Free Republic

Before Lebanon’s parliamentary elections were over, the world was already turning its attention from Beirut to Tehran, where the presidential campaign was wrapping up. And as the unexpected post-election drama unfolded, ripples from Tehran spread across the globe, raising new questions about that country’s relations with the rest of the world, including Lebanon.

BEIRUT: A tense calm held in the Beirut neighborhood of Aisha Bakkar during the day Monday after armed clashes on Sunday left one person killed and several wounded. A large number of Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers tanks and armored personnel carriers lined Rachidine Street, which divides Aisha Bakkar between supporters of the Future and Amal parties, as the military tried to keep calm in the neighborhood. Despite the military presence, the atmosphere in the neighborhood was strained, as groups of men congregated on sidewalks and around vandalized cars and shattered glass from Sunday's fighting. On both sides of the road...

A French comedian has canceled his participation in a festival in Lebanon next month because of concerns for his safety after Hezbollah's TV station claimed he served in the Israeli army. Al-Manar TV said Gad Elmaleh, who is of Moroccan-Jewish descent, was an avid supporter of Israel and showed a purported picture of him wearing an Israeli military uniform. The performer's agent denied the report's claims and said the photo was a fake. Lebanon and Israel technically remain in a state of war, and it is illegal for Lebanese to have contacts with the Jewish State. Israel and the Shiite...

The Lebanese army is warning people not to respond to recorded phone messages asking for information about missing Israeli soldiers. Lebanese have been receiving phone messages periodically for more than a year asking people to view a Web site or call if they have information on missing Israeli soldiers, including Ron Arad, whose plane was shot down over Lebanon in 1986. The Web site, 10million.org, belongs to a foundation set up by the Israeli government and offers a US$10 million reward.

BEIRUT -- Sunni supporters of Lebanon's prime minister-designate and Shiite rivals from the parliament speaker's political faction traded gunfire in a Beirut neighborhood Sunday. Security officials said one civilian was killed and two others were wounded in the first outbreak of violence since this month's elections. Automatic rifle fire and three explosions were heard in the brief gunbattle that underlined the continued sectarian tensions despite recent pledges by political leaders to work together. Those pledges followed a bruising election campaign. Hours earlier, the Western-backed billionaire who is to become the country's next prime minister, Saad Hariri, was holding talks with...

BEIRUT (AFP) – Saad Hariri, son of slain billionaire ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, pledged to form a cabinet that would unite rival political camps after he was named Lebanon's new prime minister on Saturday. "We will begin consultations with all parliamentary blocs based on our commitment to a national unity government in which all main blocs are represented and which is harmonious, functional, and free of obstruction and paralysis," Hariri said. Under the current unity government, headed by Fuad Siniora, militant group Hezbollah and its allies have veto power over major decisions. The government was formed in May 2008, ending a...

Did Mirhossein Mousavi play a leading role in the 1983 attack in Lebanon that killed more than 240 US Marines and caused Ronald Reagan to retreat? CQ Politics says yes, calling Mousavi the “Butcher of Beirut”. It serves as a reminder that the man whom the mullahs have suppressed was and perhaps still is of their regime:

Did Mirhossein Mousavi play a leading role in the 1983 attack in Lebanon that killed more than 240 US Marines and caused Ronald Reagan to retreat? CQ Politics says yes, calling Mousavi the “Butcher of Beirut”. It serves as a reminder that the man whom the mullahs have suppressed was and perhaps still is of their regime: "He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut. Mousavi, prime...

He may yet turn out to be the avatar of Iranian democracy, but three decades ago Mir-Hossein Mousavi was waging a terrorist war on the United States that included bloody attacks on the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

A rare piece of good news recently came out of the Middle East: An American-backed (or, rather, Bush-backed) political coalition defeated Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanese parliamentary elections. And ever since, President Obama’s supporters have desperately made every stretch to credit him – and particularly his Cairo speech – for the victory, in an attempt to justify the less-than-impressive foreign policy route of his young administration.

[...] How can Obama columnists credit the outcome to a man who was too scared to take sides before the election, and was equally embarrassed to congratulate the pro-American side once it won? How can they claim that he cares at all about Lebanon, when he had some intern lazily write a generic reaction statement, a third of which was insultingly taken verbatim from another speech? Indeed, if the pro-American side had lost, the Obama-bots would have speedily chalked it up to Obama’s decision to refrain from taking sides in the election. Pro-liberty forces in Lebanon spent decades trying to...

