israeli minister.
The new Israeli assessment is true to a certain extent, but this is not the whole truth because Hezbollah is an Iranian-sponsored terrorist jihadist militia that is fully affiliated to the notorious Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Syria has been acting since 1982 as a mediator between Iran and Hezbollah. It assumes the role of transferring Iranian weapons from Damascus international airport to Lebanon and Iran in return pays Syria billions of dollars with low priced fuel and extensive economic aid. Hezbollah is an Iranian army no more and no less while the Lebanese government has no say in any matter
As was stated in a previous editorial of mine, Hezbollah's ministate controls and dominates directly and through proxies all the affairs of the Lebanese central government via cancerous infiltration, intimidation, oppression, corruption, drug trafficking, religious decrees (fatwas), murder, crime, bribing and multifold tactics of terrorism. Not even one decision could be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions without Hezbollah's approval. The Lebanese state is massively dominated by the Hezbollah mullah's leadership. This militant terrorist organization boldly dictates its Iranian decrees on all the Lebanese officials and institutions, manipulates their activities and greatly influences the whole country's decision making process in all fields and on all levels.
We strongly believe that the effective and ever lasting solution for the Hezbollah cancerous status lies in Iran and Syria and not in Lebanon due to the fact that Lebanon is still an occupied country and the occupier is Hezbollah.
At the same time the Middle East will enjoy no lasting peace unless both the Syrian and Iranian terrorist and rogue regimes are either toppled as was the case with Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, or are seriously disciplined and deterred by force, the only language that they comprehend.
In summary, only attacking Hezbollah and leaving Syria and Iran to remain freely messing with world peace and stability will not solve any problem because both of them will within a short time produce and replicate other Hezbollahs, letting the vicious cycle go on and on.
The well known Lebanese proverb says: "to kill a snake you have to cut its head not its tail".
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
A high pitched war of rhetoric has been escalating during the last few days between Israel and its three Axis of Evil foes, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah. The Israeli anger, frustration and threats overtly broke last week after a report published in the Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Rai, revealed that Syria had recently transferred to Hezbollah's military bases in Lebanon an unidentified number of long range Scud missiles that can hit the depths of the Jewish State. The report also stated that the Syrian military has been massively training members of the Hezbollah militia on how to fire these advanced Scud ballistic missiles.
The Lebanese Naharnet news bulletin reported on Sunday April 18/10 that the U.S. Ambassador in Beirut, Michele Sison has informed Lebanon's Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier Saad Hariri about Israel's intention to bomb a truck transporting arms to Hezbollah. Sison informed the two officials that Washington asked Israel to stop the operation at the last minute to avoid the eruption of war. The bulletin said Sison showed aerial photos and documents of the truck carrying the weapons, and asked Berri and Hariri to work on putting an end to the danger that is emanating from the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah.
Western and Arabic diplomats told reliable sources in Beirut on Sunday that the Israeli government has recently sent numerous urgent harsh and very serious warnings to Syria via Turkey, Qatar, France, Egypt and the USA, plainly delineating that its armed forces will strongly and massively attack numerous vital targets in Syria and Lebanon if the missiles that were handed over to Hezbollah are fired on any Israeli target.
According to a report published in the British Sunday Times on Saturday April 17/10, a prominent Israeli minister said if Hezbollah dares to attack our country with these ballistic missiles, the responsibility will fall on Syria's shoulders and Israel will mercilessly attack strategic targets. "President Assad is playing with fire", said the minister and he must know that we will return Syria back to the Stone Age because we define Hezbollah as a “division of the Syrian army". The paper reported that this sentiment was communicated to Damascus via a third party. According to the same report, the minister, speaking off the record, warned that Israel will do so by "crippling Syria's power stations, ports, fuel storage facilities and every bit of strategic infrastructure if Hezbollah dares to launch ballistic missiles against us."
