Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Ex-Mustaqbal official clenches Beirut municipal seat from rival, broad coalition

2025-05-21

[NAHARNET] al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...

... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement's former Beirut coordinator Mahmoud al-Jamal, a retired brigadier general, has managed to clench a seat on Beirut's new municipal council, preventing a list comprising most political parties from winning all 24 seats.

Al-Jamal's win came at the expense of Elie Andrea, a Greek Orthodox member of the rival list who was backed by Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Audi.

Andrea was the subject of ''dismay, especially among Greek Orthodox voters, which led to the redaction of his name by voters due to his bad performance as a member of the outgoing municipal council,'' the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Andrea had also faced a social media campaign against him prior to the elections against the backdrop of his dispute with outgoing municipal chief Jamal Itani, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.

This is the first time in decades that sees Moslems outnumbering Christians in the municipal council. The country's rival political parties had formed an electoral alliance in Beirut under the excuse of preserving Christian-Moslem parity.

Political rivals such as Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
came together to form the list, which also comprised the Amal Movement, the Kataeb Party, the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, al-Ahbash, the Tashnag Party
Socialist party representing the Armenian diaspora in Leb. They're Christians, but they try to remain neutral, which means they get shot at without shooting back...
, the Hunchak Party, the Progressive Socialist Party and MP Fouad Makhzoumi.

Al-Jamal's list was backed by MP Nabil Bader and the Jamaa Islamiya and apparently received votes from Mustaqbal supporters.

Four other lists were also formed in the capital, including one by the Beirut Madinati civil society group, which won one third of the capital's votes in the 2016 polls.

Voter turnout reached only 21% in Beirut, which has historically witnessed similar low turnout levels.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Muslim-Christian parity preserved in Beirut Municipality as list backed by main political parties wins

2025-05-20

[NAHARNET] A list backed by most political parties won all 24 seats of Beirut's municipality on Sunday, maintaining Christian-Moslem parity on the capital's municipal council.

Political rivals such as Hezbollah and the Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
came together to form the list, arguing that such a temporary coalition was necessary to preserve equal Christian-Moslem power-sharing.

The list was also backed by the Amal Movement, the Kataeb Party, the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, al-Ahbash, the Tashnag Party
Socialist party representing the Armenian diaspora in Leb. They're Christians, but they try to remain neutral, which means they get shot at without shooting back...
, the Hunchak Party and MP Fouad Makhzoumi.

A rival list was formed by MP Nabil Bader, the Jamaa Islamiya and a figure who was considered close to al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...

... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement.

Four other lists were also formed in the capital, including one by the Beirut Madinati civil society group, which won one third of the capital's votes in the 2016 polls.

Voter turnout reached 21% in Beirut, 44.57% in Zahle, 41.11% in West Bekaa, 37.70% in Rashaya, 34.15% in Hermel and 48.88% in Baalbek.

The Lebanese Forces meanwhile announced its victory in the Zahle municipal polls against a list backed by all the other political forces and families in an electoral battle in which the Free Patriotic Movement gave its supporters the freedom to vote for either list.

LF leader Samir Geagea
....Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005....
hailed a ''major victory'' in the city, saying ''Zahle has chosen progress, change, civilization, illusory sovereignty, deaders and Leb
Leb

...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
A Hezbollah front man meanwhile said the party and its ally the Amal Movement won in the city of Baalbek, the city of Hermel and in 19 towns in the Bekaa.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanese remember bloody past after Assad fall — Naharnet

2024-12-10

[NAHARNET] Across Leb
Leb

...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
, the Middle East, and beyond, the fall of Syria's authoritarian government at the hands of Islamist-led rebels set off waves of jubilation, trepidation and alarm.

Many Lebanese exulted at the overthrow of the Syrian leader while others worried about more instability rocking a region in turmoil.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for a strict control of the border with Syria and for distancing Lebanon from the developments there. He urged the Lebanese "of all affiliations" to be "wise" and "avoid emotional reactions."

