And the Lebanese Never Learn... (surprised?)

Not having a government is not noticed in Lebanon... some joke about it, and they are correct to joke about it; sadly, I notice that having a government eases down the tension between the bougeoisie of Lebanon.

Commenting briefly on the elections before proceeding to the incidents: Was anyone surprised of the results? Everyone claimed they are won, the 14th of March gathered the highest number of seats, and the Opposition gathered the highest number of votes; last but not least, Junblatt opened a minimarket for himself and became the actual veto vote on the government. Meanwhile, it was impressive that not much riots broke up on election days, nevertheless, while waiting for the government to form, we open the TV over here, we see bulletins telling us a grenade was thrown by a "mysterious" evil hand, and everyone denounces it. Tripoli became the source of clashes again, whereby "mysterious rpj" missiles fly, and then "mysterious" gunners reply back. Now wait, isn't that everyday news, I mean why I got bored from blogging on Lebanon? It is the same news, and everyone expects the results. Finally, a person died, stabbed brutally three times, who was supposed to hold a riot between two young groups. Hence, he became the latest in the line of martyrs for the "Lebanese cause", whatever the cause these days it is.

Are we surprised? Hell no, are we sad? Hell yes, I mean doesn't it bother you to hear a riot then you have to call your direct relatives first to check on them, and then call your friends who live there to double check, and finally call friends who actually might be in the region? Will we ever be used to that? Definietly not!

The reason for all of this is simple. All parties still preserve their militia weaponry. Access to arms is still cheap, and none of the political leaders are doing anything to stop it. This of course excludes the arms of Hezbollah which lost some credibility after last year's events of shoot-outs, at least in my own perspective, and also the Palestinian Refugee camps were at least three major factions have large stock of arms: Fatah, Osbat el Ansar, and PFLP-General Command (Gibreel's faction). In all of this chaos, we also had two coalitions going head to head in a militarily sense last year, one group overwhelmed the other, and the winner in these street to street shootouts had disarmed the loser and gave the light and middle ranged weapons to the Lebanese Army. The Lebanese army in such situations, where political parties clearly go and shoot at each other (ie the downfall of the government into militias) can do nothing but sit and watch. Last time the Lebanese army was ordered to bomb an armed political party, it was Hezbollah back in 1989. The result was Nabih Berri (then fresh of clashes with Hezbollah) told the Shiites to leave the army; guess what, they did! The army lost 60% of its units, and the army was threatened then (but yet again) to crumble down. The army these days are called to detect Israeli hidden cells (and may others be captured for the security of the citizens) but to be a riot intercepter: shoot out takes place, army comes, and case closed. Some are captured, but then we lack the follow-up on what happened. Hence, the army is really crippled to disarm anyone, probably not even We'am Wahhab's militants as well.

The reason these ugly incidents take place, like the Cola "mysterious" grenade (and whose echo rang in my ear the other day), is simple! The top leaders are soothing things down, but we see their second in command escalating (well except for Aoun and Jaajaa both competing to prove who is the real Lebanese Christian while Sami Gemayel and Suleiman Franjieh are just trying put their own political space in the mainstream. Walid Junblatt returned to be the pendulum of agreeing one day with this faction or that one, or even both at the same time. Bottom line is, each political party is driving a hard bargain on the government level, mainly Mr. Aoun wants his beloved adorable nephew, Jubran Bathil, to be a minister of interior, then a minister of something else (el-mohem: a minister), and Harriri. Harriri and everyone else would tell us on TV, "we are all happy about the atmosphere", but then their MPs and figureheads lash out on each other. This double tongue doesn't work out at all. Already people are overcharged, and the party militants won't hesitate to blow off some steam. The reason they would blow steam is for the fact simply they are fully convinced the leaders are representing their own sectarian interests (I would exclude the SSNP and the Democratic Left for two reasons):

1) The SSNP had been gaining a lot of grounds politically in Syria, and after last year's militant performance in Beirut, they are being rewarded; also for the fact they are the only official group in the Opposition that is secular (after all Aoun gave up years ago on secularism and preached Christianity). This allows Hassan Nasrallah to argue that whenever Sunni and Shiite militants collide (Future and AMAL to be exact), it is strictly political and not sectarian (same as Harriri) Of course, on TV, we see the MPs joking around, and the sort, hugging each other, laughing, and go back home to their fancy houses. I might exclude Ali Ammar (the MP that was actually a football player who takes in charge of agressively "purifying the chins" of those who mention Hezbollah badly. This guy is a walking time bomb to explode in the parliament. The fact that the Lebanese Communist Party walked out from the Opposition, means the SSNP are the only secular party within the Opposition, within the Lebanese borders.

2) The Democratic Left: Yes, you read that right. They are, much of my hate to them, back to the Parliament, even though with one MP. Why we may ask that question? Well they are the only group that is secular within the 14th of March, but also they carry the maryrdom of Samir Qassir in their files. For such a reason, again to preserve the monopoly of the 2005 - 2007 martyrs of figureheads, a DLM had to be elected. The other reason is the fact that the DLM figureheads, specially Elias Atallah, was the cofounder of the Resistance Front, which fought Israel skin to the teeth; hence 14th of March can use the fascinating relic of Elias Atallah to preach that they have militants that fought Israel in the past. We both remember how Prime Minister Seniora and Hassan Nasrallah competed about whose block was the resistance.

Main issue is: citizens are dying. The man who got stabbled, he may be a part of the Free Patriotic Movement, but he was a citizen, and not an armed militant. It gets worse, by-standers are getting wounded or killed (remember when AMAL's Berri spoke and couple recieved raining bullets? That case was closed swiftly). If we don't have Israel bombing over our heads, we have the political parties shooting at each other, with the occassion of someone mysterious releasing a missile from South Lebanon on Israel's Northern Frontier, and Israel replies with a massive bombardment on nearby villages as if these civilians shot the rockets. Security wise? Fantastic, what more can we ask?

The double tongue of the politicians of escalations and "love affairs of each other" caused this. The economic situation makes it worse, for people's lives are horrible in the country with minimum wages, and frustration goes on the "enemy". The "enemy" is not Israel, it is not the Qa'eda based Fatah Islam (whom we are still debating if it was Syria sending them through the borders or the US sent them), but each other. These riots just escalate more problems, for riots and hate bring more riots and fear, and eventually one day we will have those sporadic violence spreading across sensitive regions in less than 20 minutes. Of course, everyone will yell to their supporters: "go home" or "these parties are armed". I got news for you, a very nice juicy secret news for you: EVERYONE IS ARMED! What happened with the arms that the SSNP or AMAL carried with them? Still there under the banner of Resistance Arms! What happened with the weapons of 14th of March, apparently new ones can be bought easily, and with the latest military blunder of last year, they can learn from their mistakes (super yay for 14th of March, boohoo for the citizens). Having said all these, what about the Labenese in general?

This is why I watch few channels in Lebanon that go on Middle Grounds: LBC and NTV. The problem with NTV though, like Junblatt, they got a moodswing of their own as well: they swing between 14th of March, middle grounds, and the Opposition. By Middle Grounds, I sure do not mean "All the President's men", these people, like Ziad Baroud, will never be elected in a sectarian based state.

Anyways, the reason why I watch the LBC roundabout (yes, sure they put Jaajaa couple of minutes more than the rest) is the fact they ask everyone what happened and what they think. Well, what do they think?! Anyone noticed how the citizens of both sides of a conflicting regions go down screaming and yelling: "we have no problems with our neighbors", "we are all Lebanese", "Don't involve us with party politics", "Leave us alone". Anyone noticed as we sit on our chair (with a nice juicy glass of white wine in my hand) and notice how our proletariat hate what is going on? Notice that there are always a mini-angry crowd blaming the other party while the majority just expressing regrets? (glass finished in one sip after watching the old lady, heartbroken, saying to the politicians: leave us alone). The reason is that these political riots, including the mysterious Inerga (whatever spelled) missiles, and the hand grenades are just the beginning. They suit the politicians to divide the Proletariat according to their sects, and furthermore, and worse, they impose the political divisions on the Lebanese people. Thus, if affiliates of Sect A, but not party affiliates (perhaps some sympathy) has no issues with Sect B, on the contrary relations are fantastic, and these riots take place. Sect A, if losing casualties in this or that region, or even experiencing fear, doubts Sect B. What if some hot head militant that belongs to sect A, pays retaliates and hurts Sect B, the domino effect rolls. All politicians (including Hezbollah, our "defenders" and the "secular" Lebanese Forces) get what they want: isolated sects that clutch to the secatarian parties. Why? Simple... if Sect A for example supports Harriri, but its people are in good relations with Sect B (say supporters of Hezbollah), how to get neighbors to shoot at each other? Simple: bring the hooligans to do some riots, then viola! Fear of the other!

Who benefits: the politicians; who mourns: the proletariat
Who gets richer: the politicians; who mourns: the proletariat
Who goes to their rich houses, the politicians, who is getting poorer: the Proletariat.

The media of the parties are still charging the situation, depends on whenever Minister Baroud yells at them to cool it down aggressively or not!

Lately, these incidents (after the riots of three years, and of course 17 years of civil wars) seem normal to a lot of us. It is as if a Pavlov effect whereby we got accustomed to it!

As my beloved friend Darko said in two posts earlier, we are losing hope, I lost it ages ago, I mean I am still a Marxist, and not any Marxist, the one who still dreams to unite the world into a single classless society where everyone are equal (reminds us of John Lennon's Imagine; good song) I say, we have no choice, as activists to carry on with our belief and quest we can change Lebanon and the whole world (no, I am not doing an Obama ad. of Yes We Can), more like Connelly's logo of: Our demands most humble, we want the world. Neverthelesss, if we do not have the vision, what do we have on the ground? Sad pictures of Iraqis dying by the 100s every day while enjoying what Bush Jr. said: "Giving Freedom and Democracy?" (Side note: Bush Jr. I am still waiting for those damn Weapons of Mass Destructions, you did promise us they will pop up eventually).

