Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Shiite Lebanese are fleeing Hezbollah's ministate

By: Elias Bejjani*

The war news and ongoing widespread rumors about an imminent, unprecedented, devastating, unconventional and massive Israeli attack against Hezbollah, Iran and Syria are causing very serious and extensive contagious public moods of tension, anxiety and fear among the Lebanese Shiite community. Apparently, there is a huge gap of confidence and trust between Hezbollah’s leadership’s imaginary allegations of power and the Shiite residents of its cantons and ministate.

Hezbollah's Party General Secretary Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, his deputy, Sheik Naem Qassim, as well as numerous high ranging party's officials very close to Nasrallah have been lately uttering almost on a daily basis bold empty rhetorical threats to annihilate Israel, defeat and humiliate its worldwide reputable, strong and highly efficient military apparatus, change the region's face, and impose a new pro-Syrian and -Iranian resistance status quo in the Middle East in any upcoming war with the Jewish state.

Nasrallah's sickening and high pitched bragging of Hezbollah’s military powers, both offensive and deterring, are not bought or swallowed by the majority of his own Shiite community. How could they take his delusional rhetoric seriously when they had suffered vast and enormous losses in both lives and property during the 2006 war that Hezbollah instigated through kidnapping and killing members of an Israeli army border patrol?

How could they believe Nasrallah's big lie of the so called "divine victory", in that war when they had lived for 33 days in an actual hell and almost one million of them were displaced and forced to take refuge in schools, government buildings, churches, mosques, parks, hospitals and roads, while Nasrallah and his party's top notch leadership were hiding in their fortified underground bunkers.

The Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassah unveiled in a report published today that Hezbollah and its armed ally, the Shiite Amal Movement, are secretly but firmly and seriously trying through both force, and persuasion to hold back the massive fleeing of the Shiite community members from Hezbollah’s ministate stronghold located in the suburbs of Beirut.
The daily report quoted anonymous political resources, members in the eighth of March coalition spearheaded by Hezbollah, saying that a large Hezbollah - Amal military scale campaign is proceeding to stop the fleeing process.

Those fleeing are mainly heading either to Syria or to the Shiite Bekaa Valley towns and villages adjacent to the Syrian borders. It is worth mentioning that during the 2006 war, the almost one million Shiites who were forced to flee south Lebanon and the Hezbollah mini-state in the suburbs of Beirut were welcomed and hosted by the Druze, Sunni Muslim and Christian regions of Chouf, Alley, Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli, Kesrwan, Baabda, Jbiel, Zahlie and many other Lebanese cities.

According to the Al-Seyassah report, the hospitability situation at the present time is extremely different and the Druze, Sunni, Christian cities that suffered Hezbollah's bloody invasions of May 2008 are no longer welcoming the Shiites. Many stressed and scared Shiite families living in Beirut’s southern suburbs (Hezbollah's mini-state) and its surrounding areas are calling friends and relatives in Syria and many European countries to rent apartments for them.

The report said that Shiite migration to Europe, Africa and Latin American countries where there are large Shiite communities has hit a record high since the beginning of last December.
Meanwhile, Israel has made it very clear that its military response to any Hezbollah missile attack will be devastating, crippling and that Lebanon's entire public institutions, infrastructure, and army will be targeted. The Israeli leadership officially warned the Lebanese government several times lately that it will be accountable for any Hezbollah offenses after members of this terrorist Iranian organization were given ministerial portfolios.

The beating of war drums is very serious in both Lebanon and Israel as well as in Syria and Iran. Numerous reliable sources in Paris, New York, Cairo, Amman, Tel Aviv and Lebanon strongly believe that the war is inevitable and will take place within a few months.

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri expressed yesterday his fear of a possible Israeli operation against Lebanon in an interview published on by the French newspaper Le Monde. Hariri said: "We fear an Israeli operation. Last week, 25 over flights for the Israeli fighter jets were recorded in one day”.

Officials from the USA, EU, Turkey, Egypt, and many other Arab countries have been warning Lebanon of an Israeli invasion if Hezbollah continues to stockpile weapons. Israel’s military revealed on Monday that among this huge weaponry are Syrian-built missiles equipped with chemical war heads with ranges that could reach all Israeli cities.