Mikati also asked Secretary-General of Council of Ministers Judge Mahmoud Makiya to communicate with the National Commission for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared Persons in Lebanon and with the relevant authorities regarding the release of Lebanese prisoners from Syrian prisons.

- LEBANESE IN SYRIAN PRISONS -
During 15 years of civil war in Lebanon, an estimated 17,000 people went missing. Many were held captive or were killed in detention centers operated by Syrian forces in Lebanon and Syria, but their fates remain unknown.

Since a Lebanese man, who was missing for 40 years, was freed by Syrian rebels from a prison in Hama last week, many Lebanese families are demanding to know the fate of their loved ones who are thought to be detained in Syrian prisons since Lebanon's civil war when Syrian troops were in Lebanon.

- GEAGEA SAYS 'NOTHING WORSE THAN ASSAD' -
Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
leader Samir Geagea
....Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005....
congratulated all Lebanese on the fall of Bashir al-Assad's regime, saying that "over the past 50 years, the regime of Hafez and Bashir al-Assad was the biggest obstacle to the building of a state in Lebanon."

"It's impossible for the situation in Syria to be worse than Assad. There is noting worse," Geagea said.

- JUMBLAT SAYS 'JUSTICE ACHIEVED' -
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Wally Jumblat
...Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
saluted the Syrian people and celebrated Assad's ouster "after a lengthy wait."

Jumblat also called former PM Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
and told him that by Assad's fall "justice was achieved" for his slain father Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and other March 14 figures.

Al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...

... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement, founded by Hariri, for its part, congratulated the Syrian people in a statement and called on the Lebanese to preserve national unity.

- ASSASSINATIONS BLAMED ON SYRIA -
Hariri was assassinated in 2005 by a bomb in Beirut, blamed on Syria and Hezbollah. His liquidation sparked protests that ousted Syrian troops from Lebanon. Following Hariri's killing, several anti-Syrian figures were assassinated, including Samir Qassir, George Hawi, Gebran Tueni, Pierre Amine Gemayel, Antoine Ghanem and Walid Eido. Others escaped liquidation attempts including Elias Mur, May Chidiac, and Samir Shehade.

Jumblat's father, Kamal Jumblat was assassinated in 1977 in his car near Baakline by unidentified button men suspected to be members of the pro-Syrian faction of the Lebanese Syrian Social Nationalist Party, in collaboration with the Ba'ath Party.

In 1982, President Bashir Gemayel was killed with 26 other politicians by a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party who detonated a bomb from a few miles away using a remote detonator. He said he killed Gemayel because of his collaboration with Israel, which invaded Lebanon in 1982.

- GEMAYEL HAILS 'TYRANT FALL' -
Kataeb leader and Bashir's nephew Sami Gemayel wrote on X that "the criminal tyrant has fallen". "But Lebanon remains and the Kataeb remains."

He added that the names of his uncle Bashir, his brother Pierre Gemayel, and other deaders "stand tall, pulsating with freedom, illusory sovereignty and independence."

- BASSIL HOPES IT'S FOR THE GOOD OF LEBANON AND SYRIA -
Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
leader Jebran Bassil hoped that the developments would be for the good of Syria and Lebanon and lead to a swift return of displaced Syrians to their country and to "positive and balanced relations" between the two countries.

- SYRIA STABILITY IMPACTS LEBANON -
Son of Hezbollah's presidential candidate and Assad's friend Suleiman Franjieh, Marada MP Tony Franjieh hoped, in a statement posted on the X platform, for a peaceful transfer of power that would preserve the country's stability and protect the rights of all Syrians.

"The stability of Lebanon has always been deeply affected by the stability of Syria," Franjieh said.

- BLOW TO HEZBOLLAH -
For Hezbollah, who had long used Syria as its key conduit for weapons and supplies from Iran, Assad's fall could further weakens the group, after the staggering losses it suffered in its own recent war with Israel.

