Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Geagea says govt must set timeframe for disarming Palestinian camps

2025-05-23

[NAHARNET] The government must set a timeframe not exceeding a few weeks to collect Paleostinian arms inside and outside camps and become in charge of security, Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
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....
said Thursday as Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
visited Leb
Leb

...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
Abbas and Lebanese President Joseph Aoun agreed that Paleostinian factions won't use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren't under the authority of the Lebanese state.

Geagea praised Abbas saying he has always worked towards maintaining "healthy Lebanese-Paleostinian ties".

"Abbas' statements have refuted every excuse the Axis of Resistance® was hiding behind in order to continue carrying illegal weapons," Geagea said, adding that time has come for Lebanese people to have a real state with monopoly on weapons.

A joint statement by Aoun and Abbas said that both sides have agreed that weapons should only be with the Lebanese state, and the existence of "weapons outside the control of the Lebanese state has ended."

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

Geagea urges Hezbollah to ''draw lessons'' from what's happening in region

2025-05-16

...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
and the political steps decided ''prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the right path leading to a Paleostinian state."

"After the (Axis of) Defiance advocates and those who claim to be a resistance -- through their actions, behavior and ideas -- transformed Israel into a giant in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia's policy has returned Israel to its normal size,'' Geagea added.

He added that he believes that "the current scene emanating from Saudi Arabia is the right path to resolving the region's problems, foremost among them the Paleostinian issue."

"The time of using the Paleostinian cause as a pretext and hiding behind it to control Arab capitals, overthrow regimes or replace one ruler with another is over,'' Geagea said.

''May the Defiance advocates in Leb
...The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...
learn from everything that is happening in the region at the present time, cease their transgressions and surrender their weapons to the state so that we may have a real and effective state that can begin the process of development and reconstruction, and so that Lebanon may return to its former glory, not only as the Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
of the East, but as a shining beacon of knowledge, culture, civilization and progress in the East and West alike," he added.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Geagea says Hezbollah must disarm first for Israel to withdraw — Naharnet

2025-04-24

... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies...
-- and other Hezbollah officials -- had said that Israel must completely withdraw first and stop its violations, otherwise Hezbollah "will not let anyone disarm" it.

President Joseph Aoun said last week he hopes to restrict arms to the state in 2025 through "dialogue" with Hezbollah. "Does anyone expect us to discuss a national defense strategy as warplanes fly over our heads and there is occupation in south Lebanon," Qassem responded in a televised speech. "These are not discussions, this is surrender," he said.

Geagea considered that Hezbollah's statements would affect Lebanon's credibility and "damage its image" as Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south under a November ceasefire truce.

But under that truce, Israel was also meant to withdraw all of its forces from south Lebanon. Despite the deal, its troops remained at five south Lebanon positions that they deem "strategic", as several experts said Israel's ongoing troop presence along the border played into Hezbollah's hands. Israel has also continued to carry out near-daily strikes against Lebanon, saying it is targeting members of Hezbollah who are breaching the truce agreement.

According to Geagea, Hezbollah should first abide by the ceasefire agreement, and after that Israel would withdraw and stop its strikes and Lebanon would be able to "rebuild the state."

"We cannot accept that Lebanon's credibility and image be further damaged by reneging on the ceasefire agreement," Geagea said, calling on the new government and administration to remind Hezbollah's officials of their previous commitments.

Hezbollah was left badly weakened by more than a year of hostilities with Israel, beginning with the group's campaign of rocket fire at its arch-foe in support of ally Hamas
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
, and culminating in a major Israeli bombing campaign that killed many Hezbollah commanders including the group's longtime leader Sayyed
Sayyed

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Lebanon says 2 killed as protests against Israeli presence erupt for a second day

2025-01-28

[IsraelTimes] Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem slams extension of IDF pullout deadline, says ‘resistance’ not bound by it, as Lebanese Christian politician blames ‘pointless’ deaths on terror group

It sounds like Hezbollah considers the hudna to be over.

Israeli gunfire killed two people and maimed 17 others on Monday, local health officials said Monday, as residents displaced by the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah attempted to return to villages where the Israel Defense Forces has stayed put.

The deadly protests came a day after 24 people were killed and more than 130 maimed in demonstrations over the continued IDF presence.