It is now 6:51 in Beirut, I bid thee all good night/morning (yes, I am a night crawler, and had a whole rakwi of caffeine for myself in the afternoon)

PS: Doesn't my post on Iran, Hezbollah, and Wilayat el Faqih click on what happened on the elections over there? I love it when my analysis hits the right bullseye

MFL

The Sad Story of Lebanon & Middle East

Three people died yesterday and their impacts are nothing on the grassroots level and political level. One of the deceased has been married for four months only, while the other had been married for 2 years, and had a baby child. The sad part of the story, the accusations remain flying between 14th of March and the Opposition on the grass root level.

A friend of mine Pro-Opposition & Resistance, on the eve of the explosion, tells me that the US blew the car with same material they supplied Fatah Islam. In fact they knew exactly how much to use explosives (Security Forces have declared 20 Kilograms of TNT were used in the detonated car) in order not to kill the Embassy’s two employees (who turned out to be Feltman’s scout cars. I argued left and right with him on the issue, and how he was certain of that fact (or the other fact that the government funded Fatah Islam which brings us back to Seymour Hersh’s original scenario), and he goes “they are desperate, they need to get more sympathy from the International Community.” This totally blew my mind off, what more solidarity the government needs? The government has so much international sympathy to the extent the Opposition failed drastically to oust them out. Hassan Nasrallah himself admitted that fact. He argues: “Because Bush is in the region”. Well, again, I told him without evidence, you can’t prove anything, and in fact, there are all possible scenarios. Sadly, I was talking to a wall.

The second person to join us on the table was a pro-Future & Government, and his argument was “Iran are teaching the Americans a lesson on Lebanese soil, henceforth, the Opposition are putting their foot in the face of the government.” I argue back, but how are you so sure that is the case? His reply: “Man, you are smart, Bush, Middle East, Escalations on Iran? Do the Math!” I reply back: what about Shaker el Absi? He answers: “Well, then it is Syria’s fault in that case, because they brought him to Lebanon! If only Bush visited the region!” I go : “Are you insane? Allowing the man who gave Israel to bomb the hell out of Lebanon? If Tony Blair when visited all chaos broke loose, the same with Kofi Annan, you want Bush?! Sure, if you want a full blooded confrontations to explode… the government is still being criticized for having lunch with Condi during the July War!” He goes: “Yes, it was the Prime Minister’s way of blocking the bloodshed!”

After a while debating with these two, then hearing debating, it was one of those fiascos that never end.

I have reached a conclusion that Lebanon is similar to theology, it is a never ending form of debate. The sad part of the story, three families are burying their beloved in coffins. One family had to come from Aleppo to confirm their son’s corpse. Two wives became widows. And the grassroots level, the party affiliated members still perceive this situation as scoring points. Then they all will say: “yes, it is sad what happened to the families!” But for sure, they will forget about these families and look again against each other to score points. Meanwhile, three bystanders were killed for nothing. They will be called by both sides as martyrs; however, do their families care? Just today one family was blaming the entire politicians of Lebanon. Which brings me to ask the question: why no schools/institutions closed today to mourn the deceased? Because they were common people?!

This is a classic case of what was mentioned in Marx’s 101 writings. The elite mobilize the masses against each other, while the masses themselves pay the price. Of course, you need an enemy, both camps have that: Syria/Iran versus USA/Israel/Gulf. What is most striking that so many have died, it is becoming common news!

I wonder how our fellow Palestinians survive in this bloodshed on daily basis! Just yesterday 17 people got killed, children die everyday, and the Palestinians live in a canned box. Worse, they have two parties butchering each other instead of defending their rights The civilians there suffer, whether from their leaders or from the Israeli artillery (which is often the case)! I didn’t even start with Iraq, where almost everyday 40 to 100 people die on daily basis.

Yes, this is the New Middle East.: he Middle East of Bloodshed, tyranny, and hypocrisy. When a bomb takes place in Beirut, they just say: thank heavens it wasn’t near us. People simply gave up hope to capture those invisible hands!” Palestinian Mothers burying their children or vice versa, children burying their mothers! Iraq under heavy bombardment from all forms of quasi-ethnic fuelling, vengeance, terrorism, and US Occupation! And we haven’t even talked about the poverty status supported by the US: the Al-Saud regime & the Mubarak regime.

I may have went a bit ashtray from the original topic, but I see it all combined. The Proletariat are suffering from their leaders’ affiliation. Zionism is increasing the gap between the Jews and the Arabs, and Egyptian statistics convey a terrible number of above 90% wearing the veil due to welfare nods because the US insist on supporting Mubarak (2nd most financed after Israel. I have no problem women wore the veil, as long as it is out of conviction, not out of financial needs!

As for Lebanon, it is a failed nation (to use Chomsky’s terminologies). The Arabs refuse to work with Israel (or at least used to refuse) and henceforth go pay lip-service to the US president who has been demanding that Israel is a pure ethnic Jewish nation that needs to be defended. If that is the case, what is the difference between Milosevic’s Serbia and Zionist Israel?

So many disgusting topics to mention, such a long road to emancipate the Proletariat into a single striking force against their oppressors, starting by dumping all 14th of March/Opposition cadres in the Sea! The government/Opposition followers fail to mention how everything (up to daily commodities such as Cheese) is on the rise. In fact, both factions blame each other and argue that once a Lebanese President is elected things will be better (if they ever do, and if that is the core problem of Lebanon, a tiny presidential chair whose president barely has any authority)! Enough of scapegoating "The Other"!

No War but Class War

MFL

Same Headlines - Same News but different dates

By December 1st 2007, it will be the first year anniversary of the Opposition launching their Open Demonstration in the Business Trade Center known as Down Town. The tents have been open ever since, although most of the time they are empty and they lost their esteem.

The Opposition failed to oust the US and French backed Government, and eventually gained nothing so far from the entire operation except participating in worsening the situation (along with the government) at the economic, social and political level. The Political level’s critical level (call it Two Minutes to Midnight) may have soothed down, unlike last year’s December and late January; however, people still worry about Hooligans belonging to different parties might erupt anytime. The good news though, none of the politicians want that so far. So, what we have is the same routine of bourgeoisie corrupted politicians and sect leaders disparaging each other on daily basis in a ping-pong manner. Thousands of jobs have been canceled, and now the Presidential issue remains the sole driver for news to fill their empty 7:30 and 8:00 news.

Saad Harriri and Aoun met in Paris (which is strange though because they could have easily met in Lebanon, or chatted via the phone). Aoun is dubbed as 8th of March by the 14th of March (government) while Aoun insists he is a separate entity, but not to be divided from Hezbollah. Personally I think Saad Harriri should have given Aoun a nice check of money because he pushed a huge chunk of the Christians back to isolated traditional “Marounstan” logic. Aoun, as expected has been cornered, and it seems his own allies are abandoning him on the Presidential Campaign. Rather, they are using him to attain bargaining cards from the Government. This of course includes the two primary actors (other than Aoun) Hezbollah and AMAL movements.

Meanwhile, we heard from Akhbar newspaper that Hezbollah did the largest Military maneuver in its history below the Litani river (where UNIFIL are supported to be allocated). Neither the UNIFIL nor the Lebanese intelligence detected anything. Hezbollah’s statement to the Akhbar Newspaper was that they are just practicing and to send a message that they are prepared to face Israel. Can someone explain to me how the hell a resistance movement does a full scale military maneuvers and training without the invader? Statements are awaited to get full knowledge on the manner.

The 14th of March seem that they are still clutching to both Boutros Harb and Nassib Lahoud as their primary candidates to the Presidential elections. So far, the deadlock remains. Harriri acts as if he is the mitigating agent among the factions while Junblatt goes frenzy on TV. The foreign nations’ ministers, specially the US and France, argue that no country should intervene in Lebanon’s internal affairs, then they go visit every primary key actor politician in Lebanon. Syria isn’t that better, and worse is Israel. Every time they breach Syrian sovereign land, they reinforce the division that exists in Lebanon by promoting the Opposition’s logo: “Pro Resistance or Against”. Personally I do not see any resistance to US imperialism as the Opposition claims, all I see is a lunatic General seeking the presidential chair by willing to ally even with the devil, capitalists running the government, and capitalists from the opposition want to regain previous gains to distribute gains.

The funniest part is when watching NBN TV, they still refer to the government as “non-legitimate”, but if that is true, then how come it’s supreme president (Nabih Berri himself) is always in contact with the Prime Minister and his boss Saad Harriri.

On the other side, the government has covered better grounds than they wanted. For starters, the Future Block (ultra capitalists) has prepared the full package to bury Lebanon in the World Trade Organization. They already initiated the procedures of privatizations on the telecommunication level, and the people are going to worry about the WTO to starve them to death, and not only the 14th of March and Opposition coalitions’ corrupted leaders.

Most of the people are fed up from watching the same news (unless Israel does a blunder or one politician is assassinated). The headlines have been almost the same on daily basis, and people are more alienated than ever. Work already alienated the proletariat, sectarianism (along with fearing the other) remains dividing the Lebanese into two gigantic camps (then each camp to mini sects/parties), and now the chance to even hope/dream for a better situation is down the drain and discouraging.

These days, me and the comrades sit and guess the headlines of tomorrow’s newspaper. The sad part of the story, most of the time we guess correct. What is there to guess for? Jaajaa retaliated on Aoun? Aoun declared he is a reconciliatory president? Seniora trying to compete with Hezbollah about who is resisting more? Even We’am Wahhab’stupid speeches are no longer shocking or Elias Attallah (when sober) are also predictable. Junblatt’s disparage on Syria? Or Rice’s boring speeches about leaving Lebanon alone? OR who visited who? Or who wants a better a Lebanon? Or who stated what at Archbishop’s Sfair?

All of this fiasco and most of the Lebanese seem to forget a humanitarian crisis occurring at Nahr el Bared. Most of the Lebanese forgot about Nahr el Bared after Lebanon’s “War on Terror” was over with Fatah Islam. They totally forgot about the looting taking over up there. They forgot about the need to pressure the government to reconstruct Nahr el Bared after it was flattened. They forgot to stress about the need to provide alternate living standards for the Palestinians in exile (for a second time since 1948). They never wondered what happened to the relatives of the deceased; did they get any form of compensation?