"What's happening in Syria is a major, dangerous and new transformation," Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah said.

"No one can downplay its impact but we draw our presence and strength from God, from our faith before anything else, and from our people — and the existence, presence, formations, capabilities and high competencies of the resistance, despite everything that has been inflicted on it in this war," Fadallah added.

Early in Syria's civil war, when it appeared Assad might be tossed, Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
and its ally, Hezbollah, rushed fighters to support him. Russia later joined with a scorched earth campaign of ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s.

For Israel, breaking Iran's regional network has been a major goal, though it is wary over jihadi fighters among the hard boyz who toppled Assad. Israel on Sunday moved troops into a demilitarized buffer zone with Syria by the Israel-held Golan Heights in what it called a temporary security measure.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Assad's fall a "historic day," saying it was "the direct result of our forceful action against Hezbollah and Iran, Assad's main supporters."

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hariri meets US ambassador, Grand Mufti Daryan in Beirut

2024-02-14

[NAHARNET] Ex-PM and al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement leader Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
met Tuesday at the Center House in Beirut with American Ambassador Lisa Johnson and Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan.

Johnson told news hounds as she left the Center House that the meeting with Hariri was "excellent".
"I didn't get blown up. So there's that"
Hariri, who had withdrawn from political life two years ago, arrived Sunday night in Beirut to prepare for the 19th anniversary of the martyrdom of his father Rafik Hariri and his ~~lover~~ companions on February 14.

Hariri had resigned as prime minister after unprecedented nationwide protests broke out in 2019 to demand the wholesale overhaul of Leb
Leb

...an Iranian satrapy currently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
's political class.

He was designated the following year to form a technocratic government that would implement much-anticipated reforms, but he failed to broker a consensus and threw in the towel.

Media reports said Hariri will also meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
, who will seek to bring him together with ex-PSP chief Walid Wally Jumblat
...Druze politician, head of the Progressive Socialist Party, who's been on every side in Leb at least four times. He'll sell you his friends for a dollar, but family comes higher because of shipping and handling...
.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hariri says STL's Merhi-Onessi verdict is 'clearest condemnation of Hezbollah'

2022-06-17

[An Nahar] The life imprisonment verdicts issued Thursday by the Special Tribunal for ~~Lebanon~~ Hezbollahstan
<del>Lebanon</del> Hezbollahstan

...The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years. It produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. That's three statements. Only the first is subjective....
are the "clearest condemnation of Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
" in the 2005 liquidation of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
said.

"After the conviction of Salim Ayyash in the crime of the liquidation of martyr premier Rafik Hariri and his ~~lover~~ companions, the Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon unanimously sentenced two other

Hezbollah members, Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi, to life imprisonment," Hariri tweeted.

"The penalty is the harshest one stipulated by the statute and rules, but it is the clearest in terms of condemning Hezbollah as a side responsible for orchestrating and executing the crime," Hariri added.

Hezbollah "cannot evade the responsibility of handing over the convicts" so that "the penalty can be levied against them," the ex-PM went on to say, warning that "history will not be merciful" on Hezbollah if it does not do so.

Merhi and Oneissi had been found guilty on appeal in March by the Dutch-based STL after they were initially acquitted. The court found Merhi and Oneissi distributed a video in which a fictitious group grabbed credit for the attack, in a bid to protect the "real perpetrators" from a covert Hezbollah network.

But the pair are unlikely to ever spend time behind bars as Hezbollah has refused to hand them over, as it has refused to surrender a third man, Salim Ayyash, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2020.

Presiding judge Ivana Hrdlickova said both Merhi and Oneissi were aware that Hariri would be killed in the attack, adding that the sentences reflected the "evil nature of terrorism."

"The appeals chamber therefore unanimously decides to sentence Mr Merhi and Mr Oneissi to life imprisonment, the heaviest sentence under the statute and the rules for each of the five counts on which they were convicted," she said.