The military has blamed Hezbollah "provocations" in the protests, where returning residents have hoisted the Iran-backed terror group’s insignia. On Monday, a leading Christian Lebanese politician blasted Hezbollah for urging the residents to return and pushing them toward "certain death."

Under a US-brokered ceasefire on November 27, Israeli forces were to withdraw from southern Leb
...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects....
within sixty days, and Hezbollah was to recede north of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Israeli border. The United States and Lebanon announced Sunday that Israel’s deadline to withdraw was extended to February 18.

While the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers took up posts in several villages before the original deadline on Sunday, the IDF remained in over a dozen others towns where it says Lebanon’s troops have failed to deploy.

Defense Minister Israel Katz vowed Monday that Israel would "firmly enforce" the ceasefires in both Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
and Lebanon, warning that "anyone who breaks the rules or threatens IDF troops will bear the full price."

Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another explosion...
in a pre-recorded speech, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem

... the Grand Vizier of the Hezbullies...
slammed the extension of the IDF’s withdrawal deadline, and accused Israel of violating the ceasefire 1,350 times.

"Israel has to withdraw because the 60 days are over," said Qassem. "We won’t accept any excuses to extend one second or one day."

"Any delay in the withdrawal is the responsibility of the United Nations
...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society...
, the US, La Belle France and Israel," he added, naming Lebanon’s four partners in the ceasefire deal.

The "resistance" has the right to act in what it deems appropriate in response to the "occupation," said Qassem, adding that Hezbollah considered retaliating against Israeli ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s but was advised not to by Lebanese authorities.

’WE ARE STAYING’
The protests that resumed for the second day in south Lebanon were particularly focused in eastern border villages, as displaced residents, accompanied by the Lebanese Armed Forces, again tried returning to their villages, local media and AFP correspondents reported Monday.

Lebanon’s health ministry said Israel opened fire, killing two people and wounding fourteen. It added that the maimed included a child and a rescuer from the Risala Scouts association, affiliated with the Amal movement, Hezbollah’s ally.

Nonetheless, an AFP correspondent reported seeing dozens of vehicles carrying families headed toward border towns, a day after hundreds of residents tried unsuccessfully to return to their homes.

In the city of Bint Jbeil, an access point for many border villages, supporters of Hezbollah were distributing sweets, water and images of slain terror chief His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
, who was killed in an Israeli strike in September. Others handed out stickers celebrating the "victory from God" as women held pictures of slain Hezbollah fighters.

In the village of Aitaroun, scores of residents, some waving Hezbollah flags, marched hand-in-hand or rode cycle of violences, escorted by ambulances, bulldozers and Lebanese army tanks. They approached the edge of the town but stopped short of Israeli positions, unable to enter.

Saleem Mrad, the head of the municipality, said "we are coming with our heads held high and crowned with victory to our village, Aitaroun."

"Our village is ours, and we will bring it back more beautiful than it was before, he said." We are staying."

Hassan al-Ahmad, a resident, said, "We have to give our blood and our souls. If there had not been blood spilled, the land would not have been liberated."

Lebanon’s national news agency reported that Israel dropped a bomb at the entrance of the southern village of Yaroun to deter residents from proceeding farther. The IDF has not commented on the report.

After Sunday’s violence, an Israeli military official told news hounds that hundreds of Lebanese, among them Hezbollah operatives and supporters carrying Hezbollah flags and images of Nasrallah, carried out "provocations" while trying to reach villages in southern Lebanon.

The official said the military had prepared for civilians attempting to reach the border villages at the end of the 60-day truce, despite its warnings.

IRAN-LED AXIS ’DOES NOT VALUE PEOPLE’S LIVES’
Responding to Sunday’s deadly demonstrations, 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....
, leader of the Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
Party — a Christian faction opposed to Hezbollah — accused the terror group and Lebanese government of risking the displaced residents’ lives, saying: "The current government proves it does not exist, and the Axis of Resistance® proves that it does not value people’s lives."

Hezbollah plays a lead role in Iran’s "Axis of Resistance®" network of regional proxies committed to Israel’s destruction. Lebanese critics of Hezbollah accuse it of furthering Iran’s interests at the expense of Lebanon’s.