Reiterating and stressing what was stated in my previous editorial of January 18/10: The Free World must be aware that the Lebanese people alone can no longer stop Hezbollah from taking over the whole country, topple its free and democratic regime and replace it by a replica of the Iranian mullah's Islamic republic. The Free World and the moderate Arab countries must come to Lebanon's rescue because Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist army, threatens not only Lebanon, but also all the Arab countries and nations of the Free World. All these countries should understand that by helping Lebanon they will be helping themselves, because the same inferno that is now consuming Lebanon will reach them soon if not extinguished in Lebanon and the lunatic arsonist, Hezbollah, is disabled.

Click here to read Al-Seyassah Arabic report.
http://www.10452lccc.com/arabic09/hezbollahfleeing21.1.10.htm

*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, January 17, 2010

Extinguish Lebanon's Inferno before it Burns You

By: Elias Bejjani*

What the Palestinian organizations or the Iranian and Syrian axis of evil regimes decide to do in a bid to serve their own tailored national causes, imaginary religious duties, ideologies, identities, existence, expansionism schemes and delusional liberation plans is simply their own business and not ours, the Lebanese people. They must be held fully accountable for their own acts of hostility, terrorism, destruction and enmity. The Lebanese people and Lebanon should not pay for the axis of evil's criminal acts.

These thugs should fight their own battles in and from their own countries and not from Lebanon and through the Lebanese. If and when they want to wage wars against Israel or on any other country or people, they have to be fully prepared to accept the repercussion of their own acts and not make the Lebanese scapegoats and Lebanon a battlefield.

As far as we are concerned, Israel is a legitimate and powerful country that the whole world officially recognizes and deals with as an independent and sovereign entity, including the majority of the Arab countries, either directly or indirectly. Many Arab countries exchange normal diplomatic relations with Israel including Egypt and Jordan.

Lebanon's official relationship with Israel since she was established has been governed by the Armistice Accord of 1946. All hostility activities executed by Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations against Israel from Lebanon are extreme infringements of this accord.

Meanwhile, the Shabaa farms that Israel has occupied since 1967 fall under the two UN resolutions, 424 (1976) and 338 (1973), that were issued in the aftermath of the two major Israeli-Arab wars.

These farms are Lebanese property, but were occupied by Syria from the mid-1950s. Israel occupied them with the Golan Heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Lebanon officially did not at any time before 2000 claim that these farms were Lebanese land that is occupied by Israel. The Syrians fabricated their Israeli occupation as a fake cause in 2000 after the Israelis withdrew from south Lebanon and fulfilled UN resolution 425.

The Syrians concocted this big bogus lie about Shabaa to justify their ongoing Stalinist occupation of Lebanon and to spare the Hezbollah militia from being disarmed and dismantled as was the case for all the other Lebanese militias in accordance with the Taief Accord of 1988 that put an end to the Lebanese civil war.

For years, Lebanon has been used and abused against the will of its own people as a battlefield by regional Arabists, fundamentalists, leftists, Syrians, Palestinians, Islamists and many other outlawed worldwide armed organizations to wage phony guerrilla wars against Israel. The outcome was the destruction of Lebanon, and the forced exodus (emigration) of more than one third of its own people, mainly Christians.

Since 1982, Iran and Syria have been building up their own armed proxy, Hezbollah, in Lebanon. This terrorist organization greatly jeopardizes Lebanon's stability, peace, and the life of the Lebanese people on all levels and in all domains.

At the present time and since the withdrawal of the Syrian occupation army in 2005, this Iranian militant group fully controls the Lebanese government, as well as all the country's institutions including the armed forces. The Lebanese government can’t take and execute even one decision without Hezbollah's approval.

Our priority as Lebanese must focus on our own country and the affairs of our own people. We have had enough of allowing others to tread on our interests and use us as wood for their own fires. Let the Palestinians, the Syrians, and the Iranians fight their own wars in and from their own countries and with their own people.

Enough is enough, we can't keep on watching our own homes burn, while we stupidly work to extinguish those of our neighbors. For us, the Lebanese, Lebanon must be the priority, Lebanon must come first.

We are not against the Jewish or the Palestinian people. We fully support their right for self determination, but let them tackle their own conflicts and wars far away from our country and not on the account of our people and national interests. We and our country have been used and abused for thirty long years. Let those who advocate wars and destruction carry their own weapons and fight their own wars far away from Lebanon and her people.

We are not more patriotic than Egypt, Jordan, and all the other Arab countries that took care of their own affairs and forged peace accords with the Jewish state, some overtly and others covertly. We proclaim to those deranged Islamist fundamentalist fanatics who still rhetorically call for throwing the Israelis into the sea that the Lebanese cannot be Palestinians more than the Palestinians themselves.

