Posted on 12/04/2006 6:29:26 AM PST by NYer
BEIRUT -- With Western help and support from Persian Gulf states, the Lebanese government has been quietly building up a loyal force dominated by Sunni Muslims and Maronite Christians in anticipation of a possible showdown with the Shia Hezbollah militia and other pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian forces.
A senior minister in Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's cabinet told The Globe and Mail that the pro-Western government has moved about 8,000 extra soldiers into the capital in the past few days in an effort to block an expected coup attempt by Hezbollah and its allies, which are planning mass anti-government demonstrations in central Beirut today.
But the buildup began 17 months ago, soon after the pro-Western peaceful Cedar Revolution that swept Mr. Siniora into office, the minister acknowledged. The government's stability may depend on the behaviour of a separate Western-backed force of 24,000 men that was dramatically strengthened to defend the government from just such a challenge.
Syria and Iran have long poured money and weapons into Lebanese groups, primarily Hezbollah. But since Mr. Siniora and his allies took office in 2005, the United States, France and several Sunni Arab countries have set about trying to create a counterbalancing force.
Critics charge that the force is dominated by Sunnis, and that its real purpose is to defend the government of Mr. Siniora, a Sunni, against the growing power of the country's large Shia population. Most of the country's Sunnis back the pro-Western government, while most Shiites support Hezbollah. The country's Christians are split.
Since the Syrian army's departure from Lebanon in early 2005, the United States and France have been providing money and training to the Internal Security Forces, as the light-blue-uniformed police force is known. With the political situation souring further in recent weeks, the United Arab Emirates stepped in to provide the unit with an emergency "gift" of thousands of rifles and dozens of police vehicles.
The UAE and other Sunni Arab states are concerned about Iran's widening influence in the region, cabinet minister Ahmad Fatfat said in an interview, adding that the ISF has received intelligence help from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait. Iran is Hezbollah's primary backer.
"In Lebanon, it seems we are an arena between Syria and Israel, but there's a new role for Iran. [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei spoke of this clearly," Mr. Fatfat said, referring to recent comments in which Iran's supreme leader said Lebanon would be the battleground on which "America and the Zionists" would be defeated.
Today, the ISF will be responsible for defending the Prime Minister's office, known as the Grand Serail, from demonstrators expected to pour into the adjacent Riad al-Sohl square. The backbone will be a smaller special-forces unit of 325 crack troops known as the Panthers, identifiable by their dark blue uniforms and modern weaponry.
With the regular Lebanese army seen as unreliable in a crisis -- it fractured along sectarian lines during the civil war -- Mr. Siniora's government and its foreign backers have invested heavily in the ISF.
The United States, which sees Mr. Siniora's government as a flagship for its "new Middle East," gave $1.5-million (U.S.) in "rushed" military assistance to the ISF just before the outbreak of the summer war between Israel and Hezbollah, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has provided training. Washington promised millions more, but it's unclear whether it was ever delivered.
The ISF has also set up a separate $30-million intelligence-gathering apparatus -- in a country that already had three other such services -- because the other forces were seen as dominated by Christians and Shiites and infiltrated by Syria. Observers say the ISF's intelligence unit is widely reviled by suspicious Christians and Shiites.
"There is no trust of the police here. The police are seen as a Sunni-dominated sectarian force," said Timur Goksel, a professor of public administration at the American University in Beirut.
According to Amin Hteit, a military analyst and retired Lebanese army general, the ISF was a secondary force of about 12,000 men, compared with 63,000 in the regular army, before the Syrian withdrawal. Reflecting the generally accepted population breakdown, a third of its members were Shiites.
The ISF has since doubled in number, with Sunnis and Christians making up most of the new troops. According to Gen. Hteit, just 1,000 of the 12,000 additions are Shiites.
Gen. Hteit, a Shiite who keeps a framed picture in his home of himself with pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, said the force was built up and its Shia representation lessened in order "to keep the government far from popular danger. They need a force to defend the government palace."