Speaking of Fatah Islam, the army said they are linked to Al-Qaeda; however how come we never heard Zawahari mentioning Fatah Islam while mentioning every detail in Northern Arab Africa. Al-Qaeda usually issue statements about their assassinated Cadres? How come nothing is mentioned about Fatah Islam even though a whole organization was supposed to be dismantled to kingdom come at Qa’eda’s sources? Again this brings suspicion to two traditional suspects: Seymour Hersh’s logic that the US (along potentially with government) is building tiny terrorist cells to counter the expanding Shiite expenditure (even though over here the Lebanese Army suffered most in a military sense) and the Syrians who wanted to destabilize the country’s sanity infrastructure even more.

The primary question is: when the “seculars” will wake up and join forces upon a progressive platform to bind the country’s divided proletariat into one.

MFL

Fatah Islam Leader: Shaker el Absi Dead

(article taken from Daily Star, I hope I will have time to translate the Annahar one)

NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, Sept 2, 2007 (AFP) - The head of Fatah al-Islam, Shaker al-Abssi, was killed on Sunday in fighting with the Lebanese army at a refugee camp and his body has been identified, an army officer told AFP.

"The body of Shaker al-Abssi is among the corpses of Islamists taken to the state-run hospital in Tripoli," said the officer, who did not wish to be identified.

Several medical examiners were dispatched to the hospital to view the bodies of Islamists taken there, he added.

Lebanese minister Ahmad Fatfat told Al-Jazeera television, monitored in Dubai, that it appeared that Abssi had been killed in the siege.

"Information that reached me about one and a half hours ago (around 1830 GMT) confirms up to 90 percent that several witnesses identified the body of Mr Shaker al-Abssi at the government hospital in Tripoli," said Fatfat.

"But further confirmations are required, additional witnesses have been called, and DNA tests are being carried out in order to have a definite confirmation before an official statement is issued," he said.

Fatfat is minister for youth and sports and close to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Asked how long these procedures would take, he said: "If witnesses are unanimous, I think DNA (tests) would become secondary, especially since Abssi's wife is on hand. But if a DNA test is needed, that takes around two days." -AFP


Abssi: fighter pilot turned Islamist radical

Shaker al-Abssi, the Al-Qaeda-inspired leader whose fate is unknown after a bloody siege in Lebanon, is a Palestinian refugee with a battle-hardened and globetrotting past.

In the 1980s, Abssi served in the secular Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), flew MiG fighter jets for Libya in its war with Chad, and fought Israeli forces which invaded Lebanon to drive out the PLO, his brother Abed said.

But later Abssi turned to radical Islam out of both religious conviction and "frustration" over the failure of the Palestinian cause, Abed told AFP recently in the Jordan capital where he lives and works as an orthopaedic surgeon.

"My brother is one of them (Islamist radicals). They think maybe Islam is the way to liberation. Everything else failed," he said as he worried about his brother.

His fate remained unknown as one Lebanese army office said Abssi, the leader of Fatah al-Islam, appeared to have fled the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon the troops announced they had retaken control on Sunday.

But an army source told AFP later that his body had been identified among the dead Islamists taken to the state-run hospital in Tripoli.

In addition to being sought by Lebanese troops, he is wanted by both Syria and Jordan for radical activities, including a plot that killed a US diplomat in Amman.

Born in the Ain Sultan refugee camp near the West Bank town of Jericho in 1955, Abssi fled with his family to Jordan after Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 war.

Abed described his brother as a "brilliant" student in high school who left for Tunis to study medicine, but his main ambition was to work directly for "the liberation of Palestine." Abssi jointed Fatah, the main PLO faction, which sent him to Libya to become a pilot of Russian-built MiG fighters at the air force academy there, he added.

"He was very successful. He piloted the MiG 23. When Libya went to war with Chad, he defended Libyan territory with his plane," Abed al-Abssi added.

While a medical student in Cuba in 1981, Abed al-Abssi received a visit from Shaker who was en route to Nicaragua "where he was to help train a Sandinista air force. He stayed there four or five months, I believe." Then during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, he fought in the Bekaa Valley as the PLO did not have any planes, before returning to serve in the Libyan air force.

In 2002, the Syrian authorities threw him in prison for belonging to a banned Islamist group and for plotting attacks.

During his three years in jail, a Jordanian court sentenced him to death in his absence for having taken part in organising the 2002 assassination in Amman of US diplomat Laurence Foley.

Released in 2005, he left for Lebanon, where he was an activist leader for the Fatah-Intifada group, which was close to Syria, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut.

But months later he chose the path of radical Islam and led 100 armed men to set up beside the Nahr al-Bared camp.

There he founded Fatah al-Islam.

In an interview with the New York Times in March, Abssi pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden, the fugitive leader of the Al-Qaeda network, and said that killing American and Israeli civilians is justified.

"We have every legitimate right to do such acts, for isn't it America that comes to our region and kills innocents and children? It is our right to hit them in their homes the same as they hit us in our homes," he told the daily.- AFP

Fatah Islam: The Last Breath and Al-Absi's Disappearance?

Update:

5:50: The Lebanese Army issued a statement urging civilians not to shoot in the open air in celebration plus also urged that the Palestinians shouldnt return to Nahr el Bared till all possible procedures in Nahr el Bared is over...


5:40 - 24 members of Fatah Islam have surrendered to the Army
5:40 - The Lebanese Army arrests a car in Marroshieh town - Zgharta Region after they refused to abide my the orders of the Lebanese Army

Update:

ANB Television explained that Fatah Islam attempted to escape three ways, whereby two ways were by-land and Sea, were intercepted by the Lebanese Army, either shot or arrested. The third group succeeded to smuggle a tiny group from the river direction.

5:10 The different Palestinian parties met in Badawi, and declared they will block in coordination with the Lebanese Army the entrance of Fatah Islam.

Shaker Alsi's fate is still unknown. So far, he was not between the corpses of the Fatah Islam militants & among the arrested ones.

Update:

The Lebanese Army finally took over Nahr el Bared,according to LBC, the remainder of Fatah Islam remained under the leadership of Abu Saleem Taha, the media spokesman of Fatah Islam, while most of them surrendered. Few are still fighting to the last minute, Shaker Absi's fate is unkown and it is official that the Lebanese Army fully controlled Nahr el Bared and the battle is over. The wounded of Fatah Islam were transported to the hospitals and later to be arrested. The total kills are reported to be from Fatah Islam's casualties are thirty seven and 19 are wounded. This is the biggest casualties. Abu Saleem Taha is rumoured to be with 20 fighters, and the final number to be known will be known at the end of day as the army is still scanning building by building the location. Celebrations are taking place through out the surroundings of Nahr el Bared, while fireworks are flying and rice is being thrown.

The army issued a statement to report any suspicious character in their neighborhood within the parameter of Nahr el Bared to the army or any authority on the spot.
______________________________________________________________________

Today at dawn, after massive lengthy clashes between the terrorist organization Fatah Islam and the Army, the Lebanese Army inflicted heaviest casualties on Fatah Islam as they tried to break away from the fortified Nahr el Bared Camp.

The casualties as the army intercepted Fatah Islam were heavy: 28 dead and 18 captured (so far). Few made a break for it (suspected to be four militants), and the army remains at this very moment searching for them. They ambushed a car, killed its owner with an Axe (!) and afterwards broke through the Lebanese Army checkpoint, killing two soldiers.

The search continues for Shaker al-Absi...

However, we hope that Shaker al-Absi would be captured, because if he escaped, we just hope we wont have to see the Nahr-el Bared Camp repeated elsewhere under the leadership of that lunatic. The Palestinian residents suffered a lot ever since they moved to the neighboring al-Baddawi Camp, and suffered heavily, and for a long time, as refugees (for a second time) under bad conditions. The families of the Lebanese Army martyrs also suffered a lot, and wont get the satisfaction till that insane man is captured. I was hoping the capture of Shaker el Absi would decrease the ever rising intensity of racism toward the Palestinians citizens.

Terror is beginning to take over the streets again just for the mere mentioning that Shaker al-Absi fled, although we all hope that the army would capture him, dead or alive! I dont think we can stand another clash with that man in case he rebuilds again (unless we follow the conspiracy theory he is part of something bigger), then it means Autumn will continue to carry with it the heat of the summer. Check-points are everywhere, my family had to pass through 6 checkpoints for the army. If that terrorist is not located, it will increase the division between the government and the opposition as both sides are accusing the other with bringing him to town and supporting him.

What's Next?
MFL

Shame on LBC's Basmat Watn

A clip passed on LBC's Basmat Watan whereby a Lebanese ties a Palestinian and wears the Red Scarf (Koufieh), and takes a check from the Public Sector compensation, and then as he is fleeing, he dumps the Koufieh on the head of the tied-up Palestinian, and tells him: "I am a Lebanese who had to steal your identity to make cash from the state.... (laughs)... the immigrants of the Mountain (Mt. Lebanon/ al-Jabbal) till now didnt return, but a Palestinian?" and he runsaway

First, I want to say that even if this is intended towards the government, this is very racial towards the Palestinian civilians...

Second, opening the issue of Mt. Lebanon immigrants is illogical since a lot of the political figures of 8th of March never tackled such an issue while they were part of the government. (then it was Junblatt who took charge of the Immigrants' Box)

Third, Basmat Watan is known to be mostly Pro-Aoun (despite LBC is pro-14th of March)... and that is the type of extreme Nationalism that we expect from all of them...

Fourth, if people are so bothered by the presence of the Palestinian Refugee Camps and their residents, perhaps they can wonder why several militant groups rose over there due to bad conditions, specially most of the Palestinians (mostly lower class) never allowed to have full rights as citizens, while different reports warned about the aggravated sanitory and living conditions of the camps... so what are the Palestinian Refugees to the political officials (14th of March/Opposition)? Bargaining cards with the outside world?!

Fifth, already Racism has spread toward the Palestinians in Lebanon, due to extreme nationalist parties, Arafat's blunders in the Past, and of course, most recently to heavily politicized Nahr el Bared events whereby the Palestinians are suffering part of the accountability of the existence of Fatah Islam. Well, wasnt it the fleeing residents of Nahr el Bared, two weeks before the war with Fatah Islam broke out, were begging any official to intervene on an investigation that appeared on LBC itself?!