The men were found guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act, and of being accomplices to commit a terrorist act, accomplices in the intentional homicide of Hariri and of the 21 other people, and accomplices in the attempted homicide of the 226 injured.

The attack on Sunni billionaire Hariri, who had stepped down as Lebanon's prime minister in October 2004, triggered protests that drove Syria out of Lebanon after a 29-year military deployment.

The court was born in 2009 out of a United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
Security Council resolution and eventually tried four suspects in absentia: Ayyash, Merhi, Oneissi and Assad Sabra.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Sunday's vote early results: LF, independents make significant gains

2022-05-17

[AnNahar] Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan, Arab Tawhid Party
... a Leb political party established by former minister, MP, and Syrian stooge Weaam Wahhab in 2006. Supporters of the party are mainly Druze and it is a part of the March 8 (Hezbollah) Alliance. A bomb exploded outside a party office in the Chouf in 2012.
leader Wiam Wahhab, and Assaad Hardan of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party have lost in Sunday's parliamentary vote, according to early results.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, Butch started the buffalo stampeding......
the LF said it won at least 20 seats, adding five members from the 2018 vote. This would make it the largest Christian bloc in parliament, replacing the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
The October 17 forces said they won at least seven seats, three in Beirut II, three in Chouf-Aley and one in South III, with a reported probability of a second breakthrough in the South III.

Hardan, a strong Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
ally in the third district in the South reportedly lost his seat to the independent candidate Elias Jradeh, while another independent, Mark Daou, running in the Mount ~~Lebanon~~ Hezbollahstan
<del>Lebanon</del> Hezbollahstan

...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. ...
region of Aley against longtime Druze politician Talal Arslan, said he's "heading to a big victory."

In Beirut II, the list backed by ex-PM Fouad al-Saniora won one seat and the Hizbullah, Amal, FPM list won three seats, while the October 17 forces won at least two seats. The PSP candidate on Saniora's backed list, MP Faisal al-Sayegh, lost his seat to the Druze candidate who ran on MP Fouad Makhzoumi's list. The latter's list won two seats.

In Beirut I, the LF have won so far 3 seats, while independent candidate Paula Yaacoubian's list Li Watani won two seats, the FPM won two and the Kataeb two.

In Sidon-Jezzine, the LF won 2 seats and the Free Patriotic Movement and Amal lost in an unprecedented defeat in this district.

Ghada Ayyoub (LF), Abdel Rahman al-Bizri, Oussama Saad, Said al Asmar (LF) and independent candidate Charbel Massaad won the highest votes in the district.

In Batroun, FPM chief Jebran Bassil maintained his seat while the LF won the second seat by a higher number of votes.

In West Bekaa, according to early results, Hassan Murad, Wael Abou Faour, Qabalan Qabalan, Charbel Maroun, independent candidate Yassin Yassin, and Ghassan Skaf will likely win, while Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli will likely lose.

In Akkar, the FPM won three seats while ex-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
affiliated, MP Hadi Hbeish, has lost.

In Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
-Minieh-Dinniyeh, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi's list has won at least 3 seats, for the first time, with one seat to an allied LF candidate, while Faisal Karami's seat is not guaranteed yet.

In the Metn district, the Kataeb, the LF, and the FPM have won 2 seats each. Michel Murr and Hagop Pakradounian have also won.

In Baadba, the FPM lost one of its past seats to an LF-allied candidate Camille Chamoun of the National Libaral Party (al-Ahrar).

Al Ahram explains:

Early results: Lebanon's Hezbollah suffers election losses

[AlAhram] Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group and its allies appear to have suffered some losses in this weekend's parliamentary elections, with their opponents gaining more seats and some of their traditional partners not making it into the legislature, early results showed Monday.

Despite the apparent setback, Hezbollah and its main Shiite ally, the Amal group of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, are likely to retain the 27 seats allocated to the sect. The unofficial results show that independents, including those from the 2019 protest movement, made some gains by removing longtime politicians from parliament.