Meanwhile, he said, the army has shrunk to 40,000 men, 15,000 of whom are now policing the south of the country, a term of the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
The ISF is already deeply resented among those who plan to march on the centre of Beirut today. In October, riots were sparked after two children were killed and 12 people were injured when ISF members opened fire on a demonstration in a Shia neighbourhood.
Sayyidah Ali Naji, whose 11-year-old son Mohammed died after being shot twice in the head during those demonstrations, said she will be protesting today. "We expect anything from [the ISF]," she said. "But we are not afraid."
Ping
Nasrallah should have been killed months ago. A leader of a gang of thugs operating inside a sovereign (/sarcasm) nation lobbing rockets into another sovereign nation is alive...why?
Civilization for Dummies 1.0
HAHAHAHAHAH HOHOHOHOHOHOHO Wheez. Sniff!
most of "the West" wants the hezzies to lose about as much as they want the US to prevail in Iraq.
This http://www.isf.gov.lb/ is the web site for the Internal Security Forces of Lebanon (in Arabic, English and French)
None of these outside countries from the West will put any boots on the ground in Lebanon - just money and weaponry.
So with both sides in Lebanon with plenty of money to buy weaponry to kill each other it certainly has the potential of being a bloody mess.
Long term , unless Iran and Syria are destabilized I don't see how the Muslims can lose this one
Sunni = Muslim, Shia = Muslim. The rest are Infidels.
The Sunni and Shia have their religious differences but they both know the Infidel influence in that region must be destroyed, and Lebanon is a good start. - tom
Tell Syria that they need to end their harboring of Nasrallah and quit interfering in Lebanon. If they don't turn over Nasrallah or at least boot him out of the country, do the same to them as was done to Iran.
This won't make the terrorists go away. It won't end the feud between the Shia and the Sunni Muslims.
It may however, give the democracies in Lebanon and Iraq a fighting chance by throwing those trying to overthrow them by force into disarray for a while by cutting off a primary source of funding.
On the home front, we would once again end up spending billions of dollars dealing with other people's problems that keep overflowing into the rest of the world.
We would also take a hit to our economy due to higher oil prices, though some of the other oil producing countries in the region might increase production and help mitigate price increases in exchange for reducing the regional threat that Iran poses.
We'd also be called murders, imperialists, and get blamed for every real or perceived problem in the middle east by the world's liberals.
However, I think the alternative is even worse. Iran is getting bolder and bolder, and appeasement is the rule of law at the UN. Things are going to continue to get worse, and once Iran has nukes it could very well get much worse very quickly.
So basically, this is an extension of the US-Arab-Iranian conflict. In that case the Lebanese people are right not to trust either side, the (US+the Gulf countries) and (Iran+Syria). The past history does not encourage any trust in either side. The US has always considered Syria as a stabilyzing factor in Lebanon, and the Lebanese people have paid dearly for this policy since 1975 that lead in 1990 to a Moslem dominance over the Christians. It is time for the Lebanese to open their eyes very wide and stop playing the puppet anymore.
Well you are right that both sides shouldnt trust foreign powers. But March 14 is forced into requiring outside help because of hezbollah and the rest of the pro-syrians. They are getting help from outside forces and if march 14 doesnt do the same the pro-syrians will become more powerful/influential and they will win.
To be honest if i had a choice between having american influence in my country or iranian/syrian influence i would choose american in a heartbeat, isnt much of a decision to make really.
Well, sounds to me like it's not too "quiet" anymore.
We, maronites, should thank the US administration for their valuable advice to leave Lebanon in 1976 during the memorable meeting at Kaslik, and make space for the palestinians. But we refused it then. We have been under that same pressure for 30 years. It took different forms but stayed constant. The only people who understood fully that fact were the members of the "Lebanese Front", Camille Chamoun, Pierre Gemayel...We do remember the saying reported from Rafic Hariri beginning the 1990's: if you cannot islamize the people, then islamize the land. That is what we have been observing since 1992, the Hariri clan has been forcing the country under heavy debt since then until the creditors begin asking for their money, and you might guess who are the creditors. What would be the price of writing off this debt?
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