In an interview published Monday in Lebanese newspaper Nidaa al-Watan, Geagea said the axis "does not hesitate to fabricate new events on a daily basis that it uses to cover up the tragedies and loss of life and property it has caused."

Geagea said the Lebanese government should have informed residents about details of Israel’s deployment "rather than allowing some parties to exploit the scenes for self-interest, causing the death of citizens."

"Protecting people’s lives is the responsibility of the Lebanese government, not Israel’s," the party leader said, calling on the Lebanese military "to organize the entry of citizens into safe villages, and prevent them from reaching areas that the Israeli army still occupies."

Hezbollah "exploited this vacuum and pushed citizens into imminent danger, not caring who would be killed or injured," Geagea added. "It knows that throwing over 20 citizens into certain death is pointless and will not yield any results, and will not make Israel change its position."

The ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came after 14 months of fighting, which began when the terror group, unprovoked, began attacking Israel on a near-daily basis on October 8, 2023 — a day after the Gaza war was sparked when fellow Iran-backed group Hamas
Hamas

..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
stormed Israel by the thousands, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Some 60,000 residents were evacuated from northern towns on the Lebanon border shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, amid fears Hezbollah would carry out a similar attack, and increasing rocket fire by the terror group.

Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel since October 2023 have resulted in the deaths of 46 civilians. In addition, 80 IDF soldiers and reservists have died in cross-border skirmishes, attacks on Israel, and in the ensuing ground operation launched in southern Lebanon in late September.

The IDF estimates that some 3,500 Hezbollah operatives have been killed in the conflict. Around 100 members of other terror groups, along with hundreds of civilians, have also been reported killed in Lebanon.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Geagea calls on Hezbollah to send arms to Iran, sell them or give them to army

2025-01-15

...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?...
and the two candidates for the post were from this sect and the MPs names their candidates without any pressures. The word exclusion can be said when a certain sect interferes in a post belonging to another sect,'' Geagea explained in an interview on al-Arabiya's al-Hadath channel.

''The structure of the Lebanese state reflects a consensus process, but it is not necessary to tackle every issue through consensus. What Raad said about coexistence is also out of context, seeing as exclusion can be true if PM-designate Nawaf Salam decides to form the new government without the Shiite sect,'' Geagea added.

Stressing that the unwritten 1943 National Pact stipulates the representation of the Christian and Moslem religious communities and not every sect belonging to them, the LF leader noted that Salam's designation would have violated the National Pact had no Moslem MP voted for him.

''The president and the premier must ask Hezbollah about the fate of its arms, to see if they want to send them to Iran, sell them or hand them over to the Lebanese Army, and then a new phase would begin, which would be in the interest of all Lebanese, specifically Hezbollah's environment, seeing as there can be no leniency with these arms,'' Geagea went on to say.

As for the deliberations that led to Salam's nomination, Geagea said the so-called Change MPs were behind the selection.

''We secured the votes of 35 MPs for MP (Fouad) Makhzoumi, whereas some Change MPs secured 17 votes for Nawaf Salam and refused to vote for Makhzoumi. In the face of that situation and for the sake of Lebanon, we chose to endorse Judge Salam, and had it not been for this move, (caretaker PM Najib) Mikati would have become premier anew,'' Geagea explained.

Noting that recovering the money of depositors is one of the priorities of the Lebanese Forces, Geagea said the first topic that he will discuss with the new premier will be the case of the Beirut port explosion and ''the need to resume investigations with all due transparency.''

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hezbollah made even weaker by Assad toppling in Syria — Naharnet

2024-12-15

[NAHARNET] A severely hobbled Hezbollah was in no position to help defend former Syrian President Bashir al-Assad, a longtime ally, from the lightning-fast insurgency that toppled him. With Assad gone, the Death Eater group based in 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...
is even weaker.

Hezbollah was dealt a major blow during 14 months of war with Israel. The toppling of Assad, who had strong ties to Iran, has now crippled its ability to bounce back by cutting off a vital weapons-smuggling route through Syria.

Hezbollah officials are deeply concerned but defiant.

"What is happening in Syria is a major, dangerous and new change, and to know why this happened needs evaluation," Hassan Fadlallah, a Lebanese politician who represents Hezbollah's political wing, said during a speech at a funeral for bully boyz killed by Israel. "Whatever is happening in Syria, despite its dangers, will not weaken us."