In the same context, a set of serious urgent warnings were sent on the highest diplomatic level to Syria from the USA, France, Russia and many European and Arabic countries. These warnings made it very clear to the Syrian leadership that Israel is very adamant on seeing that the Scud missiles that were transferred to Hezbollah are returned back to Syria as soon as possible, or otherwise the consequences to the Syrian Baathist regime are going to be extremely devastating. The Syrian government described the Scud reports as fake, denied any involvement and accused Israel of forging the whole story as a pretext for its planned war against Lebanon and Syria.
On this backdrop, the Syrian ambassador in Washington was summoned for a warning. Washington, which since president Obama took office is appeasing and cajoling the Syrian terrorist regime, has voiced contradictory viewpoints on the Scud issue. The State Department reported that they are "very concerned" by reports of the transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah. However, over the weekend, senior administration officials expressed doubts as to whether the Scuds really made their way across the border Syria-Lebanon border. This hesitation and vagueness in stances shows plainly that the USA overture towards Syria has been a big failure and Syria is taking advantage of the new Obama middle policies to extend its interference in not only Lebanon, but also Iraq.
Meanwhile, it is comforting and encouraging for many patriotic Lebanese that the Israelis are for the first time somewhat addressing the Hezbollah problem as they should have done since 1982. Israel has now defined Hezbollah as a “division of the Syrian army." As such, it has decided according to the Sunday Times report to hold Syria directly responsible for Hezbollah's activities following intelligence assessments that the Beirut government has lost control over the strengthening of this Shiite terrorist organization. Until now, Israel has said that Lebanon will be responsible for any attack made by Hezbollah on Israel. “We’ll not hesitate to attack Syria if our national security is in jeopardy,” said an Israeli minister.
The new Israeli assessment is true to a certain extent, but this is not the whole truth because Hezbollah is an Iranian-sponsored terrorist jihadist militia that is fully affiliated to the notorious Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Syria has been acting since 1982 as a mediator between Iran and Hezbollah. It assumes the role of transferring Iranian weapons from Damascus international airport to Lebanon and Iran in return pays Syria billions of dollars with low priced fuel and extensive economic aid. Hezbollah is an Iranian army no more and no less while the Lebanese government has no say in any matter
As was stated in a previous editorial of mine, Hezbollah's ministate controls and dominates directly and through proxies all the affairs of the Lebanese central government via cancerous infiltration, intimidation, oppression, corruption, drug trafficking, religious decrees (fatwas), murder, crime, bribing and multifold tactics of terrorism. Not even one decision could be made by the Lebanese government or any of its institutions without Hezbollah's approval. The Lebanese state is massively dominated by the Hezbollah mullah's leadership. This militant terrorist organization boldly dictates its Iranian decrees on all the Lebanese officials and institutions, manipulates their activities and greatly influences the whole country's decision making process in all fields and on all levels.
We strongly believe that the effective and ever lasting solution for the Hezbollah cancerous status lies in Iran and Syria and not in Lebanon due to the fact that Lebanon is still an occupied country and the occupier is Hezbollah.
At the same time the Middle East will enjoy no lasting peace unless both the Syrian and Iranian terrorist and rogue regimes are either toppled as was the case with Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, or are seriously disciplined and deterred by force, the only language that they comprehend.
In summary, only attacking Hezbollah and leaving Syria and Iran to remain freely messing with world peace and stability will not solve any problem because both of them will within a short time produce and replicate other Hezbollahs, letting the vicious cycle go on and on.
The well known Lebanese proverb says: "to kill a snake you have to cut its head not its tail".
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Resurrection, Hope & Faith
By: Elias Bejjani*
Christ has truly risen and we are witnesses to His resurrection!
