Yes looks like a sunni opposition supporter was killed yesterday. What a shame that this is going to happen again.
Let's all hope i'm correct, because if a civil war starts then it will be the real end of lebanon... I don't think Syrians will come back in and separate or stop this civil war..
Another day of demonstrations by Hezbollah as they continue to mass together at the Martyrs Square in Beirut in an attempt to overthrow the Siniora Government All this just days before another demonstration is sure to take place as demonstrators in the thousands will turn out on the 12th the 1st Anniversary of the assassination of Gebran Tueni, Prominent Lebanese Journalist and vehement anti-Syrian critic who was murdered on December 12, 2005,
I write this short article to publish it on my blog, but i decided not to. This seems like a perfect place for it though The Truth About Lebanon Before any discussions about the current crisis, you should know about Lebanon's history (during past couple years): In Lebanon, the parliament has certain number of seats assigned to different religions (64 Christians, 27 Sunni, 27 Shi'a, 8 Druze, and 2 Alawite). (Side note: 59% of Lebanon's population is Muslim (Shi'a & Sunni). Also, certain areas of Lebanon are supposed to elect their member of parliament from an assigned religion regardless of the popular religion in that region. So a Shi'a majority section might have to elect a Christian parliament member and so forth. In 2005 there was a parliament election in Lebanon. Hasan Nasrallah (the Shi'a leader), formed an alliance with the Christian and Druze party. He did not send any opposition candidates against the Christians and Druze candidates for them to be elected. So Shi'as and Christians would have the majority in the parliament and the road would be open for Siniora (current prime minister) to become the prime minister. Nasrallah agreed to the alliance under certain conditions. First, the Lebanon's government would not try to take Hezbollah's weapons from them. Second, the government would not form alliance against Hezbollah with international forces. In short, Siniora got power because of Hezbollah. Now, his government is breaking the alliance he had with Hezbollah and Hezbollah is trying to force him to resign. Siniora is saying he will not step down unless the parliament tells him to and for that to happen, 80% of the parliament should vote for his resignation (which of course with his current majority will not happen). Rafigh Harriri's assassination and the international tribunal: The international tribunal that would decide about the case includes France, U.S, and Germany's judges (all from countries who have already decided that Syria and certain other people have had hands in the assassination). Therefore, it would not be a fair trial anyways.
With respect Nima the last 2 years are hardly relevant to the overall situation which is deep seated and goes back decades, many of the power brokers are entrenched in their own thiefdoms and these people have in many instances weapons, finance and political influence The roll-out to the present crisis has a 'lot more legs' to go before things will stabilize
You can't talk about the crisis without the history though. You need to understand Lebanon is majority Shi'a and people only accepted Siniora because of Hezbollah support for him. Now he is trying to screw hezbollah... The fact is Hezbollah is extremely popular in Lebanon. They are the only group that do any good for Lebanese people right now (rebuild the destroyed houses and what not). (im not saying that is good or bad, im just saying it as a fact). If Lebanese people want Hezbollah to be the power then Hezbollah should get power. That is if you support democracy and foreign countries should not interfere. It will only make it worse. Again, I believe the situation right now has many causes (Iran, Syria, Israel-Lebanon war, Siniora's incapability to perform his job, corruption in Lebanon's system, and more), but it is directly connected to history. It's not something that came up out of nowhere.
EXCUSE ME!!!! ARE YOU LEBANESE?!! HMMM let`s see..ooops you are Iranian! what you gonna say except this?! I have one thing to tell you If it`s true that "If Lebanese people want Hezbollah to be the power" then why Saniora still on his chair?! do you know why?!! BECAUSE there are A LOT of people who`re with Saniora! and support him and his government! and this is a fact! anyway I DON'T have time to talk about these kind of subjects and my english is bad too! please watch another Channels than Al MANNAR!
As i mentioned in my previous posts, Siniora didn't get power because he was very popular in Lebanon. He got it mainly because of his deal wit Hezbollah. He is not very popular now at all. In fact he is not popular. Don't you see all the demonstrations going on for many many days now? Why don't his supporters have a demonstration for him to stay in power? Don't get me wrong. I'm Iranian, but I don't support Iranian government or the Hezbollah at all. But I believe in democracy. If people want them in power, they SHOULD be in power. It's non of any other countries business to tell them yes or no... You obviously don't know that Iranian's language is Farsi not Arabic. So I couldn't watch that channel anyways. Cheers, Nima
Who told you that there are no supportive demonstrations?! There are demonstrations in Tripoli, the people don't know about that just because the best lebanese place to demonstrate is DownTown where the Hezbollah is now! so the place is busy for a while!
Glad to hear that there's so many people showing support for different sides down there that they need different locations. Involvement in politics is a good thing!
Seems like whatever the argument is, hezbollah (terrorist group) is at the center of the issue. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing for Israel going after them after all. At best, hezbollah will think twice before starting another war with Israel.