Sixth, whatever is racist it is replaced with reverse racism... so now people think they are getting even with the Palestinians due to the events starting since late sixties: first Palestinian Missile propagading from Lebanon and to Israel. Well guess again, this would cause both Lebanese and Palestinians to be more isolated than ever even though they both live in the same country. Moreover, a lot of Lebanese Christians are originally Palestinians given the Lebanese identity when the racist Zionist organization expelled them from their homes, and till now they dont dare to expose themselves as "Palestinian Christians"

Finally, specially to the Christian parties of Lebanon, such as Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement & Phalange Party, there is a joke that ends with nice ironic information "Jesus is Palestinian". As for the rest racist parties, they are not excluded. Till now, several AMAL movement members take pride in the "War of the Camps" against the Palestinians, while the old generation of the Sunni faction still remember the horrors of the PLO reign over "West Beirut" and blame it on the current generation of civilians who are neither combatants nor even politicians, simply civilians with minimum conditions of living. The Upper class Palestinians live equally like the rest of the Lebanese because money buys rights, while they drifted in general (interview with 12 different families) away from Politics and prefer to keep a low profile rather shed light on the situation. This may sound as a very subjective post, but yes, what to expect from a stupid post that attacks the government on the expense of the Palestinians...

No War but Class War
MFL

Assaf Kfoury: The Palestinians' Purgatory In Lebanon

Article published in ZNet July 19 2007, link

In a matter of just a few days in June, the Palestinian unity government patiently brokered by Saudi Arabia three months earlier foundered in bloody clashes between Hamas and Fatah. Outnumbered and outgunned but more disciplined Hamas fighters routed Fatah in a violent takeover of the Gaza Strip. Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah and president of the Palestinian Authority, promptly dissolved the power-sharing cabinet led by prime minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. The US, Israel and the European Union joined in a chorus of support for Abbas, praising him as a "moderate" (because he has serviced Israeli policies diligently, though not always successfully, in the occupied territories) and pledging to help him fight off the "Hamas extremists" (because they remain an obstacle to the ongoing dismemberment of the territories). The Israelis have now resumed financial and material aid for a Fatah-led administration in the West Bank, while continuing the blockade of the Gaza Strip which they started shortly after Hamas won in the legislative elections in January 2006.

Thus another episode in the long and painful fragmentation of Palestinian society has come to a close. The separation of Gaza and the West Bank under two rival administrations -- and each largely disconnected from Palestinian communities in surrounding Arab countries (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan), inside Israel proper, and in the global diaspora -- makes Palestinians ever more vulnerable to the regional power play and the idea of an independent Palestinian state more remote than ever. Palestinians are now divided into seven geographically separate groups. Beyond a shared identity and a shared experience of deprived rights in host societies, powerful bonds as these may be, the truth is there is not much left that is binding together institutionally the splintered and dispersed Palestinian communities.

Perhaps nowhere is this fragmentation and absence of unifying institutions felt more acutely than in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon today. There is bitter irony in this. Although Lebanese and Palestinians are in many ways closer to each other than they are to any other Arab society -- in their cultural and social habits, in their long experience of facing Israeli military might and manipulation at the hands of more powerful regional players -- Palestinians in Lebanon are subjected to some of the most discriminatory and demeaning measures.

There was a time in the late 1960's and early 1970's, in the heydays of PLO power, when Palestinian factions coordinated their activities in the camps, dispensed social services in orderly fashion and projected their influence throughout the Palestinian diaspora, in Lebanon and elsewhere. Since that time, through repeated setbacks over more than three decades, the PLO and its institutions have become a bloated and largely ineffectual bureaucracy, more a burden than an instrument of liberation for the Palestinian people. That was the corrupting legacy inherited by the Palestinian Authority, when the latter was established in the occupied territories in the mid-1990s, pursuant to the Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO in 1993.

Abandoned to their fate by a declining PLO, the Palestinian camps in Lebanon have become a breeding ground for competing armed groups, which are all too often unaccountable to outside authority and which, for sheer survival, engage in petty criminal activities or accept to do the dirty work of the highest bidder among local parties or regional governments. Some of the more recent among these groups include violent fugitives of various political stripes that are neither Palestinian nor Lebanese, who come from countries far and close, traveling across the porous borders or slipping through the notoriously lax security measures at Beirut International Airport.

The cruelty of the camps


Some 400,000 Palestinians are currently registered as refugees in Lebanon with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Of these, more than half live in refugee camps scattered throughout the country. Of the original 16 official camps in Lebanon, four were destroyed or evacuated during different periods of conflict since 1948. According to the UNRWA, the remaining 12 camps in Lebanon:

suffer from serious problems -- no proper infrastructure, overcrowding, poverty and unemployment. [They] have the highest percentage of Palestine refugees who are living in abject poverty and who are registered with the Agency's "special hardship" programme.

The UNRWA further reports that:

Palestine refugees in Lebanon face specific problems. They do not have social and civil rights, and have very limited access to the government's public health or educational facilities and no access to public social services. The majority rely entirely on UNRWA as the sole provider of education, health and relief and social services. Considered as foreigners, Palestine refugees are prohibited by law from working in more than 70 trades and professions. This has led to a very high rate of unemployment amongst the refugee population.

Palestinian refugees enjoy far fewer civil liberties in Lebanon than in Syria, Jordan or the other Arab countries they fled to after 1948. As a result in Lebanon, the refugees have to rely more on UNRWA services, where they are forbidden by law (though often broken) from building inside the camps, owning property or working in jobs other than the most menial. The situation has been documented in numerous UNRWA reports over the years. Sheer ordinary living is thus all too often and unavoidably a criminalized activity. To secure the means of a meager existence, the refugees often have to pay exorbitant bribes to work (illegally) for subpar wages or else to emigrate (also illegally).

Since the "Cairo Agreement" (November 1969) and the "Melkart Understanding" (May 1973) brokered by Egypt between the Lebanese government and the then-powerful PLO, the camps have been off-limits, at least officially, to the Lebanese army and police. With the gradual demise of the PLO in the 1980s and 1990s, the camps have turned into something of a no man's land. The lack of a recognized authority in the camps became more acute after the abrupt withdrawal of Syrian troops, in April 2005, which had maintained a heavy-handed security presence, especially in the camps around Beirut and to the north. In the larger ones, most notably in Ain al-Hilweh (in the southern coastal city of Sidon) and Nahr al-Bared (the northernmost camp on the Lebanese coast), several armed groups have emerged to fill the political vacuum -- competing or coexisting with remnants of earlier PLO factions, carving out their own enclaves of influence and racketeering, and shifting political alliances according to needs and circumstances.

To be sure, this is not the entire Palestinian experience in Lebanon. Middle-class Palestinians have always had the means to buy their way into Lebanese society or to migrate to other lands. None of these have ever needed to register with the UNRWA as refugees for the meager rations and services it doles out. If successful in finance or in business, well-off Palestinians have seamlessly joined the ranks of the Beirut bourgeoisie over the years. Thus, among many others, Yusuf Baydas developed his Intra Bank in the 1960's into the largest bank in Lebanon, Said Khoury and Hasib Sabbagh succeeded in turning their Consolidated Contractors International Company into the eighteenth-ranked construction and engineering firm worldwide, and the Palestinian (and Lebanese and Jordanian) founders of Dar al-Handasah have transformed their modest Beirut office of the mid-1950's into one of the top ten international contracting and consulting firms in the world fifty years later.


The lot of the camps in Lebanon is therefore that of the poorest and wretched, those who came with nothing except for a few bundled clothes on their backs, from their villages in Palestine in 1948, and their descendants who were born in the camps since. The humane solution is of course to lift all legal restrictions on the camp dwellers and, even more, let them integrate into the rest of Lebanese society, if they so wish, with the right of acquiring Lebanese citizenship. This is moreover the practical solution, if one is also concerned about ultimately dismantling the camps as incubators of despair, lawlessness and unnecessary animosity between their disfranchised inhabitants and the rest of the population.

Will Palestinian integration work? Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are already part of a much larger shadow economy, comprising no less than one million refugees and migrant workers according to some estimates, in a country whose total resident population is about 4 million. But there are other factors indicating integration will work without much disruption. At a popular level, there is far less antagonism between Lebanese and Palestinians than one is led to believe from reading the Western press. In time of duress, both sides have readily helped each other. During the US-Israeli bombing campaign in July-August 2006,[1] Palestinian camps in southern Lebanon, already overcrowded and impoverished, provided shelter and food to the Lebanese fleeing from their devastated villages. In the current confrontation between the Lebanese army and the Fatah al-Islam group in and around the Palestinian camp of Nahr el-Bared in northern Lebanon, its 30,000 to 40,000 dwellers have had to seek refuge elsewhere, most of them in the nearby Beddawi camp and the rest in points further south; Lebanese NGO's and humanitarian groups have promptly mobilized their resources to respond to the humanitarian crisis.[2]

But Palestinian integration is one of the permanently debated issues of Lebanese politics since 1948, a political football that all parties, both internal and external, have always played in pursuit of their own short-sighted agendas quite separate from the well-being of the Palestinian refugees themselves and, in the long run, also the well-being of the Lebanese population surrounding them. What is at stake is the delicate balance of the sectarian-based (so-called confessional) system of government which would be undermined as a result. The sectarian power-sharing formula is in fact as much crippling as it is delicate, the cause of many of the country's woes in recent decades, with politicians all too ready to decry its ills but none really willing or able to give up the privileges it accords them.

The majority of the Palestinian refugees are Sunni Muslim whose integration, it would seem, would be encouraged by the Sunni segment of the Lebanese ruling class, since it would tip the sectarian balance in their favor. But confessionalism is not just a power-sharing formula based on religious sect, but a whole system of patronage, increasingly entrenched in the political life of the country, into which the landless and stateless refugees (and other non-Palestinian migrant workers) do not readily fit. This system of patronage identifies ordinary citizens by both sect and district of origin (the latter often being different from district of residence), and makes them depend on politicians of their own sect and district of origin to promote and defend their rights. Class interests cut across the divisions promoted by the confessional system, and any form of class solidarity undermines these divisions. Integration of Palestinian refugees would likely lead to many of them joining an urban lumpenproletariat that would not be answerable to the established Sunni (or other confessional) parties and would thus be disruptive of their hold on power.