Arab media: U.S. assistance helped uncover Israeli spy ring By Amos Harel, Haaretz Corre spondent Last update - 05:04 14/06/2009 www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092561.html American training and technology enabled a breakthrough to crack the alleged Israeli spy ring in Lebanon, media in the Arab world reported. Over 20 suspects, including a high-ranking army official, have been charged with spying for Israel over many years, media reports say. Since 2006, the United States has supplied the Lebanese with $1 billion in assistance, including $410 million to improve the work of the Lebanese police and intelligence services. The value of American assistance can be seen...

For the past eight years, the Muslim world has heard and seen relentless hostility from the Bush/Cheney administration. In a welcome change, President Barack Obama’s masterfully written, artfully delivered recent speech in Cairo was filled with just what the Muslim world had been waiting to hear: an intelligent, respectful address calling for normalised relations with the Muslim world, including former “betes noires” Iran and Syria, co-operation, and advancement of democracy and human rights. Very nice, to a point. But the Muslim world was not as taken by Obama’s silver-tongued oratory as many Americans. The general response was, “actions speak louder...

Many MSM pundits have been quick to credit Obama's dhimmi speech in Cairo as being a factor in the defeat of Hizbullah in the Lebanese elections. They are deliberately ommitting a very important factor: That many Lebanese are still very angry at Hizbullah for bringing much damage and destruction to their country. The Islamist groups terrorist attacks against Israelis across the border that started what has been refered to as the 2nd Lebanon War. And brought much damage to their country for which Hizbullah is solely responsible for. Many Lebanese people suffered serious property damage, injury, and loss of life...

We can draw many lessons from the Lebanese parliamentary elections Sunday, which saw the appointment of a new parliament reflecting almost precisely the same distribution of seats between the country’s two main political groupings as the previous parliament (68 seats for the Hariri-led March 14 movement, 57 seats for the Hizbollah-Michel Aoun-led March 8 group, and three independents). Here are my conclusions about what happened and what it means:

(IsraelNN.com) United Nations Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) may have been involved in arresting Lebanese citizens suspected of spying for Israel. The story was reported Thursday by Spanish media and by Israel's Channel 10 news. Channel 10 obtained video footage in which a Spanish UNIFIL commander states that his troops worked with Lebanese troops to arrest alleged spies for Israel in primarily Shiite Muslim areas. The taped conversation allegedly took place two days ago

Osama bin Laden was so worried that President Obama’s Cairo speech might win over Muslim hearts and minds that the jihadist sent out a pre-emptory audiotaped message denouncing the United States and warning against Obama’s “new beginning.” It turns out that bin Laden was right to be worried: The president did, it seems, change some minds in the Middle East. On Sunday, an American-aligned coalition won a surprising victory in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, pushing back a challenge by Hezbollah, which had been widely expected to win a majority of seats. There were undoubtedly many factors at play — Lebanon’s politics...

INDIA has called for its students in Australia to show restraint in the face of a series of violent attacks against them, after more than 200 Indians protested on the streets and exacted a "vigilante" reprisal attack on a group of Middle Eastern men. Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, speaking in New Delhi yesterday, called on Indian students to be "patient" and "restrained". "They have gone there to pursue higher studies," Mr Krishna said. "They should concentrate on that." Police were called to Wigram Street at Harris Park, in Sydney's west, just before 9pm on Monday after an Indian student...

Anti-Maronite Lebanon's Maronites make up the largest Christian community in the country - a community where religion and politics are inextricably mixed. The Maronites, linked culturally and politically to the West, favored teir own continue rule, Lebanese nationalism, and a Western-oriented foreign policy. Sunni Muslims favored Pan-Arabism and were often friendly to Nasir and Syria [source], so was its armed wing the Phalangist's early stance, pro-Western and opposed to Pan-Arabism [source] in the 1970s, the Maronite bloc showed some degree of unity in opposing pan-Arabism, (although recently some have split and allied themselves with Hezbollah and became anti-American) [source]. Any...

Less than three days after President Obama tried to woo Islamist forces with a major speech in Cairo, secular democratic forces in the Middle East won a dramatic victory in a crucial election in Lebanon. Two rival blocs faced off -- one pro-Iranian, one pro-Western.

This past Sunday, the Lebanese stopped - at least temporarily - Hizbulla’s, Iran’s and Syria’s dreams of taking over Lebanon. Blacksmiths of Lebanon presents an exhaustive analysis of the election. Most political pundits expected Hizbullah and its political block to emerge victorious but Lebanese sanity prevailed. People have not yet forgotten the destruction wrought on Lebanon by Hizbullah’s recklessness and are therefore not ready to trust their future welfare to these thugs. I can only sit back and admire Lebanon and its democratic ways, so unlike the rest of the Arab world. Having said that, Saad Hariri (murdered Rafik Hariri’s...