But what does it say? The word is with you, in your mouth, and in your heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says; whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. (Romans 10: 8 -11)
Oh how great is the need nowadays, to understand the meaning and message of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! The fast pace of life has turned us merely into sad human shells of crippled beings, consumed by greed, selfishness and the race for worldly pleasures. Our thoughts and actions are directed by trifle material matters and concerns. In the midst of all this moral and ethical havoc, we have forgotten that we are the sons and daughters of Almighty God and that He has created us in His image and likeness and made our bodies a temple for Him.
We often find ourselves intentionally forgetting the fact that our Heavenly Father has shown us His great love and affection by sending us His only son; born as human, He suffered humiliation and pain and was crucified so that we could be relieved from the burden of our original sin. Through His crucifixion and death, Jesus triumphed over death and resurrected from the dead, thereby resurrecting us with Him, pure and forgiven of all sin and impurity. Oh how the yoke of death and sin has been lifted from our shoulders and carried by our Lord Jesus!
Worldly matters frequently make us easy prey to our sinful instincts and wrongful human inclinations. How easy we are seduced by sin knowing that our Father gave so much for our salvation. In such darkness, our faith, perseverance and hope become weakened, as we drift away from the teachings of our Lord. Shame is our neglect of our rightful obligations towards our heavenly Father and towards those who need our love, compassion and friendship.
We need to realize wholly and become fully aware of the great blessing that Jesus’ resurrection from death is indeed a new life for all mankind, free from all sin. This fact alone is a comfort that must be remembered with every breath and allowed to settle deep within our minds, hearts and souls. His resurrection is an established truth in its essence, and this truth should penetrate into our bones.
“He is not here, rather He has risen”. We as Christians truly believe that Christ rose from the dead and is alive within all of us. His resurrection is the essence of our faith, beginning with the holy Apostles and ending with us, the Church. His resurrection is not solely a historical event, but rather it is our source of faith which explodes forth like a powerful volcano in our conscience and thoughts.
For the believers, this truth cultivates and purifies the faith, allowing them to courageously walk the road of salvation with steadfastness, strength, and veracity. The Father blesses His sons and daughters with the same compassion and love that resurrected His beloved Jesus. Our heavenly Father, through the sacrifice of His only Son, provided for us a lesson and an example of true love, fatherly compassion and parental sacrifice. He proved to us, His flock and children, that He is love and that His love for us has no limits and that His forgiveness is unending. What peace and comfort is this for us!
The Resurrection of Christ grants every one of us the right to call himself a child of God; it is the return of Paradise lost, the threshold of the Holy of Holies of immortal life and communion with God. St. Paul tells us that if there had been no Resurrection then our Christian faith would have been deprived of any foundation or value: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.... If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Cor. 15:14, 17)."
Easter is a festival of hope for salvation and for a new life and a new beginning. This Holy season calls on us to renew our faith in Jesus as our Messiah and to consolidate our confidence in His Church and its teachings. Easter calls on us all to love and forgive each other and as a family to unite together in celebration of our risen Lord. It is also a time to repent for our wrongful deeds and thoughts; to cleanse our hearts and walk forward with steadfast the righteous path of salvation.
Let us never forget the humbling truth that all of us will one day stand before our Almighty God to answer for our all our deeds, good and bad. It is in this light we need to remember the teachings of the Apostles; That In the end times, there will be hypocrites, walking before their own ungodly lusts and causing divisions, lacking the Spirit. They taught us to strengthen ourselves and our faith through prayer and the Holy Spirit and to nurture our love for our God, while seeking the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our resurrection through Jesus Christ occurs today and lives on in each day of our life.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit enlighten and empower us on this Holy day just as with the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
Let us all proudly proclaim that Christ is living in us and with us, Christ has truly risen and we are witnesses to His resurrection!
Happy Easter to all, and especially to my dear and beloved family members, relatives, supporters, friends and readers.
May God Bless You All!
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
Christ has truly risen and we are witnesses to His resurrection!