The closely watched elections on Sunday were the first since a devastating economic crisis erupted in Lebanon in October 2019, triggering nationwide protests against the ruling class blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement.

It was also the first election since the August 2020 Beirut port explosion that killed more than 200 people, injured thousands and destroyed parts of the Lebanese capital. The blast, widely blamed on negligence, was set off by hundreds of tons of poorly stored ammonium nitrate that ignited in a port warehouse.

The Saudi-backed Christian Lebanese Forces party, which has been among the most vocal critics of the Iran-armed Hezbollah, says it won at least 20 seats, adding five members from the 2018 vote. This would make it the largest Christian bloc in parliament, replacing the Free Patriotic Movement that was founded by President Michel Aoun and has been a Hezbollah ally since 2006.

Independents also appear to be making some significant gains, but they remain far from making changes as the main winners of the vote are likely to be mainstream political group.

A strong Hezbollah ally in south Lebanon reportedly lost his seat to an independent, while another independent, Mark Daou, says ``we are heading to a big victory.'' Daou is running in the Mount Lebanon region of Aley against longtime Druze politician Talal Arslan.

Official results were expected to be announced later Monday.

Lebanon holds elections every four years and the new parliament will elect a new president after Aoun's term ends in October.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Mawlawi urges Sunnis to pull Lebanon out of 'new type of war'

2022-05-12

[NAHARNET] Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi has called on Lebanon’s Sunni community to turn out heavily in the May 15 parliamentary elections, warning that “reluctance from practicing the right of voting would deepen the country’s crises.”

“You actively took part in founding the country and enshrining its National Pact. You did not take part in civil war and you did not take up arms. Today you are invited to participate heavily in pulling Lebanon out of a war that is of another nature – the war of poverty, deprivation and employment, which has entered into the homes of all Lebanese,” Mawlawi said in an interview with the Saudi al-Bilad newspaper.

“You are asked to be loyal to your Arabism and keen on the legitimacy of your state,” the minister added.

Ex-PM Saad Hariri, the leader of the biggest Sunni party in the country, had recently announced that his al-Mustaqbal Movement would not take part in the elections.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Report Says IS Planned to Assassinate Macron, 'Saad Too'

2022-03-15

[An Nahar] The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
had planned to assassinate French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to Leb
Leb

...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
in September 2020, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday.The daily said it has learned that the IS group had also been planning to assassinate ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
and Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
chief Jebran Bassil.

The Lebanese investigations indicated that the IS hard boyz were instructed to carry out a suicide kaboom in a blast-hit Christian neighborhood or at the Beirut port, al-Akhbar said.

A coded message was found on a laptop belonging to the network's leader Mohammed al-Hajjar. The technical info showed that members of the IS group and an external handler had discussed the possibility of Hariri being with the French President at the targeted site. The handler answered: "Kill Saad too!"

ISIS does that a lot: they make grand plans, get everybody all worked up, but then nothing ever happens.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hariri Slams Hizbullah after STL Reverses Acquittals of Merhi and Oneissi

2022-03-11

[An Nahar] Ex-PM Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
on Thursday lashed out at

Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
for "protecting the criminals," after the Special Tribunal for Leb
Leb

...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
reversed the acquittals of Hizbullah operatives Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi in the case of Rafik Hariri’s liquidation.

"Ex-PM Saad Hariri renews his full confidence and complete commitment to what the Special Tribunal for Lebanon issues in the case of the liquidation of martyr premier Rafik Hariri and his ~~lover~~ companions as well as in the connected cases," his press office said in a statement.

"The Appeals Chamber’s decision to reverse the acquittals of the Accused Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi obligates the Lebanese state and all its military and security authorities and agencies to seek the arrest of the convicts to hand them over to the STL for the execution of the decided penalties," the statement added.

It said that Hariri also calls for the arrest of the third convict in the case — Hizbullah operative Salim Ayyash.