Lebanon: Stalemate With Terror By: P. David Hornik FrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, June 09, 2009 The best that can be said about Monday’s victory for the moderate, pro-Western March 14 coalition in the Lebanese elections is that Hezbollah was concerned enough to warn, “The majority must commit not to question our role as a resistance party, the legitimacy of our weapons arsenal and the fact that Israel is an enemy state.” The worst that can be said is that few expect Hezbollah and the Iranian-Syrian axis it spearheads to be significantly weakened by the results. The elections, in which the March 14...

US allies defeat Hezbollah in Lebanon vote‎ - June 8, 2009 BEIRUT (AFP) — A pro-Western bloc inflicted a surprise defeat on Hezbollah and its allies at the ballot box in Lebanon, final results showed, as the winners ...

Hezbollah Extremists Lose Lebanon Vote - CBS News8 Jun 2009 ... Militants Fail To Erode Pro-Western Bloc's Majority In Parliamentary Elections, But Questions Of Gridlock Remain.

Hezbollah learns that power doesn't always come from the barrel of a gun, as the beleaguered Lebanese rise up and say that, for now, ballots still rule.Our worst fears were not realized in Sunday's parliamentary elections as the Lebanese people turned out in surprising numbers to say their capital is in Beirut and not Tehran. The Iranian-backed and financed Hezbollah (Party of God) was surprised and defeated by a turnout of 55%, the largest since the end of Lebanon's 1975-91 civil war. Democracy lives to fight another day.

The results of Sunday's Lebanese parliamentary elections were unexpected, with early results showing the pro-Western March 14 coalition scoring a landslide victory. The coalition has retained its majority by capturing anywhere between 68 to 70 seats of the 128-seat parliament. The Hezbollah-led opposition, which had been expected to take the majority, emerged with only 50 seats, although eight seats are still to be announced in the Metn region. Early results show that of these eight seats, only two were taken by March 14 coalition candidates - Michel al-Murr and Sami Gemayel - while the remaining six went to Hezbollah.

Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah on Monday accepted the results the Lebanese parliamentary elections in which the guerrilla group and its allies were defeated by the Western-backed coalition. "We accept these results...with sportsmanship and in a democratic way and we accept that the ruling camp has achieved the parliamentary majority," Nasrallah said in a televised address, adding that opposition leaders would meet soon to agree on a joint stance over the naming of a new prime minister and the formation of a new government. He went on to congratulate "the Lebanese people for this national electoral achievement," adding that the...

The pro-west March 14 Alliance apparently won the Lebanese elections against the pro-Syrian coalition that includes the Hizbullah party, according to an election official in Beirut. He stated that the incumbent pro-western party would maintain its parliamentary power. According to latest electoral counts, the March 14 Alliance party, led by the Sunni Moslem Future Movement faction headed by Saad el-Hariri, will receive 69 parliamentary seats while the Hizbullah-led coalition will receive only 52 seats. Hizbullah is considered a terrorist organization by Israel and the United States. Iran and Syria have provided weaponry to the group, which fired missiles into northern...

Chances are low that the United States would totally cut off military funding to Lebanon if Hezbollah and its allies win Sunday's election because both sides will want to avoid a confrontation, analysts said. But a victory by the militant Shi'ite group, viewed as a "terrorist organization" by Washington, and its allies could lead to a reduction in what has been burgeoning U.S. assistance to the Lebanese armed forces in recent years. Pollsters expect the "March 8" alliance that includes Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah to gain a slight edge in the election and to erase the governing Western-backed, anti-Syrian "March...

Lebanon's opposition conceded defeat against the March 14 coalition in pivotal polls Sunday after weeks of fierce campaigning. "We've lost the election," a senior opposition source, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. "We accept the result as the will of the people." "We'll go back to the way we were," the source added.

Pro-Western Bloc Defeats Hezbollah in Lebanon Vote By MICHAEL SLACKMAN BEIRUT, Lebanon — An American-backed alliance appeared to retain control of the Lebanese Parliament on Sunday in a hotly contested election that had been billed as a showdown between Tehran and Washington for influence in the Middle East. Preliminary results reported on Lebanese television, showed the alliance, known as the March 14 coalition, had managed to preserve its majority in Parliament. If those results are confirmed, they would represent a significant and unexpected defeat for Hezbollah and its allies, Iran and Syria. Most polls had showed a tight race, but...