There are courageous voices that defend the only humane option, namely, that of allowing all Palestinians in Lebanon to be fully integrated, if they so wish. One such voice is that of Fawwaz Traboulsi, a historian and prominent advocate of human rights and democracy in Arab countries. But these voices remain too few and isolated, without much echo from (extra-parliamentary) secular left parties that have been in decline since the 1970's. If the issue of al-tawteen (settling) of the Palestinian refugees is raised, politicians and public commentators of all stripes, whether in pro-government or opposition parties, routinely reject the idea because they consider it "a burden Lebanon cannot shoulder alone" or "a betrayal of the Palestinian cause," or they even argue against it in thinly-disguised racist terms.

Nahr al-Bared and Ain al-Hilweh


On May 19, Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) botched a raid to apprehend members of a fundamentalist Sunni (Salafi) group, Fatah al-Islam, that had robbed a bank near the northern city of Tripoli. Overwhelmed by a handful of gunmen of Fatah al-Islam, the ISF called the Lebanese army for help. Soon after the ISF raid, other militants of Fatah al-Islam, based in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, made stealth attacks on several positions of the Lebanese army nearby; they killed many soldiers, first torturing them and then beheading them. As there was little or no coordination between the ISF and the army, the latter had not alerted its men around the camp and was badly mauled, suffering a larger number of casualties than Fatah al-Islam.

With scores of its soldiers killed in the initial assault and determined to prevail, the Lebanese army has received uniform support from all parties across the Lebanese political spectrum, as well as from Palestinian organizations wary of extremist and largely non-Palestinian groups gaining influence in the camps. Having nothing to lose and no place to retreat to, Fatah al-Islam has dug in for the long haul, even though it has gradually abandoned many of its positions and retreated to the southern parts of Nahr al-Bared in the face of the army's superior firepower. Reacting to the growing humanitarian crisis in Nahr al-Bared, violence has fitfully spread to other Palestinian camps, notably to Ain al-Hilweh in the southern city of Sidon where, on June 3, gunmen from another extremist group, Jund al-Sham, attacked a nearby army checkpoint slaying two soldiers.

As of this writing, more than 200 people have been killed in the Nahr al-Bared events, in the worst internal violence since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.[3] Since the middle of June, Lebanon's defense minister Elias al-Murr has on several occasions announced that "Fatah al-Islam has been crushed," only to be refuted within hours by another armed clash in the fight in and around Nahr al-Bared.

These are the incontrovertible facts since May 19, reported equally by all sides of the Lebanese media -- pro-government, pro-opposition, and independent. Beyond the facts however, explanations abound as to what party or government is really at fault for the violence.

The political rumor mill is always buzzing in Beirut, and perhaps never at a higher pitch than after Seymour Hersh repeated to the Beirut press some of what he had written in his article "The Redirection" (The New Yorker, March 5, 2007). According to Hersh, the Bush administration, with the help of members of the Saudi royal family, has been secretly funding radical Sunni groups, some with ties to al-Qaeda, to counter Shiite groups in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region that are backed by Iran. Hersh maintained there is American money, none of it approved by Congress, sent to the government of prime minister Fuad Siniora, which then funnels it into "at least three different Sunni jihadist groups." Among the radical Sunni groups Hersh explicitly mentioned in his article were Fatah al-Islam in Nahr al-Bared and Usbat al-Ansar in Ain al-Hilweh. (The group that attacked an army checkpoint on June 3, Jund al-Sham, split from Usbat al-Ansar in 2002.)

If the information passed on by Hersh is correct, the whole episode since May 19 is the consequence of a reckless policy that backfired of trying to contain Hizbullah by arming unruly radical Sunni groups. This is a highly embarrassing charge against the Siniora government which, naturally enough, vehemently rejects it. Instead, Siniora and his allies put the blame entirely on the Syrian government, which they accuse of constantly fomenting disorder to remind the Lebanese (and the world) that security in Lebanon cannot be maintained without a Syrian presence. They point out that Fatah al-Islam started in late 2006, splitting from another older group, Fatah al-Intifada, totally aligned with Syria; its members are extreme Sunni fundamentalists who entered Lebanon across the border from Syria, then ensconced themselves in Nahr al-Bared where they took over the quarters of Fatah al-Intifada. The opposition parties led by Hizbullah have been a little more circumspect in the blaming game, simply accusing Fatah al-Islam and other al-Qaeda inspired extremist groups of trying to ignite a Shiite-Sunni confrontation in Lebanon.

This is all a little murky, and it will take some time for the truth to surface about which parties and which governments have been involved -- directly or indirectly -- whether because of recklessness, or incompetence, or outright complicity. But be that as it may, what is already clear is that the biggest losers from these events are the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

First and foremost are the 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants of Nahr al-Bared themselves, many of whose homes have been turned to rubble, creating a new humanitarian crisis among a segment of the population least prepared to sustain it and in a country still reeling from the devastating US-Israeli bombing campaign of July-August 2006. During sporadic lulls in the fighting in and around Nahr al-Bared, most of the camp dwellers have managed to flee to the nearby camp of Beddawi or to take shelter with friends and family further south. Various news reports mention that approximately 2,000 refugees are still inside Nahr al-Bared. If and when the fighting stops, it is not clear how much of the camp infrastructure will be left intact, much of it already in ruins after the point-blank exchanges of artillery and heavy machine-gun fire.

The Lebanese government has repeatedly announced it will shoulder the burden of rebuilding Nahr al-Bared and compensating its inhabitants. However, given the government's sluggish performance in rebuilding after the war of July-August 2006, these announcements may turn out to be mostly worthless promissory notes. If precedents are any indication, it will be the Palestinian refugees themselves and non-governmental organizations allied with them that will have to shoulder the burden of rebuilding Nahr al-Bared. This is an effort that will be far more difficult this time around, given that world attention is turned elsewhere; if it is about Palestine and Palestinians, the struggle between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza and the West bank now grabs the headlines; if it is about Lebanon, international opinion is almost entirely focused on the ongoing crisis pitting the pro-US Siniora government against the Hizbullah-led opposition; and if it is about the region as a whole, the catastrophe in Iraq dominates most public discussions. More than ever, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, hapless and desperate, are thus left to fend for themselves.

Quite apart from the humanitarian crisis and the burden of having to handle it on their own, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are already facing the scapegoating from the political fallout of the Nahr al-Bared events. In typical right-wing fashion of blaming the victim, prominent politicians allied with the Siniora government have suggested Palestinians have only themselves to blame, since they allowed Fatah al-Islam to enter Nahr al-Bared in the first place. Conveniently ignored is that for years Lebanese security agencies -- up until 2005 acting at the behest of Syrian intelligence -- worked diligently to deprive the Palestinian camps of any effective independent authority, especially in the northern camps. The bitter irony is that the vast majority of the 200 to 300 gunmen of Fatah al-Islam are neither Palestinian nor Lebanese, and among the few that are, there are probably more Lebanese than Palestinians.

None of the opposition parties have mounted a serious campaign to counter right-wing declarations whipping up anti-Palestinian feelings, as all parties, both pro-government and pro-opposition, seem engaged in a competition to rally behind the army and pay tribute to the troops. As if to preserve the only institution of the Lebanese state that still unites all factions of the political establishment, support for the army has taken precedence over the human suffering in the camps.

Where To From Here?

At the start of the Nahr al-Bared events two months ago, several commentators expressed fears about the "Iraqization" of Lebanon, a ruthless civil war between clans and sects partly fueled by extremist groups inspired or directly linked to al-Qaeda. In spite of sporadic flareups in Ain al-Hilweh and elsewhere in Lebanon in response to Nahr al-Bared, the fears have proved exaggerated if not groundless. Nahr el-Bared is now devastated, its inhabitants made refugees once again, bitterness and alienation is more widespread, but generalized civil warfare did not ignite.

Similar fears were expressed after the murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in February 2005 and again after each of a half-dozen political assassinations since then, and again after the war of July-August 2006 specifically intended to crush Hizbollah and goad the pro-US government of Fuad Siniora into armed conflict with the latter. None of these events was enough to trigger civil warfare. Whatever the reason -- the frightening sight of the catastrophe in Iraq nearby, the disintegration and infighting in the Palestinian territories, or memories from the futile bloodletting of the years 1975-1990 -- Lebanese and Palestinians in Lebanon have refused to re-enter civil war, at least not yet.

But politicians in Lebanon continue their incendiary exchanges, the standoff between the Siniora government and the Hizbollah-led coalition of opposition parties is nowhere near resolution, and the sore of the Palestinian camps is even further away from any remedy. The internal situation echoes more than ever the regional conflicts as local politicians are urged by their foreign sponsors not to make any concessions to their opponents. Indeed, the gravest danger now is that the US government, confronted with the disaster in Iraq, will become more determined to show some measure of "success" in Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories where it can count on loyal local enforcers. Will the politicians in Lebanon come to their senses, distance themselves from their foreign sponsors, and reach an accommodation before it is too late?





Notes

1. The pilots, of course, were Israeli, but the bombs and the sponsorship came from Washington.

2. In a recent article, "The Palestinian Refugee Camps in Lebanon," Nubar Hovsepian views the situation of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon differently. Hovsepian calls for a UN resolution to put the camps under a UN Trusteeship in order to protect them and their inhabitants from further violence. Regardless of its merits, Middle East expert and former French ambassador Eric Rouleau points out (private conversation) the idea of a UN Trusteeship is legally impractical. The UN and the UN Security Council deal with conflicts between sovereign states. The UN can issue a report on the Palestinian camps as well as condemn the Lebanese government for its treatment of the Palestinian refugees. But a UN Trusteeship for the Palestinian camps and its enforcement with UN troops would breach the sovereignty of the state of Lebanon.

3. Not counting, of course, the far more devastating violence of Israel's repeated campaigns against southern Lebanon. Since 1990, these include large-scale military attacks in July 1993 (one week), April 1996 (three weeks), and July-August 2006 (34 weeks).

Assaf Kfoury is professor of computer science at Boston University. He is a former member and Chair of the Board of Grassroots International, a non-governmental aid and development agency, and returned from a two-week trip to Lebanon in early June. A shorter version of the present article appeared in the Grassroots International newsletter.

Bomb in Manara -Hamam al-Askari exploded! MP Walid Eido Dead!

