Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Rajji slams Hezbollah as ''outlaw'' group and its tripartite equation as outdated

2025-05-30

[NAHARNET] Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji has said that Hezbollah chief Sheikh Naim Qassem

... the new Fearless Leader of the Hezbullies...
''can say what he wants'' about the so-called ''army-people-resistance'' equation but added that ''the Lebanese people no longer want this outdated equation.''

''He certainly does not want to give up his weapons, but eventually he must find a solution,'' Rajji said in an interview with the al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.

''This is an outlaw gang and it is not legitimate. We ask it to seek a solution, hand over its weapons and form a normal political party that has the creed it wants. I support total creed freedom and let its fighters return to their normal life and each member to his job,'' the minister added.

Hezbollah MPs lash out at Foreign Minister Rajji
[An Nahar] A number of Hezbollah MPs have lashed out at Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji, who is close to the Lebanese Forces, over his latest remarks on Hezbollah and its weapons.

“Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji’s remarks reflect the opinion of a political party, not the government. He used to fire bullets at people during the (civil) war, and now he is firing words,” MP Hassan Fadlallah said in an interview on al-Manar TV.

Responding to Rajji’s statement that the Lebanese people no longer want the so-called army-people-resistance equation, MP Ibrahim al-Moussawi said: “Which people are you referring to? The people who marched in the funeral of (Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah)? You are talking about hundreds of thousands of Lebanese people … Are you talking about the people who signed with their blood before their ink in the municipal elections to reiterate this equation?”

Slamming Rajji’s remarks as “irresponsible” and “shameful,” Moussawi said the people want to hear the minister talking about “Israeli occupation, aggression and daily assassinations.”

Link

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

Main political parties agree on coalition list for Beirut municipal elections — Naharnet

2025-05-07

[NAHARNET] The country's main political parties have agreed on forming a unified electoral list for Beirut's municipal vote, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

''A meeting was held yesterday at MP Fouad Makhzoumi's home in the presence of representatives of parties and Beiruti figures, which resulted in an agreement on forming a coalition list in Beirut,'' the daily said.

The list will comprise candidates nominated by Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, the Lebanese Forces
A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
, the Kataeb Party, 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...
and the Hunchak Party, the newspaper added. MP Nabil Bader and the Jamaa Islamiya meanwhile stayed outside the coalition, al-Akhbar said.

''Over the past hours, Bader contacted a number of figures trying to convince them to join a list that he intends to form in the face of the political forces' list, but he is facing difficulty in convincing these figures, who believe that it will be a lost battle,'' the daily added.

The Beirut Madinati civil society coalition, which garnered one third of the votes in 2016, is meanwhile expected to form a third list.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

IDF says it targeted Hezbollah weapons manufacturing, storage site in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley

2025-05-06

[IsraelTimes] The IDF confirms carrying out airstrikes in Lebanon this evening, saying it targeted infrastructure at a Hezbollah “strategic weapons” manufacturing and storage site in the Beqaa Valley area.

The strike was carried out after the military says it identified that Hezbollah was working to restore the facility, which had been targeted in the past.

Additionally, the IDF says it struck several more Hezbollah sites in the Srifa area of southern Lebanon this evening.

The Hezbollah activity and the presence of weapons in the targeted areas “constitute blatant violations of the understandings agreement between Israel and Lebanon,” the IDF adds.

More from the Times of Israel:

Lebanese media reports Israeli airstrikes in the Janta area in the Beqaa Valley, close to the border with Syria.

Israeli drone targets Aitaroun with three strikes
[AnNahar] An Israeli drone on Monday carried out three strikes on the southern town of Aitaroun near Israel’s border, the state-run National News Agency reported.

“An Israeli drone conducted three consecutive strikes on an open area on the outsirts of al-Mahafer-al-Mteit in the town of Aitaroun in the Bint Jbeil district while no casualties were reported,” NNA said.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

2012 Bulgaria bus bomber buried at Hezbollah cemetery in Lebanon

2025-04-13

[IsraelTimes] Ex-chief of Lebanese intel agency says he helped negotiate return of remains of terrorist who killed 5 Israelis, Bulgarian bus driver in Burgas

The Lebanese-French national who was accused of detonating explosives in a 2012 attack in Bulgaria that killed five Israeli tourists was buried in a cemetery designated for fallen Hezbollah terrorists, said a former Lebanese security official who negotiated the return of his remains.