We are sure that all these jihadists are fully aware that the late Yasser Arafat of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) did not ask for Lebanon's approval before he headed to Oslo where he negotiated and signed a peace accord with the Israelis in which he recognized their state and scratched from his PLO manifesto the armed resistance clause.

Since 1982 Iran and Syria have been using and abusing Lebanon and its multicultural communities through their armed terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, exactly the same venomous way the PLO used and abused it during 1975-1982.

This Iranian terrorist army, Hezbollah is systematically and steadily destroying the foundations of the country's mosaic fabric, destroying the life pattern of coexistence that distinguishes Lebanon from all the other Middle and Far Eastern countries, oppressing freedoms, cracking down on all forms of democracy, and breeding generations polluted with ignorance, confusion, fanaticism and jihadism.

Under the pretext of fighting Israel, Hezbollah is gradually devouring Lebanon piece by piece and forcing mainly its Christian citizens to sell their own estates and emigrate.

The majority of the Lebanese are peacefully fighting back fiercely and courageously. This Lebanese massive public rejection of Hezbollah was shown in the outcome of the last parliamentary elections. Hezbollah has ignored the will of the people’s votes and kept on forcing its agenda on the country through intimidation, terrorism and money.

Meanwhile, backed by both Syria and Iran, Hezbollah is waging a rhetoric and diplomatic terrorist campaign against all the UN resolutions related to Lebanon, especially 1559, 1860 and 1701 in a bid to deprive the Lebanese people from the international umbrella and sponsorship. What is sad and disappointing in this dilemma is that the Lebanese pro-Syrian president and the country's foreign minister who were handpicked by Hezbollah are among many other officials who are acting to fulfill Hezbollah's agenda and annul the resolutions.

The free world must be aware that the Lebanese people alone can no longer stop Hezbollah from taking over the whole country, topple its free and democratic regime and replace it by a replicate of the Iranian mullah's Islamic republic.

The free world and the moderate Arab countries must come to Lebanon's rescue because Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist army, threatens not only Lebanon, but also all the Arab countries and nations of the free world.

All these countries should understand that by helping Lebanon they will be helping themselves, because the same enferno that is now consuming Lebanon will reach them soon if not extinguished in Lebanon and the lunatic arsonist, Hezbollah, is disabled.

*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, January 9, 2010

Hundreds of Al Qaeda & Islamic Jihadi members are fleeing Yemen and Afghanistan to Lebanon

This analysis was written by Hamid Ghoriafi, Middle East Analyst & Journalist,
Published on 09/01/10 by the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah,
Translated from Arabic by Elias Bejjani, LCCC Chairman*

Egyptian and Jordanian security sources warned yesterday that Hezbollah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (general command), Fatah Al Intifada and other radical Palestinian organizations have opened their centers inside and outside the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon to host hundreds of Al Qaeda and Islamic jihadi fighters who have been massively fleeing from Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan and other countries since last December.

This flow of jihadists to Lebanon came as a result of the two concentrated international military campaigns on the Afghanistan - Pakistan boarders, against Al Qaeda, and the Taliban and Salafist groups, and in Yemen against the Houthis, Al Qaeda and other pro-Iranian radical groups including Hezbollah. All these terrorist organizations are losing ground and retreating on both frontiers.

It is believed that Al Qaeda leadership has been forced to move hundreds of its fighters and those of its allies out of Afghanistan and Yemen to Somalia, Sudan and Lebanon. The Iranians are playing a major role in facilitating Al Qaeda's members escape through their strong ties with these three countries.

Iran which is allied with Al Qaeda and others Salafist Islamic radical groups, is militarily engaged on four war frontiers:
1- In Lebanon and Gaza, against Israel through its militant proxy, Hezbollah, from Lebanon and the Hamas movement from Gaza;

2-In Yemen and on the Yemeni-Saudi borders against the Yemeni and Saudi regimes through the Houthis, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and other Islamic radical groups;

3- In Iraq jointly with its strategic ally, Syria, against the American and other Western armies through numerous radical Shiite organizations, the Baathists and Salafists;

4- In Somalia against the international and African humanitarian and military presence which is directly or indirectly under the United Nations umbrella.

It was revealed by high ranking Egyptian intelligence sources that the flow of these terrorist groups to Lebanon under the leadership of Al Qaeda has increased dramatically during the past three weeks. Syria is facilitating the safe and easy entrance of these terrorists through its borders with Lebanon.