Analysts say the diminishment of Hezbollah will have big consequences for Lebanon, where for decades it has been a major political player — and for Iran, which has relied on the group as one of several proxy forces projecting power across the Middle East. It is also a game-changer for Israel, whose nemesis on its northern border is now at its most vulnerable point in decades.

TIES TO SYRIA INFLUENCED THE RISE AND FALL OF HEZBOLLAH'S POWER
The Assad dynasty, which ruled Syria for half a century with an iron fist, played a crucial role in empowering Hezbollah, which was founded in the early 1980s by Iranian advisers who came through Syria. In addition to being a conduit for Iranian weapons, Syria also was a place where Hezbollah trained fighters and manufactured its own weapons.

As Hezbollah grew more powerful, it became a force Assad could rely on for protection in times of crisis. Hezbollah sent thousands of fighters to bolster Assad's forces when a civil war broke out in 2011.

As ~~bandidos~~ krazed killers swept across Syria in early December and took the city of Homs — a stone's throw from a Syrian border town where Hezbollah had a presence — many expected the bully boyz to put up a fierce fight. After all, they did just that in 2013, preventing Assad's opponents from advancing into Damascus.

This time, Hezbollah was in disarray. Many of its brass hats, including longtime leader Sayyed
Sayyed

...Arabic term meaning your/his lordship. Groveling in His Exalted Presence is encouraged...
His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
, were killed in Israeli ~~Arclight~~ airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s. And months of Israeli bombardment destroyed much of its military infrastructure. With Syria's key international allies, Russia and Iran, on the sidelines, Hezbollah withdrew, and Assad was ousted quickly.

"The fall of the regime marks the end of Iran's arms in Syria and Lebanon," said Lt. Col. Fares al-Bayoush, a Syrian army defector who fought in the civil war against Assad's forces and Hezbollah until 2017, when he moved to ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
.

LEBANON BEGINS TO GRAPPLE WITH HEZBOLLAH'S 'NEW REALITY'
In Lebanon, the sapping of Hezbollah's strength has given the army the opportunity to reassert control it had ceded, especially along its southern border. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire between the Death Eater group and Israel states that Hezbollah should have no armed presence along that border and it has led to growing calls within Lebanon for the group's disarmament.

"To Hezbollah, it's game over," 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....
, who leads the Christian Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
Party, said in a statement on Sunday, hours after ~~bandidos~~ krazed killers took Damascus. "Sit with the Lebanese military to end your status as an gang, and transform yourselves into a political party."

But Hezbollah's longtime sway in the political arena in Lebanon also faces a major challenge.

Many in Lebanon are angry with the group. Critics say Hezbollah violated its promise to use its weapons only to defend Lebanon when it began firing rockets into Israel last year, the day after Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
attacked Israel.

Nearly than 4,000 people were killed in Lebanon during the war with Israel, according to the country's health ministry. Entire towns and villages where Hezbollah members and supporters lived have been flattened. More than 1 million people have been displaced, and the country's economy — which was in bad shape before the war — is in a deep hole.

"With the (Syrian) regime gone, Hezbollah in Lebanon faces an entirely new reality," said Firas Maksad, of the Middle East Institute.

Maksad said many Lebanese leaders have yet to grasp the magnitude of the change that has taken place. Even some onetime allies of Hezbollah in parliament have begun distancing themselves from the group.

Jebran Bassil, a politician who represents the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, Lebanon's other major Christian party, said Hezbollah's loss of a weapons pipeline from 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...
could help Lebanon extract itself from regional conflict.

"Hezbollah should focus on internal affairs and not the wider region," Bassil, a former ally of Hezbollah, said.

It may have no choice but to narrow its ambitions. With the fall of Assad, Iran has lost control of a corridor of land that stretched through Iraq and Syria all the way to the Mediterranean, and which gave it an unimpeded route to supply Hezbollah.

"They can maybe fly in some things and smuggle some things, but that's not gonna be on the same scale, not even close," said Aron Lund, a Syria expert with Century International, a New York-based think tank.