The bomber was identified as Mohammad Hassan El-Husseini, 23. On July 18, 2012, he struck a group of Israeli tourists at Burgas Airport in Bulgaria, killing five Israelis, a Bulgarian bus driver, and injuring nearly 40 others, authorities said.

The explosion occurred shortly after the tourists, arriving on a charter flight from Tel Aviv, boarded a bus en route to their hotel. Israeli and Bulgarian authorities blamed the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah.

El-Husseini was eventually identified through a DNA analysis by Bulgarian Sherlocks working with Israeli, US, and European intelligence agencies.

The former head of the Lebanese General Security intelligence agency, Abbas Ibrahim, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that he helped negotiate the return of the remains on Thursday on behalf of El-Husseini’s family, who hired a lawyer in Bulgaria to handle the legal proceedings. He was buried Friday, Ibrahim said.

El-Husseini had entered Bulgaria days before the bombing using a fake Michigan driver’s license. He was part of a three-man Hezbollah cell operating across Europe, according to Sherlocks. His alleged accomplices — Meliad Farah, an Australian-Lebanese, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, a Canadian-Lebanese — were charged in absentia in 2016. Both remain on the lam despite international arrest warrants.

Investigators said the men traveled through Poland, Romania, and Germany, using fake identities to gather materials for the attack. Intelligence officials believe Hezbollah coordinated their training and logistics.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Army commander Joseph Aoun elected as president of Lebanon

2025-01-10

[HODHODYEMENNEWS.NET] The Lebanese Parliament elected on Thursday the army commander, Joseph Aoun, as president of the country, to be the 14th president of the Lebanese Republic.

This comes after more than two years of a presidential vacancy, following the end of the term of former president Michel Aoun
...former president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
Thus, Joseph Aoun is the fourth commander of the army who holds this position, as Emile Lahoud, Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
, and Michel Aoun preceded him.

Joseph Aoun served as Commander of the Lebanese Army. He held this mission since March 8, 2017, succeeding General Jean Kahwaji. The beginning of his military career in the army dates back to 1983.

Aoun was promoted until he attained the rank of brigadier general in 2013. He continued to hold military ranks, reaching the rank of general in 2017, with his appointment as army commander, occupying this position during one of the most sensitive periods in Leb
Leb

...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. Only one of those statements is an exaggeration....
During this period, Lebanon witnessed major security and political challenges, most notably the ''Dawn of the Outskirts'' battle in 2017, which the army fought with the resistance against terrorist organizations in the barren lands of the town of Arsal and al-Qaa, on the border with Syria.

The country also witnessed security challenges after the outbreak of protests on October 17, 2019, and the expanded Israeli war on Lebanon that lasted more than 60 days in 2023, which imposed new obligations on the Lebanese army, with the signing of the ceasefire agreement.

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

-Short Attention Span Theater-

NYT: Trump’s pick for MidEast adviser isn’t a billionaire mogul as believed, but the CEO of Nigerian truck company

2024-12-14

[IsraelTimes] US President-elect Donald Trump
...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
’s pick for Middle East adviser Massad Boulos is not the billionaire business mogul that many believed him to be, and is in fact the CEO of a small company that sells trucks and heavy machinery in Nigeria, the New York Times

...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reports.

Boulos, whose son is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, campaigned on behalf of Trump in the run-up to the elections, helping him drum up Arab American support amid the war 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 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 Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Leb
Leb

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

Home Front: Politix

Trump says Lebanese-American in-law will be senior aide on Arab and Mideast affairs

2024-12-02

[IsraelTimes] Boulos’s son Michael is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany. The businessman and lawyer played an integral role in expanding Trump’s support among Arab and Muslim Americans in last month’s election, echoing the GOP leader’s pledge to end wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Massad Boulos will likely work alongside Steve Witkoff, who Trump last month appointed as his special envoy for the Middle East.

A source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that Witkoff will deal more directly with Israel, while Boulos will be Trump’s point-man to Arab countries. The president-elect campaigned on expanding the Abraham Accords that he brokered at the end of his first term, which saw the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco normalize relations with Israel.

Boulus has also served as Trump’s conduit to Paleostinian Authority 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....>
, handing over a letter that the latter wrote to the then-Republican nominee condemning the July attempt on his life. Trump sent the letter back to Abbas with a note expressing thanks for the well-wishes.

Boulos then met Abbas in person on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September, and, earlier this month, coordinated the first phone call between the two leaders in over seven years, during which Abbas congratulated Trump on his election win.

In a Truth Social post announcing the appointment, Trump touted Boulos as a "highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene."