The good news is the Hezbollah led March 8th coalition lost the the Lebanese Election, it may also be that the bad news is the fact that the Hezbollah led March 8th coalition lost the the Lebanese Election. First the good news the Hezbollah coalition lost and at the very least, it is a loss of face for Syria and Iran...The bad news is also that Hezbollah lead March 8th coalition lost the the Lebanese Election. As Barry Rubin warned two weeks ago, a Hezbollah victory might have been the worst thing for the terrorist group because it might have...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - An anti-Syrian coalition, known as "March 14," defeated the "March 8" alliance composed of Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon's parliamentary election on Sunday, politicians on both sides said. Following is reaction from Lebanese politicians: HEZBOLLAH MP, HASSAN FADLALLAH We consider that Lebanon is ruled by partnership and whatever the results of the elections are, we cannot change the standing delicate balances or repeat the experiences of the past which led to catastrophes on Lebanon and showed the inability of one party monopolizing power. Whoever wants political stability, the preservation of national unity and the resurrection of...

Jun 7, 2009 BEIRUT – Lebanese streamed to their hometowns on the Mediterranean coast and high in the mountains Sunday to vote in a crucial election that could unseat a pro-Western government and install one dominated by the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Dozens of Lebanese who fled to Israel following the May 2000 withdrawal of the Israeli army from South Lebanon have returned and are currently living in Lebanon as a result of March 8 efforts. The coalition hopes that hundreds more will come following the June 7 parliamentary elections. Around 7,000 Lebanese fled Lebanon in 2000, most of whom were members of the South Lebanon Army, an Israeli proxy militia, and their families. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah calls for repatriating as many of them as want to return, an objective the two allies are...

Hizbullah's No. 2 leader, confident of victory in Lebanese weekend elections, said Tuesday the Iranian-backed group would invite its pro-Western opponents to join a national unity government if it wins. Sheik Naim Kassem rejected accusations that a government of Hizbullah and its allies would try to implement an Iranian-style Islamic state. In an interview with The Associated Press, he shrugged off warnings about boycotts and insisted Western nations are willing to talk to the new government irrespective of who wins. But the unity government proposal shows Shi'ite Hizbullah's concern that if it tries to govern Lebanon outright, it could risk...

Through an admixture of military strategy, politics and diplomacy General Petraeus managed to do what none of his predecessors was capable of. When the scholarly general took over command of coalition troops in Iraq, the situation on the ground was chaotic. By the time he left, many former enemies had forged an alliance with the Iraqi and coalition forces. His accomplishment are many, his intellectual acumen is uncommon. [...]General Petraeus, indeed, has a distinguished career filled with admirable accomplishements I have no doubt he will continue to serve this country with honor and class. Because of all the above I...

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Their political apparatus is a model of discipline. Their vast array of social services is a virtual state within a state. Their enemies accuse them of being pawns of Syria and Iran. Hagop Havatian, a Tashnaq official, under a portrait of the party’s founders. The party operates in 35 nations. They are the Armenian Christians of Lebanon, one of the Middle East’s most singular and least-understood communities. And if they sound a bit like Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group based here, that is no accident. Last month, the main Armenian political bloc decided to support Hezbollah’s alliance...

6/1/2009 Iran's Minister of Foreign affairs said today "we have waited till today, and are still patiently waiting to see new US government's practical steps (in right direction)." In response to the question "Keeping in mind (US President Barack) Obama's emphasis that Israel must end construction of Zionist townships, can that be interpreted as a practical change in new US administration's policies?," Manouchehr Mottaki made the above mentioned response. He also added, "The construction of townships is a marginal issue in the context of the Middle East problems and the European countries, too, had earlier voiced objection against the move."...

Dr. Avi Naiman, who produced these films with his own money, is the Executive Director of IDEAS, Israel Documentaries for Education And Scholarship. IDEAS is a non-profit organization devoted to educating the public about the State of Israel through documentaries and informational material about Israel. Their goal is to reach the general public who knows little about Israel beyond conflict and religious extremism, by creating eye-catching video clips on Israel's vibrancy, modernity, freedoms, and contributions to the world. The two films described below are available for watching in their entirety. Film #1. Under Fire: Personal Stories from the Scorched Summer...

Obama administration blocks sale of 6 AH-64D helicopters to Israel - approves 12 to Egypt [Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Here is a threat: President Obama holds up supply of helicopters to Israel out of concern for Palestinian civilians. But when it comes to 12 of the same helicopters for Egypt its the standard boiler plate "The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region."] #1 Administration blocks helicopters for Israel due to civilian casualties in Gaza Wednesday, May 27, 2009 www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2009/ss_israel0424_05_27.asp WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has blocked Israel's request...