Update: According to Arabiyya, 10 people dead and 20 wounded, ambulance sirens been moving down my house all day

Whoever this is, definitely is trying to bring forth the Iraqi situation to Lebanon. Terrorist acts, Sunni-Versus Shiites, foreign intervention by US and its allies, Syria, Iran, ... Situation sucks

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Update! Future TV just announced the Parliament Member of 14th of March/Future Block has been assassinated, along with his son, and two of his bodyguards. This offensive is clearly restorted the Pre-Fatah Islam Political Assassination. This activity is different than the latter ones we have witnessed. More Turmoil spreads its wings deeper into Lebanon! Two more civilians are still unidentified, all wounded and deceased are in the AUH Hospital.

Either someone is triggering a collision between the government and opposition. As I said earlier, it can be anyone.
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As I speak,20 minutes ago my house's foundation shock. I do not know who of my friends are down there (because my friends are meeting there today at this time). But I write, a car loaded with explosives blew up into kingdowm, wounding 10 people and five people killed (and I hope the ones I know are not among them).

The series of explosives have exploded industrial areas through out Lebanon ever since the war with the terrorist organization began. First was ABC in Ashrafieh, a gigantic mall, the second was in Verdun, a location of hotels, trade centers, and restaurants. The third was in Alley (clearly a surprise then because it was outside Beirut). Others were in industrial location of Kisirwan.

Walid Eido hangs out there on daily basis. Everyone knows he hangs out there, so we are not sure if he was on the list or not (reviving the political assassinations prior to war with Fatah Islam).

Earlier through out the week, a bomb was dislocated at a beach entrance in Tyre. Everyone knew Rawshi, Hamra, Monot, Gemayzi, and large educational facilities are targets. Tyre was suspected, my cousins went to Sporting Beach earlier today, and told me that security has been minimum as well. What is wrong with the Internal Security Forces?! el- Hamam el Askri was a hotspot. This sucks, already Jana Nasrallah, Reporter of Annahar, reported how Tareeq el Jdeedi and Gemayzi are doing their own patrols rather trusting the government.

Worse, we do not know who is behind these terrorist acts, and this one makes it controversial. Was Eido targeted in specific or the area because of its huge cafes and location of offices? The second question is, will we replace the security forces with communal patrols? The situation seems dark, and nothing but dark!

This is our new trend of life. Worry at every car parked, worrying if this car is loaded with explosives or not. Fear has locked most of the people in their houses, and citizens are dying. Two Red Cross volunteers were killed by Fatah Islam in the Nahr el Bared couple of days ago, but we do not know if they are behind those explosives. Worse, we do not know if it is the same group behind these explosions. Lebanon is bleeding, now politicians will go scapegoating each other in scoring couple of political points within this pethatic disgusting ugly bi-polarity within the government and opposition. Worse we would have Arab and international leaders denouncing the attacks and as far as we know, half of them can have a direct or indirect hand in it (George Bush, Olmert, Assad Jr., Ahmadinejad, others). Bolton already said at Marcel Ghannem the Arab leaders encouraged Israel to bomb Hezbollah (which ended up bombing the whole Lebanon). Moreover, everyone is a suspect, and I really mean EVERYONE.

Welcome to New Lebanon, the Lebanon of fear!

Lebanon , The Drama Continues

For the past couple of days, the Lebanese Army out of the blues entered the camp, while Palestinian refugees are suffering badly, and the ones stuck in the camp are suffering more.

The Lebanese Army, probably since 1975-1976 confrontations, used a military helicopter on the Nahr el Bared Camp, despite all expectations, and the clashes continue.

The entrance of the Lebanese Army has different implications which is till now a win-win situation:

1) The Army winning its front with minimum casualties in its lines promotes what the Capitalist government has been always preaching: One Strong State-One Army

2) This leads to the disarming process, whereby the Palestinian militias should disarm, another arguement by the Seniora government, which would lead to Hezbollah

3) With the army performing brilliantly according to the Lebanese, the notion: "Lebanese Army sole protector of Lebanese and Palestinians on Lebanese Grounds" which slaps Hezbollah in the face. Why the need of Hezbollah according to reactionary 14th of March when the Lebanese Army is present?!

4) Rise of Lebanese Nationalism and Pride, probably this is the first time the Lebanese Army is involved in confrontations which triggered more solidarity to go towards the Government's claims.

5) The Government's policy, in terms of foreign relations, is similar to Fatah in Palestine. What Fatah is doing in Lebanon echoes what is happening to Fatah over there. Fatah militants, with perfect coordination with the Lebanese Army, are supporting a 'face-save' of the Seniora Government. Fatah militants today, according to reports, blocked Fatah el Islam from mingling with Palestinian civilians stuck in the Nahr el Bared. Furthermore, they succeeded in acquiring certain rooftops to prevent Fatah Islam from taking shots on the Lebanese Army, as well as assisting them on taking out Fatah Islam militants.

6) The Lebanese Army in times of desperation while following an International Community blessing would recieve support, as long as the government is made up of the same material as 14th of March.

Fatah Islam sure looks in a very weak position, as people are anticipating its end soon. They tried to escape by the sea, and the Lebanese Army intercepted them via the sea.

A New Front Opened

Now, a new front opened up, in Saida. Jund el Sham after being on high alertness, threw a bomb today. Jund el Sham are supposed to be made up of similar material of Fatah Islam, but allocated in Saida. They are expected to be couple of dozens in numbers and they are allocated in one street within the largest refugee camp known as Ain el Hilwi. It is expected Jund el Sham did that out of solidarity by throwing a grenade on a Lebanese Check Point.

According to a Fatah officer, they are barely about 50 people, and Fatah had several encounters with them in Ain el Hilwi (whereby Fatah is expected to be the most powerful, and Osbat el Ansar to be second in strength). He argued that Fatah el Islam and Jund el Sham have direct links with each other, and somehow Fatah Islam updates Jund el Sham about the situation in Nahr el Bared Camp. His speculation is that they opened a front to attempt to ease off military pressure on Nahr el Bared Camp.

Different confrontations took place between Jund el Sham and the Lebanese Army. Hamas reconfirmed its support to the Lebanese Army, and considered any offensive on the Lebanese Army is the same as attacking the Palestinians. Osbat el Ansar (League of Partisans in Arabic, not to be affiliated with the Partisans' Resistence under Tito's command during WWII)were commissioned by the different Palestinian Parties inside Ain el Hilwi to control Jund el Sham (soldiers of Damascus in Arabic, although Damascus tends to refer towards the Middle East rather the Syrian Capital). It is interesting specially that Jund el Sham and Osbat el Ansar more than once were standing togather as they displayed their muscles and demonstrated togather against what is happening in Nahr el Bared Camp.

Last but not least, I would like to stress on the point that despite their small number, Jund el Sham can actually benefit from the tight streets (if well funded) to really disturb the Army, then hide within the Ain el Hilwi camp.

Fascism has risen between all forms of Nationalist supporters. Whether Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Arab, or whatever, they just strive to cancel the other under the logic of hatred and "self-virtuous" of reactionary warriors for a cause.

Meanwhile, 14th of March and 8th of March continue to trash each other. Both are bunch of reactionaries that the people in Lebanon can live EQUALLY better without both of such leaders. Those who support the government or opposition are both reactionary.

A new line of refugees began today from Ain el Hiwli Camp, one of the largest Refugee camps in Lebanon. Refugees are expected to be 650, and people pay the price because of greedy leaders, and extremists.

Last but not least, I would like to stress that both Government and Opposition should not be supported since neither in the Short Run nor in the Long Run anything good would come out of them.

MFL

Fatah el Islam & Lebanon: Between Reality and Conspiracy Theory

So What do we know about Fatah el Islam so far?

Different hypothetical scenarios rotate around Fatah el Islam. Some say it is al-Qa’eda, another bunch would say it is Syrian made; a third category would go and say it is both, and others would go as far as accusing the Future Movement of creating them (mainly by Free Patriotic Movement supporters). However, we lack a lot of information on them, and I will try to tackle this rough topic as much as I can.

We know for sure that they are Sunni Salafis in their extremist Islamist ideology. They proclaimed their affiliation to that. They also argued that to liberate Palestine their way, and they came to liberate the Sunni Sect. They attacked the Harriri Family, for being in alliance with the Maronite Lebanese Forces and Durzi Progressive Socialist Party. Such an alliance has “caused more suffering for the Sunnis”, and they are there for them. They are an offshoot from Fatah Intifada, who Syria supported towards the mid 1980s, to break away from Fatah (the core key player within the PLO then). Fatah Intifada played a role to oust Yasser Arafat from Nahr el Bared when Arafat returned from exile (the Phil Habib – Arafat – Begin deal: evacuating the PLO from West Beirut in 1982). They have been nine months old in existence, and till now we are not sure how or from where they came.

Their figure head, Abu Shaker al Absi’s story is rather complicated. He was the one who declared the split from Fatah Intifada last September, and his activist nickname was “Abu Husayen” (most Palestinian activists had their activist nicks as Abu something Abu means Father in Arabic, but can spread to have different meanings as well in Arabic). Sources differ on how they came to Nahr el Bared, but there was for sure a confrontation between Fatah Islam and a militant group called “Armed Struggle”. A lot of theories argue that when Fatah Islam split, they already had 150 to 200 members in it. One article argued that they had minor confrontations with other groups, but they won their way through the Nahr el Bared Camp through offering mini-welfare services. You have to keep in mind, Nahr el Bared, like most camps has several people who have arms. A friend of mine in Akkar told me that: “If Nahr el Bared has 30,000 residents, then at least 40% of them had arms”. This is probably over-inflated, but their means of attaining hold of the Nahr el Bared Refugee location still remains a mystery, specially they won’t be able to take it that easily if they were unwanted. Couple of TV stations did a review on them, and stressed on on one point, several residents starting leaving the camp ever since the Ain Ala’q bomb occurred.

Now these two statements were conducted on by TV. We still do not know how true this fact is, specially some residents said “they were nice”.

An article speculated that they received funding from Pro-Salafi residents. However this is not enough to purchase all those heavy duty arms. The Salafi fundings from Tripoli, unlike what this article argued, can barely sustain their tiny welfare networks. Their networks may not be that amazing compared to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, but they have been considered a “wow” compared to the miserable conditions the Nahr el Bared camp live through.