A few days ago, Iran deported to Syria one of Osama bin Laden's sons with a number of his relatives and family members at their own request. Reports from Syria stated that these members have settled in the city of Aleppo, the birthplace of one of Bin Laden's wives.

Meanwhile, reliable sources in Germany have mentioned that many of the Al Qaeda fighters and leaders who could not take refuge in Pakistan with Bin Laden, Ayman Al Zawahiri and other top notch Al Qaeda leaders in the aftermath of the Western war on Afghanistan at the beginning of the third millennium, were given a safe sanctuary in Iran. The sources said that the Iranian authorities have recently arranged the transfer of all these people to Syria.

Jordanian intelligence sources in Beirut notified Lebanese security bodies that many leaders of these terrorists who illegally entered Lebanon through Syria were immediately received and accommodated by Hezbollah and Hamas in rented apartments and houses located in different parts of western Beirut, southern Beirut suburbs inside the Hezbollah mini-state, numerous southern Shiite villages north of the Litany River, Sidon, and Tyre, as well as in Ain el-Hilweh, Mieh, Mieh, and Rashidieh Palestinian refugee camps. The sources added that the Iranian embassy in Beirut is directly supervising the housing, financing and safety of these terrorist infiltrators.

The Lebanese Al-Nahar and the Israeli Ha'aretz newspapers affirmed on Thursday that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's foreign policy and security advisor, Christoph Heusgen, has reportedly informed Lebanese officials about the infiltration of terrorists from Arab countries into Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. An Nahar daily said Friday that Heusgen told the officials during his visit to Beirut about the necessity to monitor activity inside and outside the camps and the areas surrounding Beirut airport. Heusgen also expressed his government's readiness to provide the necessary monitoring equipment, according to the newspaper.

The Egyptian intelligence said that a number of Al Qaeda leaders and other Salafi movements (some were Negroid) travelled to Lebanon on flights that took off from Cyprus, Arabian Gulf Emirates and African countries. They entered through the Beirut Air port with forged Arabic and foreign passports. Those who infiltrated through the Syrian borders were escorted and protected by Syrian intelligence officers and Hezbollah men. The same source added that hundred of these terrorists are already in Lebanon and many others are still pouring in.

In the same context and according to European reports, the information that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's foreign policy and security advisor, Christoph Heusgen, has conveyed to the Lebanese officials on Thursday, was also provided by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel to her allies in the European Union, the USA and Israel 10 days ago.

The leadership of the United Nations International Forces (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon was also made aware of these reports. It responded with strict security measures fearing that the terrorists might target its units.

Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its AWACS, warplane and drone flight surveillance over Lebanon and increased troop numbers on her borders with Lebanon in a bid to abort any terrorist infiltration attempts. European reports quoted Israel defense experts saying that Al Qaeda groups have arrived at Hezbollah, Ahmad Jibril and Abu Mousa military bases and that the Lebanese security authorities have absolutely no control over them.

In summary, all these events that are dramatically unfolding could lead to a rapid and dangerous deterioration of the fragile relatively tranquil status between Lebanon and Israel, and possibly also between Syria and Israel. The imminent war that has been on the horizon for a few months is becoming more and more an actual possibility.

Clik here to read the Arabic version of the above analysis
http://www.10452lccc.com/arabic09/hamid.arabic9.1.10.htm

*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

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Israel will respond to Iran's & Hezbollah's missiles with catastrophic weapons

This analysis was written by Hamid Ghoriafi, Middle East Analyst & Journalist,
Published on 07/01/10 by the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah,
Translated from Arabic by Elias Bejjani, LCCC Chairman

*Israel is providing her 4.5 million citizens with anti-weapons of mass destruction masks.
*Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is expecting a war with Hezbollah and Iran by the end of next March.
*The Israeli army fears that Hezbollah might launch missiles with biological and chemical warheads.
*Israel confirmed that its response would include southern Lebanon, the suburbs of Beirut, the Bekaa valley and the heart of the Gaza strip.

Next Wednesday and Thursday, Israel will carry the most extensive training exercise in its history. The aim is to prepare the country for the potential threat of biological and chemical warfare missiles which her military and political experts fear Iran or Hezbollah might launch on the Jewish state, or through a series of local terrorist attacks by weapons of mass destruction targeting Tel Aviv or other major Israeli cities.