I wouldn't call Hezbollah terrorist group... Let's put it this way: United States was attacked on 911 (on one day) and 5000 people died ==> That made it just to invade two other countries, kill thousands of people, commit torture, limit our freedom, and more.. and it is not listed as terrorist, But Hezbollah (who's land has been occupied and have had to live in camps for the past many years) does not have the right to fight back for their own land???? I'm not saying they should or should not do what they are doing (IMO there are better ways for them to get their lands back), but I wouldn't flat out call them terrorists... Same with Iraqis, just because they fight U.S troops (invader in their mind) doesn't mean they are terrorists.
Actually they're mostly killing each other....those that are doing the killing. They learned at the beginning that it's a lot easier to kill their 'own' than killing the 'invaders'. People play semantics with the word terrorist, but it's really an uneventful word game. When one sincerly intends to kill innocent people primarily (not by accident because that happens in all wars), then we could access a difference. Name it what you wish to.
With all due respect Nima, do u know that the lebanese christians that were forced to leave their country from the 30 year civil war is 27 million? Hezbolla isnt really the majority there, and yes they have been getting armed and supported by syria for the last 10 years at least. When we drove by a hezbolla checkpoint in late 1991 in baalbak near zahle, there was a big statue of hafez assad there. Now what is a supposed lebanese national doing with a statue of the leader of the occupying syrian army? Now dont think when i talk about the syrian government i mean the syrian people. I get along with every race and culture but when i see something wrong i speak up no matter if its a foreign government or my own american government. Now if all the labanese outside of lebanon were allowed back who do u think the majority would be? You guess it, it would be the lebanese christians as it was before the 30 year civil war. Im not saying that cause im christian. Im saying it because its fact. In saying that i never really agreed with the lebanese law saying president of lebanon should be christian. Lahoud is president and hes christian and hes nothing but a syrian government puppet. IF the late harriri were president im sure 90% of lebanon would love him because he is one of teh few billionaires that used his money to help the lebanese people and country. He built the airport into one of the top if not the top airports in the world. He paid for the full education and tuition of thousands of lebanese. This was a genuine man of peace who cared for others.
Nima tell me if hezbolla are real lebanese why do they call isrealis the invaders and yet isreal never really occupied lebanon and yet call the syrian government their friends and have accepted their occupation and raping and looting and stealing of lebanon without a single word of protest for 15 freaking years!!! Is this the truest form of hypocrisy or what?
Nima i know the history of hezbolla and the site in lebanon very well. Originally hezbolla was an independent lebanese militia originally formed to fight against the palestinians in lebanon in the south who were trying to form their own state within a state in lebanon. Their original mission was good but that changed after the first isreali invasion of lebanon in 1982 and then their support from radical iran after just completely changed their original ideology. Yes you heard it here hezbolla originally fought alongside the south lebanese christian army against the palestinians. People watch the palestinians in the camps in lebanon. If a war breaks out in lebanon the palestinians will side against hezbolla because they are sunnis. That region is a a total mess
pingpong123, You don't get my point. I'm not supporting Hezbollah. So no need to get emotional. What I'm saying is this: - You are right that Lebanon used to be mostly Christian. Lebanon was created in the beginning for Christian Arabs. No questions in that. But that's not the case anymore. Shia's are majority now and those are the people who are voting and choosing the government. Hezbollah might not be originally Lebanese, but they are now. The same concept as United State (created from immigrants). For the one reason that they are the most popular party in Lebanon right now, I think they should be in power (democracy). Now, I know Hezbollah is supported by Syria and Iran (non of which support Hezbollah because they care about them, rather because of political interests). Hezbollah knows that too, but Hezbollah can't get any support from anywhere else so they've teamed up with those two countries. I also agree with you that if Harriri was alive he would have been a very popular president. You might need to do some reading my friend. (how about the 1982 invasion, just to name one) I'm assuming you are Lebanese. I'm Iranian. I don't know about you, but if a country occupied my country before, bombed my country for a month, killed my people, invaded my land, and so forth, I DO NOT want a government that sits in the office and do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I wouldn't be proud of such a government. I'm enjoying this conversation very much and I hope other people join in too. It's sad that there are people who don't even know what's going in Lebanon right now or for that matter in any part of the world (except their town)
Good point about the isreali invasion, but yet again syria also invaded lebanon in 1991. I never saw one complaint against them. Your right the isrealis did invade lebanon in 1982 which i pointed out many times on many forums, but i dont think they stayed for 15 years. Syria occupied lebanon for 15 years yet hezbolla never said one word against them . If they are lebanese they will speak out against any occupation. Hezbolla was asked many times to bring their weapons forth but never handed them in. They are violating the taiff agreement which was agreed upon by every arab country that all militias should disarm. Why hasnt hezbolla agreed? As far as the sanioura government doing something against teh isrelis, you please tell me did the lebanese government sanction that mindless , reckless act by hezbolla to go cross border into isreal and kill and capture those soldiers? This war was started by hezbolla. They do not ever want peace in lebanon. Iran had a very good leader in mohammad mossadegh who was taken out by a cia backed coup. IF you go back into my original posts you will see that i started a thread on this subject. My only search is for the truth and im not afraid to speak my mind against any government. I also am enjoying this thread now.