Foreign connections: Qa’eda, Syria, or a third party? (Conspiracy Theory One

Shaker el Absi’s story is rather unique. He is supposed to be a Palestinian fugitive with suspected links, if not also cooperation, with Abu Mus’ab el Zarqawi, ex-leader of the Qa’eda in Iraq (assassinated by a US air raid in Iraq). He and Zarqawi were sentenced in absentee manner to death by a Jordanian Court after being both accused of assassinating, in 2002, US Diplomat Lawrence Foley. He was later arrested in Syria, under the accusation of planning terrorist attacks on the regime. Jordan demanded that Absi be turned on to the Jordanian authorities, but the Syrian regime refuted to do so. Rather, three years after his arrest, he was released and he was crossed Lebanese borders.

He immediately was active with Fatah Intifada in military training, in border al-Hilwi, next to Rashaya, then he moved to Qosaya (central Beqa’a Valley) to proceed with military training, which will carry the banner of “Fatah Al Islam”. In 2006, he moved to Burj el Barajni location, whereby he was heavily involved in building active cells, and afterward he moved to al-Badawi Camp, and eventually landed in Nahr el Bared after the al-Badawi incidents and two units confessed relations to Syrian Intelligence (how much that is to be confirmed, time will tell as well).

In Nahr el Badawi, and in the eyes of the Security Forces, he succeeded in spreading outside the Camp, and minor splinter cells were formed in unexpected residential areas. They rented in apartments within Tripoli unaffiliated with Islamist movements. To say the truth, my relatives in Tripoli, told me that they were two buildings down their house, and never expected it contained heavy arms.

A lot of speculations rotate around this organization and its nature. For starters, by now, it is confirmed that it has no relations with Palestine or any of the traditional Palestinian leaderships. All major parties denounced their relations to them, and attacked their aggression on the Lebanese Army and Institutions. They received funding either by local Salafi supporters, or stealing from banks (which triggered the whole thing when the Security Forces busted a house suspected of stealing a bank). Outside sources in relation to the camp are still not confirmed yet, but the movement itself is supposedly to be made up of different nationalities that have Islamist Activists. Their members are also suspected to have participated in combat operation against the US and Shiites in Iraq.


In relations to the al-Qa’eda, they denounced any affiliations to them, or “anyone else on face of this planet.” Yet, they welcomed their initiatives as ‘brethrens’. Their statements also, according to couple of articles, appeared on Qa’eda supportive sites. In one speech, they adopted a similar speech which targeted the Sunni side of Lebanon that targeted the Harriri family, and attacked them as causing misery for the Sunnis, who are supposed to be the True Muslims. They never tackled the topic of Hezbollah, who al-Qa’eda targeted them as sinners. Al-Qa’eda never considered the Shiites as Muslims, yet Fatah Islam never tackled the issue of Hezbollah. Another light shed on the Qa’eda relations goes between one targeted Fatah Islam figurehead, to be wanted in suspected Bombing Attempts on Berlin’s trains.

Security Forces official accused Fatah Islam as Syrian made, forged in al-Qa’eda model, to cover Syrian ties. Walid Junblatt, 14th of March spearhead, also accused Fatah Islam to be collaborating with Ahmad Gibreel’s Popular Front From the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (not to be mistaken with George Habash’s PFLP). 14th of March’s accusations towards Fatah Islam and Syria ranged between obstructing the International Tribunal, to “Syria hitting the Summer Season”, as far as Syrian presence.

In any case, Fatah Islam turns out to be military trained, rather random Islamist with AK-47s. Moreover, the link between Syria and Fatah Islam has been repeated on the logic of how Syria releases a criminal wanted in a neighboring country (Jordan) to Lebanon. Moreover, how can one person establish such ties? There had to be a tie, and to 14th of March, that link is Syria. Now, al-Shari’, proclaimed that Fatah Islam are an illegal entity in Syria as well. Earlier, they killed four Fatah Islam members on Syrian borders trying to cross towards Iraq. Moreover, Nasrallah and al-Absi never attacked each other. Al-Absi never targeted Hezbollah, while Nasrallah’s speech was denouncing any offensive on the army, and at the same time considered the Nahr el Bared is off limits to the Lebanese Army. To some, that would be considered this clear avoidance of clashes between Fatah Islam and Hezbollah as to avoid conflict of interests between Iran (Hezbollah) and Syria (Fatah Islam).

Interestingly, a multi-Islamist national member of Fatah Islam, forged in the manner of al-Qa’eda’s moujahidean, can be active in Nahr el Bared, and attain all those arms without Syrian (well also Lebanese as well) to know off. Some would reply that Syria withdrew from Lebanon in 2005, but again wasn’t al-Absi involved in potential terrorist acts in Syria before released, much to the displeasure of Jordan, to Lebanon?

Al-Absi issued a statement that they were not involved in the offensive that occurred on the Lebanese Army, and argued another party was responsible. However, if that is the case, why the army officials and internal security officials argued that they were Fatah Islam, and why Fatah Islam in the first place was brutal with threatening deeds? More threateningly, Fatah Islam proclaimed that they have their “Is-tish-hadyein” (those who pull suicidal operations), and threatened that they wouldn’t hesitate to use them. Three bombs so far exploded, one a Christian area, one in a Muslim area, and one in a Durzi location (Alley). The explosions could have targeted civilian casualties, but seemed the bombings targeted three geographic commercial locations (Alley Market Location – Verdun – ABC Ashrafieh Center). Qa’eda logic, based on what we perceived in Iraq, is to establish maximum civilian deaths in most of the occasions.

The US’s Dirty Hands? (Conspiracy Theory II)

This is one side of accusations, in another set of accusation, things even go more complicated.

Seymour Hersh argued that in March that the US’s new foreign policy towards the Middle East would be weakening or in fact fighting anything affiliated with Iran/Syria, and their alliances, this would include supporting Sunni extremist groups in the face of this coalition. Lebanon would fit this scenario in the manner that Fatah Islam is one of those extremist groups carved out of the blues with nice juicy funding to balance against Hezbollah’s arms. On May 22, Seymour Hersh confirmed that the United States and Prince al-Bandar Bin Sultan (National Security Advisor in Saudi Arabia), did support the Fatah Islam; however, like the prior accusations, we have not found any evidence on the matter. Hersh based his observations on the Afghanistan Wars during the Soviet Invasion. Both Saudi Arabia and the United States supported the extremist Jihadis against the Soviet Union who would become Taliban and al-Qa’eda. This was also observed between the clashes of PLO and Israel. Israel turned a blind eye on the Muslim Brotherhood building its welfare networks within Palestine, to weaken Secular PLO. Eventually, the Muslim Brotherhood spearheaded the first Intifada, and they developed their military faction Hamas. The third observation would be Saudi Arabia’s funding to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt during Nasser’s regime and his flirtations with the socialist Eastern European camp.

More interestingly, Saudi Arabia’s ally is Sa’ad Harriri. First impression would be that Harriri is allied to the Wahhabis, despite the fact that Harriri is a secular business man (actually comes from a family of businessmen). This means no way Harriri’s machinery would support Fatah Islam.

Second, a question would be targeted is why would the Saudis/US/14th of March support a radical group in order to face Hezbollah while its backbone for order and security is the Lebanese Army which is currently under fire with Fatah Islam? If Fatah Islam supposed to face the heavily organized Hezbollah militarily, then why it clashes with the Lebanese Army? An answer would be that this tiny group was patched up in order to justify international support of upgrading and updating the outdated Lebanese Army. Moreover, that way the army can be strong enough to support the current government, specially there is an aerial US line supporting the army with 280 million dollars of value. Closer look shows that the army through these cargos still didn’t get practical weaponry to defend itself from Syria or Israel, or Hezbollah if we go with the US logic of containing Hezbollah.

The question goes bottom line, why the borders were not properly protected, on Lebanese Borders (Israel/Syria/Sea) to prevent importation of weaponry. Well, the whole UNIFIL couldn’t prevent the smuggling of arms to Hezbollah, how to control a strong financed but small group like Fatah Islam. This leads some people to question if the government was turning a blind eye on the smuggling. Others would argue that the Lebanese Army due to the Cairo Agreement of 1969 are not allowed to enter the Palestinian Refugee Camps. Yet, how did the weapons arrived to the camps? How were Fatah Islam able to rent apartments and smuggle weaponry to apartments located in non-Islamist streets of Tripoly?

Several questions, several probabilities! As you have seen, these are part of several theories constructed on Fatah Islam, and their origins. Several questions, and the answers would probably would take a long time to be answered.

Meanwhile we walk over here, and to say the truth, every car I see, I would think “will this one go boom” or “where’s next”. Me and my friends always hope that the Fatah Islam were bluffing about the Suicidal Operations they threatened to unleash. Till now we have seen one case only, the man who returned to the Abdu building, and asked the officers to meet up with him when he was under siege; eventually he blew himself up, luckily the Lebanese Army officers didn’t enter the camp.

Also, racism is rising within Lebanon. Some sick people are celebrating that the Palestinians’ turn has come to repay their debts for the Civil War (although they were part of it as well). Others are celebrating that Nahr el Bared will become the next Tel Zaatar, even though the Palestinians are not concerned in this clash. (I think these people need a psychiatrists).

Statistics today, refugees from Nahr el Bared have reached 18,000, bad humanitarian crisis is taking place. Some people are hoping that the Lebanese Army will dump the whole Palestinians into the sea (which will never happen) if they are realistic.

One last note: for all those who are cheering the army (because suddenly it has nationalistic value), why the hell most of the (specially male) supporters were ditching or trying to ditch the Lebanese Army when it was obligatory to do the one year service?! This question is directed towards the racists faction of the supporters!


Sources:

UNRWA
Seattle Times
MSNBC
Reason
Time
Indian Muslims
Assafir
BBC
New York Times
Assafir Link 2
Raw Story

Minute by Minute: Day 2 Details in Lebanon

(I was not able to follow up minute by minute what was going on, so I decided to translate it from the Free Patriotic Movement's site (politically and regionally in my opinion subjective. I have to warn that I disagree with them and denounce their movement as Right Winger and part of the crisis between the government/opposition leader, but their media did a nice job in assembling the info on the current battle, I took the liberty for my foreign readers to translate it for them). Link taken from here in arabic

00:32: Heavy artillery targeting Fatah Islam locations

22:47: Minister Aridi, after the held meeting of the Ministers, announces that the government, after discussions with the leaders of the security leaders (Army/Security Forces), that this situation of terrorism needs amputation.