The "Orange Flame" is the name that was given to the campaign according to an Israeli media agency. The training is expected to cover Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Holon. It will focus on procedures and tactics required to rescue those injured by biological and chemical weapons. This exercise is going to be carried despite the fact that the state's "Interior Front Command," is working on the distribution of anti-biological and -chemical masks for the entire Israeli population of 4.5 million.

Hundreds of medical and rescue teams, municipal authorities, hospitals, special army and internal security services units, will all jointly participate in this biggest and most extensive exercise that aims to address potential biological disasters that could hit the country.

The training will involve vital ministries e.g., health, interior, defense, and public affairs. All staff in these institutions will be trained on how to face a catastrophic biological warfare in which thousands of citizens could be exposed to deadly gases. Meanwhile, hospitals in Tel Aviv and other regions like Ichilov, Tel Hashomer and Beersheba, in addition to health organizations and portable clinics will all be ready to receive more than a thousand volunteers who supposedly will be hit with biological gases.

According to the Israeli Haaretz newspaper there will be three major centers in Tel Aviv to accommodate the injured: the House of Danny, the Ramat Gan sports stadium and the Holon club. The training will also include thousands of citizens, civil servants, army and civil defense elements, in addition to doctors and nurses who were trained during the past few months in dealing with internal (terrorist acts) or external (missiles from outside the border) biological and chemical attacks.
Gen. Zeev Snir, who is assigned to represent the Israeli Defense Ministry in supervising the exercises, told the media that: "Our first challenge will focus on containing the damages caused by terrorist acts and biological or chemical attacks, and then identify the type of biological or chemical agent used in a bid that life returns to normal as quickly as possible".

European diplomatic reports have quoted Israeli high ranking officials saying that the Netanyahu government and the Israeli army command are expecting an imminent war against their country waged either jointly by Iran, Hezbollah and the Hamas movement, or by one of these three bodies after next March. They also stated that Israel might find herself having no other option but to carry out a preemptive attack against Iran or Lebanon or the Gaza Strip or against all the three together in case she feels any kind of danger threatening the safety of her citizens or the country's infrastructure.

The Haaretz Israeli Daily reported that for years, and especially since the 1991 western coalition war against Iraq, Israeli authorities have been providing only 60% of its population with anti-biological and -chemical masks, with certain exceptions for those residing in vulnerable and dangerous regions in the north neighboring Lebanon and Syria. The daily added that because of the current dramatic developments that are unfolding since the 2006 war with Hezbollah and the escalation of the Iranian nuclear conflict, the Netanyahu government has decided last week to expand the distribution of masks to cover the entire population, without exception, especially those living in densely populated areas in the second largest city, Tel Aviv, including cities and villages around it, which may be among the first targets of any biological and chemical warfare missile attack.

It is worth mentioning that Hezbollah's General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah has made it very clear in his last speeches that his missiles this time will reach Tel Aviv and beyond Tel Aviv, a blatant reference to Israel's nuclear reactors in the Negev desert (Dimona).

According to statements made by Israeli officials that were circulated in European diplomatic and intelligence reports, the Israeli army will not hesitate for one moment to respond to any biological or chemical attacks targeting its cities and villages. It will strongly hit the bombing sources of the missiles with similar devastating weapons that could kill, injure, handicap and disfigure thousands of citizens in southern Lebanon, the Bekaa valley, the Beirut suburbs and the heart of the Gaza Strip and its surrounding areas. These reports described this upcoming war as disastrous to all parties.

The same reports stated that in case Iran strikes Israel with long-range missiles carrying chemical and biological warheads, Israel will respond by devastating air strikes and lethal extremely advanced weapons to target the capital Tehran and other major Iranian cities that are not equipped or trained to handle such a disastrous war like the Israeli cities.

The Haaretz said that the "Israeli National Post" and the "National Post Services" companies have lately won tenders from the Ministry of defense to provide around 4.5 million Israelis (i.e. the entire Israeli population) with anti weapons of mass destruction masks before the end of next February with a cost of three billion shekels.

The newspaper confirmed that Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Director of Internal Front, Matan Mellnaii, have taken this decision on an emergency basis due to the deterioration of the situation in the region and the increasing external pressure on Israel. An impending war is on the horizon because both the Iranians and the Syrians have been setting up tens of thousands of missiles in Lebanon and Syria (on the borders with Israel), as well as in Iranian long range missile bases.

Click here to read the Arabic version of the analysis
http://www.10452lccc.com/arabic09/hamied7.1.10.htm

*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