The job of a vice president was once to attend foreign funerals. Joe Biden was in Beirut on Friday to show support in advance of an election that may see the death of a Western democracy. While we've been fighting for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Arab world's oldest and most dynamic multicultural democracy, Lebanon, has been dying a slow and painful death. A neighbor to Israel, the Switzerland of the Middle East has been sucked into a conflict it would have preferred to have avoided.

Leading up to Lebanese elections on June 7, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah called Friday for unity in the country, and asserted that the terrorist group "cannot be disarmed by force." ..that were Hizbullah to win the upcoming election, it would "strengthen and arm the [Lebanese] army, and empower it with defense of Lebanon." Iran, he added, would "gladly supply it."

The Russian parliament and media refer to him merely as a “Russian businessman.” But to much of the rest of the world, Viktor Bout is known as the “Merchant of Death,” the most notorious member of the dark fraternity of global weapons traffickers who arm terrorist organizations, as well as the tyrannical regimes and brutal warlords and militias responsible for horrendous genocidal slaughters over the past two decades. Since his March 2008 arrest in Bangkok, Thailand, in an elaborate U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sting, Viktor Bout has been in Bangkok’s Klong Prem Special Prison awaiting trial. The U.S. Department of...

TG-149 May 27, 2009 Treasury Targets Hizballah Network in Africa SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON- The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated Kassim Tajideen and Abd Al Menhem Qubaysi, two Africa-based supporters of the Hizballah terrorist organization, under E.O. 13224. E.O. 13224 targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism by freezing any assets the designees have under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions with them. "We will continue to take steps to protect the financial system from the threat posed by Hizballah and those who support it," said Under Secretary for Terrorism...

"Who's next?" The question is on everyone's mind in southern Lebanon where dozens of people have been detained in recent weeks on suspicion of spying for neighbouring Israel. "If someone falls ill and doesn't show up to work, we all wonder whether he's been arrested for spying," Mohammed, who owns a garage in the town of Marjayoun, located near the border with Israel, told AFP. "Two policemen showed up at someone's house recently for a minor offence and rumour quickly spread that he was a collaborator," added Mohammed, who gave only his first name. So far, 21 people have been...

Everyone in Lebanon has been noticing how Hezbollah's rhetoric has been heating up lately. The group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, made it clear in a number of speeches this week that his party would tolerate neither spies, Israeli "aggression" nor what he described as Lebanese government hypocrisy. It's volatile talk ahead of critical June 7 elections in which Hezbollah needs to sway at least some Christians to vote in its favor. On Monday, Nasrallah warned that the Islamic militant group would be on high alert as Israel prepared to conduct its largest military maneuvers since 1961, a series of armed forces...

Nobody doubts, by now, that Syria had a very strong motive for murdering their most powerful and popular foe in Lebanon, Rafik Hariri. But the UN’s International Tribunal may have uncovered something very different… Germany’s SpiegelOnline now has this report: On February 14, 2005, Valentine’s Day, at 12:56 p.m., a massive bomb exploded in front of the Hotel St. Georges in Beirut, just as the motorcade of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri passed by. The explosives ripped a crater two meters deep into the street, and the blast destroyed the local branch of Britain’s HSBC Bank. Body parts were hurled...

Biden showed pre-election support for the Lebanese government Friday that prompted a piqued response from the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, highlighting the critical nature of the upcoming parliamentary vote.... The June 7 election could determine the future course of Lebanon as well as the fate of millions of dollars in U.S. and Western aid to Lebanon's fledgling security forces...the Hezbollah-led coalition of Shiite and Christian political groups, backed by Iran and Syria, is mounting a serious challenge against the "March 14 alliance" of Sunni, Christian and Druze parties

JEZZINE, Lebanon (CNS) -- Sitting at an outdoor cafe on a mild spring afternoon, overlooking the town square of Jezzine, Samaan Dahir felt optimistic about Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary elections. "The resistance needs to win," said Dahir, referring to the so-called March 8 coalition led by Hezbollah, the Shiite political party credited for liberating South Lebanon from 18 years of Israeli occupation and subsequently helping to rebuild the war-torn region. "Let's give the opposition a chance and see the how they implement their reform programs. I'm definitely for March 8. I'm for change." Dahir, a Maronite Catholic from Jezzine, is...