22:30: Dense spread-out for Jund-el Sham (MFL notes: also under accusation to be affiliated with al-Qa’eda), supposed to be Palestinian, in Ain el Hilwi (Saida) in front the Lebanese Army locations.

22:28: Islamic Fatah Islam movement assault leaves three martyrs for the Lebanese Army, and several casualties in the Northern Nahr el Bared camps.

21:22: Lebanese Army Leadership announced that between 23/5/2007 and 24/6/2007, the Lebanese Air Force (MFL notes: we have those?!?!?!) will do Night Flights between 19:00 till 21:00, and that is above Rayaq Aerial Base and neighboring villages.

21:20: Serg Brametz arrives to Beirut on a plane coming from Paris

21:05: Discussions are being held to achieve a seize fire in the Nahr el Bareh Camp

21:00: the overall dead has risen to 71

19:40: Head of the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (not to be mistaken for Habash’s Group) Anwar Raja accuses Future militants to trigger this problem, and the Future Movement denies (to be exact, those were ex-Stalinists, who ended up pawns in Assad’s hands, btw if my memory serves me correct, they still got heavy militants in Lebanon).

18:43: Heavy shoot-out continues between the Lebanese Army and Fatah Islam militants in Nahr el Bared camp.


18:32: Canada advised its citizens to avoid going to Lebanon due to the on-going clashes between the Lebanese Army and the fundamentalist Fatah el Islam in the Northern Parts of the country.


18:31: The Palestinian Government declared its objection on the assault occurring on the Lebanese institutions and the Army, requesting the careful protection of the Palestinian refugees inside the camps of Lebanon.

18:16, German Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hawlz considered that the presence of extremists who sympathize with al-Qa’eda in Lebanon contains large threats to the nation, and the region on a larger scale, and the worst will backfire on the Palestinians.


18:07: The Special Envoy of the General Secretary of the UN, Tierry Rod Larson, called all Lebanese political parties to behave in a responsible manner to avoid the total collapse of the situation in Lebanon. After Larson met with the General Secretary of the Arab League (MFL notes: the mini-chat forums for the Arab leaders who “keep loving Lebanon” with words) and announced that his talk with Omro Moussa was extensive on Lebanon which assured the coherence of vision between the Arab League and the UN (MFL notes: definitely, they can never do anything, except sit and watch, as well as issue statements).


18:06: Exchange of heavy fire between the Lebanese Army and Fatah Islam (MFL notes: who was the smart ass who was proposing to have Lebanon’s army weak because that would be its greatest defense back in the 1950’s? Oh yeah, ex-President Sham’oun!). Solana announced that he will arrive to Beirut tomorrow to talk with the Lebanese political leaders (oh right, that would help). Solana, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Seniora will meet and a conference will take place in the Governmental Palace at 4:00 in the afternoon.


16:59: Manar Reporter: Lebanese Army bombarding all entrances of Nahr el Bared (MFL notes: why didn’t they use these outdated ammunition on the Israelis last year?)

16:53: Eye witnesses: Military reinforcements to the Lebanese Army arrive, as well as Machinery and Tanks pass towards the route which leads to the Nahr el Bared region.


16:46: Heavy combat occurs meantime between the Lebanese Army and Fatah el Islam

16:45: Fatah Islam militants shoot Red Cross and Red Hilal cars

16:33: Shootout in the Nahr el Bared Camp parameter despite he decision of seize fire


15:41: The International Red Cross succeeds in establishing a two hour long truce which starts at four in the morning and lasts till 6:00 , to evacuate the dead and wounded from the Nahr el Bared camp, whose death tolls are expected according to primary sources to be 30 Dead and 90 wounded.

15:17: Ossama Hamdan, Hamas’s representative, assures to al-Jazeera that the seize fire has begun, and that occurred after coordination with Prime Minister Seniora


15:08: Reuters reports that 8 civilians are killed due to Lebanese artillery for Nar el Bared Camp

15:04: Announcement of a seize fire in the Nahr el Bared Camp for the purpose of evacuating the wounded and bringing food supplies to the Camp.

15:03: Confrontations has been the Lebanese Army and Fatah Islami have seized for the past 30 minutes, and the Red Cross arrives to the borders of the Camp for assisting the wounded.


14:59: The Lebanese Army established total control of all the hills surrounding the South and South –East for the Nahr el Bared region in al-Mhammara, whereby the Fatah Islam units were totally eradicated.


14:53: The Lebanese Army locates the stolen money from the Bank Mediterranean in one of the apartment busted by the Lebanese Army.


14:48: Total silence spreads through out Ain-Hilwi, after efforts conducted by the Palestinian and Lebanese leaders which led to place a siege on that camp (Saida) , and caused the Jund el Sham to be highly alert.


14:15: Different effort are sought to establish a temporary seize fire for one hour in order to allow the Red Cross to enter the camp Nahr el Bared and extract the wounded.


14:08: Death count rises to 57 killed


13:55: Exceptional Meeting takes place for the Cabinet in the Governmental Palace


13:28: Certain info from Lebanese News Agency contacts reports that active contacts are taking place between Lebanese and Palestinian leaders in Saida and Ain el Hilwi, which caused to siege the alertness and readiness of the Jund el Sham inside the camp in the morning because of info of the death of a brother of one of the figureheads in Jund el Sham inside Nahr el Bared Camp


13:20: Fatah Islam bombs the Lebanese Army with heavy artillery to which the Lebanese Army retaliates with artillery of type 155


13:03: Fatah Islam blocks the Red Cross from entering Nahr el Bared


12:55: Reuters agency reports that 9 are killed and 20 wounded inside Nahr el Bared


12:28: Abbass Zaki (MFL notes: PLO Chair in Lebanon) declares at the Governmental Palace: 1) Lebanese Army is protecting both Lebanese and Palestinians while Fatah Islam is not related by any means possible to the Palestinians. 2) They are ready to cooperate in annihilating this phenomenon on the condition that the civilian death toll would not be large. 3) They do not want the Camp (Nahr el Bared) to be the spark for a civil war inside Lebanon.


12:11: The tension is reported to reach Ain el Hilwi in South Lebanon (Saida) as Jund el Sham (MFL notes: al-Qaida affiliated, supposed to be Palestinian), while schools are closed inside the Camp.


12:05: Fatah Islam are present in large numbers at the Northern Entrance to Nahr el Bared Camp


12:04: Demonstration inside al-Badawwi Camp (Palestinian) in support of the Lebanese Army and denounces what Fatah Islam elements are doing.


12:02: The Army Continues to siege the Nahr el Bared Camps, and strengthened its control on all entrances

11:55: News that two Fatah Islam militants were killed at the Northern Gate of Nahr el Bared Camp


11:11: Lebanese Army artillery continues to bomb Fatah Islam locations in Nahr el Bared Camp


10:33: Criminal Evidence section begin investigating the four apartments that were used by members of Fatah Islam in Zaharia Region (Tripoli)


10:28: Battles in the Nahr el Bared Parameter intensifies whereby heavy weapons are used.


10:26: The Lebanese Army warns people to cross the International Route as dangerous, and any person wants to cross it, they can cross it on their own responsibility.


10:25: The Lebanese Army intercepts Fatah Islam Offensives at the Nahr el Bared parameter


10:22: Heavy Lebanese Army bombardment towards Nahr el Bared might become a prelude for its entry.


8:00: Al-Jazeera reports that confrontations takes place at the gates of the Camp Nahr el Bared. Eye witnesses report that corpses fill the street and the Camps’ buildings, ambulances are not able to reach it

Day 2: Fatah el Islam Versus Lebanon: Verdun Burns

Day 2 of the war proceeded with Fatah el Islam, who became recognized as a terrorist organization. The Killed ones of those terrorists have proved today, despite what they deny, they are under suspect to be directly affiliated with al-Qa'eda, because one terrorist killed was a prime suspect for attempting to bomb the Berlin metro. That is the only clue for now. Moreover, another prime killed terrorist was related to the Ain-el A'alaq building. Relations between Fatah el Islam and Syria have not been diminished for several people. They were accused before, because according to different sources, their political statements appeared in Pro-Qa'eda sites.

Through out the day, combat proceeded between Fatah el Islam Nahr el Bared (North) Camp and the army. The army struck a seige around the camp and bombed suspected locations for the Fatah el Islam. The Palestinians suffered royally from this issue. Actually, ever since the Ain Ala'q massacre occcured, Palestinians have been leaving the camp to live with their relatives. Ever since those terrorists arrived, they forced women to remain at home, and wear the veil. Several Army soldiers and civilians have been killed. The Red Cross successfully brokered a two hour seize fire to get the casualties out and supply the Palestinians with food aid... when the casualties have been taken out by the Red Cross, fighting broke again after 20 minutes. The President and Prime Minister can at least give the Red Cross volunteers the highest recognized medals of honor in Lebanon for such bravery. It has to be noted that one of the Fatah el Islam is originally from Allepo, Syria, and another is a local, from Tripoli.

Now, as everyone feared, a new bomb exploded, and this time in Verdun rather targeting a Christian area. The explosion is much bigger than yesterday's, also loaded beneath a car, and took place facing a restaurant Scoozi, under a car. The explosion caused two buildings to explode, and created a shock wave that causd cars flying, and glasses broken within a Kilometer Diameter. Till now, seven people are severely wounded. One in the Maqasid Hospital, and Six in the Hospital Fire is in several apartments, and a lot of stores have their glasses broken.

This is the second Commercial location being hit. This area is very close to the Speaker of Parliament, and elite Shiite leader of the AMAL movement Nabih Berri (which means security should be triple in the first place in that area). Now, for sure, life style has been demolished in Lebanon. Everyone was expecting a bomb, and a volcano errupted. This time it was around 10:45, too early. The UN, already warned its personnel to be by 11:00 at home, I guess this time it will br 10:00. Till now, assumptions go under the logic that explosions are taking place during the evening. The ultimate fear would take place if their terrorist retaliations would be during the day, then people will be their prisoners , pinned in their houses.

Worse, there are 30,000 Palestinians prisoners/Hostages of Fatah el Islam, and their live conditions are really bad. Fatah and Hamas are trying to get a seize fire to help the poor Palesinians.