For Israel, breaking Iran's regional network has been a major goal, though it is wary over Islamic bully boyz among the ~~bandidos~~ krazed killers 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

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

Geagea says Hezbollah fully led by Iran after Nasrallah''s killing

2024-10-19

[NAHARNET] 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....
accused the Lebanese government of becoming "a rescue committee" instead of a state and of allowing 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...
to fight its battles from 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...
In remarks published Friday in Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, Geagea said that Hezbollah has dragged Lebanon to where it is now, while Lebanese officials were "loafing around" instead of calling for the implementation of United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
Security Council Resolution 1701.

"The government must convene and take a decision to deploy the army and implement Resolution 1701," Geagea said, adding that after the killing of Hezbollah leader Sayyed
Sayyed

...Arabic term meaning your/his lordship. Groveling in His Exalted Presence is encouraged...
His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
...The late, lamented satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb...>
in an Israeli strike, Hezbollah is now totally led by Iran.

"The decisions are now completely Iranian and Iran will continue its fight until the last (Hezbollah) fighter."

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Geagea ''flexible'' but not with Berri''s dialogue or Hezbollah''s war

2024-09-09

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....
insists on boycotting a presidential dialogue initiated by Parliament Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri

...perennial 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...
, as 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...
remains without a president since Michel Aoun
...former president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
's term ended in October 2022, almost two years ago.

"I am flexible," Geagea said in a radio interview on Thursday night. "But I cannot be flexible about Hezbollah's decision to start a war in south Lebanon," he added, as he dubbed Berri's dialogue anew "unconstitutional".

Geagea said the so-called Axis of Defiance plans to control Lebanon. "As long as it is unable to do it militarily, it will try at all costs to control it politically by electing a president of its choice."

Geagea said he will not describe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization as he hopes to "attract" the group to the Lebanese framework. "The only way to meet with Hezbollah, is when it becomes a Lebanese party with a Lebanese agenda only," Geagea said, adding that ties with Hezbollah cannot be completely cut.

He also said he has a good relation with Hezbollah's ally, Berri, but that he finds the way Berri is dealing with the presidential vote "unacceptable".

On another note, Geagea said that he thinks the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
's disintegration is "in Lebanon's interest", after two MPs were expelled from the FPM and two others deliberately resigned.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Geagea: Situation in Lebanon can't wait for settlement in Gaza

2024-07-14

[An Nahar] 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....
has warned that "the situation in 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...
cannot wait for a settlement for the situation in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
," stressing the need for the government to "take decisive and instant measures regarding the southern front in terms of implementing Resolution 1701."

Geagea also reiterated that "activating the southern front was a major sin and not a mistake."

As for the presidential file, the LF leader underlined his full rejection of the notion that the next president will be elected by the 2026 parliament, noting that the LF is "exerting utmost effort to guarantee that the presidential election battle will not be postponed until after the upcoming parliamentary polls."

Accordingly, Geagea called on "centrist MPs" to "shoulder their responsibilities and contribute to the election of a president in an instant manner," emphasizing that "this step is the only way to exit the current crisis."

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Franjieh suggests voting for him or for Geagea in presidential election

2024-06-11

[An Nahar] Marada Movement
the personal militia of Suleiman Franjieh, president of Lebanon at the outbreak of the civil war, currently Syrian toadies, but you never know when that could change...
chief Suleiman Franjieh has called for "accepting the principle of dialogue and agreeing on a full package" or "going to elections between the two main political camps in the country," noting that he and 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'>Samir Geagea
<span class=Inverse>Samir Geagea</span>

....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....
would represent the two camps in such an election.

"We would congratulate the winner," he added, noting that such an approach would "restore the prestige of the presidential vote, the presidential race and the presidency itself."

As for the characteristics of the next president, Franjieh said the new president should "respect the Taif Accord, protect the constitution, openly cooperate with the prime minister and consult with the parliament speaker on a constant basis."

"The president’s strength has never been related to his broad popular representation, but rather to his political presence and ability to represent a national political choice, to leave behind his political alignment after being elected, and to play the role of an arbitrator in the Lebanese political equation," the Marada chief added.

"The president is not required to be an economist but rather a believer in the free economic system, a guarantor of a political settlement that would revive the economic cycle, and a protector of structural economic and financial reforms through a fair and independent judiciary," Franjieh went on to say.

Link

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