Hariri "holds Hizbullah responsible for covering up for the crime, protecting the criminals who belong to it, and evading the rulings of international justice," the statement added.

"History will not be merciful on all the culprits and plotters who planned the liquidation crime, and it will remain on the lookout for every party or leadership that fails to implement justice and penalize the criminal murderers," the statement said.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Tearful Hariri Withdraws from Politics Citing 'Iranian Influence' and 'Int'l Confusion'

2022-01-25

[AnNahar] al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri
...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
announced Monday the "suspension" of his role in political life and confirmed that neither him nor his political movement would run in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The 51-year-old, who was propelled into politics by his father Rafik's liquidation in 2005, announced his decision during a presser in Beirut.

"Rafik Hariri's project can be summarized with two ideas -- preventing civil war in ~~Lebanon~~ Hezbollahstan
<del>Lebanon</del> Hezbollahstan

...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ...
and providing a better life for the Lebanese. I succeeded in the first and didn't achieve enough success in the second," Hariri said.

"Preventing civil war obliged me to engage in settlements, from containing the repercussions of May 7 (festivities) to the Doha Agreement to visiting Damascus, Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
's election and the electoral law," the ex-PM added, noting that these settlements came at his expense.

Noting that "preventing civil war" and "securing a better life for the Lebanese" were behind every step that he took, Hariri pointed out that this approach was the reason behind the loss of his "personal fortune, some foreign friendships, a lot of national alliances and even some comrades and brothers."

"What I cannot bear is that a number of Lebanese now consider me to be one of the members of the ruling class that caused the disaster," Hariri went on to say.

Adding that he is convinced that "there is no hope for any positive chance for Lebanon amid the Iranian influence, international confusion, national divisions, the aggravation of sectarianism and the state’s decay," the ex-PM announced the suspension of his role in political life and called on al-Mustaqbal Movement to take the same step.

"No nominations will be made for the parliamentary elections, neither by al-Mustaqbal Movement nor in the name of the Movement," he confirmed.

Addressing the supporters of political Harirism, the ex-PM said he will "remain in the service of our people and country."

"From our position as citizens, we will continue to cling to Rafik Hariri’s project to prevent civil war and seek a better life for all Lebanese. We will remain in the service of Lebanon and the Lebanese and our houses will remain open," Hariri added.

Link

Sri Lanka

Hbeish Says 'Almost Certain' Hariri Won't Run in Elections

2022-01-16

[An Nahar] It is "most likely" that al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri
<span class=Inverse>Saad Hariri</span>

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Dialogue Boycotters Hit Back at Aoun, Call Him 'Disruption Expert'

2022-01-15

[An Nahar] Democratic Gathering Bloc MP Hadi Abou El-Hassan, said that President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
instead of "lecturing" the dialogue boycotters, should have addressed "his ally," which is "the main party disrupting the country."He added that "the one who had disrupted the country for 9 years out of his 16 years of management, shouldn’t accuse people of arrogance and of disrupting dialogue."

Aoun on Thursday had lashed out at those who announced their boycott of his proposed national dialogue conference, holding them responsible for the continued paralysis of the country, which triggered the dialogue boycotters to strike back accusing the FPM and its ally Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
of disrupting the country.

The media advisor of ex-PM Saad Hariri
<span class=Inverse>Saad Hariri</span>

...Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's assassination. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too....
said that the presidency is "the godfather of disruption" and that it had disrupted the government for years.

Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
MP Anis Nassar joined the Progressive Socialist Party and al-Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
Movement in hitting back at Aoun.

He told al-Anbaa news portal that the President is "an expert in disruption," as he had in the past disrupted the government for six months "to make his son-in-law Jebran Bassil a minister."

He added that Aoun had disrupted the presidential elections for two years and a half to secure his appointment as a president, and had also prevented the government from making reforms after the elections because of a bickering between Bassil and the Prime Minister at the time.

Nassar went on to say that "the call for dialogue came too late, now that the country is at its last breath."

Link

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