But what does it say? The word is with you, in your mouth, and in your heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says; whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. (Romans 10: 8 -11)
Oh how great is the need nowadays, to understand the meaning and message of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! The fast pace of life has turned us merely into sad human shells of crippled beings, consumed by greed, selfishness and the race for worldly pleasures. Our thoughts and actions are directed by trifle material matters and concerns. In the midst of all this moral and ethical havoc, we have forgotten that we are the sons and daughters of Almighty God and that He has created us in His image and likeness and made our bodies a temple for Him.
We often find ourselves intentionally forgetting the fact that our Heavenly Father has shown us His great love and affection by sending us His only son; born as human, He suffered humiliation and pain and was crucified so that we could be relieved from the burden of our original sin. Through His crucifixion and death, Jesus triumphed over death and resurrected from the dead, thereby resurrecting us with Him, pure and forgiven of all sin and impurity. Oh how the yoke of death and sin has been lifted from our shoulders and carried by our Lord Jesus!
Worldly matters frequently make us easy prey to our sinful instincts and wrongful human inclinations. How easy we are seduced by sin knowing that our Father gave so much for our salvation. In such darkness, our faith, perseverance and hope become weakened, as we drift away from the teachings of our Lord. Shame is our neglect of our rightful obligations towards our heavenly Father and towards those who need our love, compassion and friendship.
We need to realize wholly and become fully aware of the great blessing that Jesus’ resurrection from death is indeed a new life for all mankind, free from all sin. This fact alone is a comfort that must be remembered with every breath and allowed to settle deep within our minds, hearts and souls. His resurrection is an established truth in its essence, and this truth should penetrate into our bones.
“He is not here, rather He has risen”. We as Christians truly believe that Christ rose from the dead and is alive within all of us. His resurrection is the essence of our faith, beginning with the holy Apostles and ending with us, the Church. His resurrection is not solely a historical event, but rather it is our source of faith which explodes forth like a powerful volcano in our conscience and thoughts.
For the believers, this truth cultivates and purifies the faith, allowing them to courageously walk the road of salvation with steadfastness, strength, and veracity. The Father blesses His sons and daughters with the same compassion and love that resurrected His beloved Jesus. Our heavenly Father, through the sacrifice of His only Son, provided for us a lesson and an example of true love, fatherly compassion and parental sacrifice. He proved to us, His flock and children, that He is love and that His love for us has no limits and that His forgiveness is unending. What peace and comfort is this for us!
The Resurrection of Christ grants every one of us the right to call himself a child of God; it is the return of Paradise lost, the threshold of the Holy of Holies of immortal life and communion with God. St. Paul tells us that if there had been no Resurrection then our Christian faith would have been deprived of any foundation or value: "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.... If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Cor. 15:14, 17)."
Easter is a festival of hope for salvation and for a new life and a new beginning. This Holy season calls on us to renew our faith in Jesus as our Messiah and to consolidate our confidence in His Church and its teachings. Easter calls on us all to love and forgive each other and as a family to unite together in celebration of our risen Lord. It is also a time to repent for our wrongful deeds and thoughts; to cleanse our hearts and walk forward with steadfast the righteous path of salvation.
Let us never forget the humbling truth that all of us will one day stand before our Almighty God to answer for our all our deeds, good and bad. It is in this light we need to remember the teachings of the Apostles; That In the end times, there will be hypocrites, walking before their own ungodly lusts and causing divisions, lacking the Spirit. They taught us to strengthen ourselves and our faith through prayer and the Holy Spirit and to nurture our love for our God, while seeking the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our resurrection through Jesus Christ occurs today and lives on in each day of our life.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit enlighten and empower us on this Holy day just as with the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
Let us all proudly proclaim that Christ is living in us and with us, Christ has truly risen and we are witnesses to His resurrection!
Happy Easter to all, and especially to my dear and beloved family members, relatives, supporters, friends and readers.
May God Bless You All!
*Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Mailing phoenicia group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Phoenicia/
LCCC Face Book http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17974722934
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