"He has been a longtime proponent of Republican and Conservative values, an asset to my Campaign, and was instrumental in building tremendous new coalitions with the Arab American Community," Trump continued. "Massad is a dealmaker and an unwavering supporter of PEACE in the Middle East."

It was the second time in recent days that Trump chose the father-in-law of one of his children to serve in his administration.

On Saturday, Trump said that he had picked his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, real estate mogul Charles Kushner, to serve as US ambassador to La Belle France.

In recent months, Boulos campaigned for Trump to drum up Lebanese and Arab American support, even as the US-backed Israel’s military campaign against Hezbollah in 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...
Boulos has powerful roots in both countries.

His father and grandfather were both figures in Lebanese politics and his father-in-law was a key funder of the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, a Christian party aligned with Hezbollah.

Boulos’s son, Michael, and Tiffany Trump were married in an elaborate ceremony at Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago Club in November 2022, after getting engaged in the White House Rose Garden during Trump’s first term.

Boulos has been in touch with interlocutors across Lebanon’s multipolar political world, three sources who spoke to him in recent months say, a rare feat in Lebanon, where decades-old rivalries between factions run deep.

Particularly notable is his ability to maintain relations with Hezbollah, they say. The Iranian-backed Shiite terror group has a large number of seats in Lebanon’s parliament and ministers in the government.

Boulos is a friend of Suleiman Frangieh, a Christian ally of Hezbollah and its candidate for Lebanon’s presidency. He is also in touch with 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 vehemently anti-Hezbollah Christian faction, the sources say, and has ties to independent politicians.

Aron Lund, a fellow at the Century Foundation think tank, said Boulos was well placed to influence Trump’s Middle East policy after playing a small but significant role in expanding Trump’s appeal to Arab American and Moslem voters during the campaign.

"Boulos’s Lebanese political past gives no real indication of a geostrategic or even national vision, but it demonstrates ambition and a set of political allies that will stand out in Trump’s circle like a sore thumb," Lund wrote.

Boulos, a billionaire with extensive business ties in Nigeria, was born in Lebanon, but moved to Texas as a teenager, where he attended the University of Houston, earned a law degree and became a US citizen.

Trump’s election win in Michigan came in part because of Boulos’s help flipping some of the 300,000 Arab Americans and Moslems in the state who overwhelmingly supported Biden in 2020, but opposed Biden’s policies in Israel, 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, Trump campaign officials and supporters told Rooters.

"Boulos played a big role in the outreach to Moslem voters," said Rabiul Chowdhury, co-founder of Moslems for Trump.

Beginning in September, the Trump campaign held weekly meetings in person and via Zoom with dozens of Arab American and Moslem civic leaders and business executives.

Boulos spent weeks on the ground in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and other states with big Arab American and Moslem populations, assuring audiences in private lunches and dinners that tapped his own connections to Lebanese American businessmen that Trump was committed to ending the wars in the Middle East.

The Trump campaign spent tens of millions of dollars on the effort to mobilize Arab American and Moslem voters, Boulos told Rooters in an interview shortly after the election.

Trump won endorsements from Moslem imams and the Moslem mayor of Hamtramck, another town near bankrupt, increasingly impoverished, reliably Democrat, Detroit
... ruled by Democrats since 1962. A city whose Golden Age included the Purple Gang...
with a large Arab American population, as well as the large Bangladeshi community, and courted Iraqi Americans, Albanian Americans and others.

While the events on the ground in Lebanon played a factor, the economy did too. And conservative Arabs and Moslems were concerned about what they saw as the Democrats
...every time you hear the phrase white people, white supremacy, white anything but paint, you're listening to a Democrat. Ask him/her/it to reimagine something for you; they do that a lot, though not well. They can hear a dog whistle a mile or two away. They invented the spoils system and Tammany Hall, and inspired the addition of the word (Thomas) Nasty to the English language. They want to stop continental drift and repeal the law of unintended side effects...
’ "far-left ideology," including support of transgender rights, Boulos said.

The new role could offer Boulos the kind of political clout he could not achieve in Lebanon. He had a brief run for Lebanon’s parliament in 2018 alongside pro-Hezbollah candidates, but since then he has not consistently aligned himself with any particular party, sources in Lebanon said.

He hails from a Greek Orthodox family. In Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system, that would cap his chances at a senior role in government at the level of deputy speaker of parliament. The post of president — the highest Christian role in the country — is reserved for Maronite Catholics.

While he used to travel to Lebanon frequently, he has not visited in the last four years, one of the sources said.

Link

Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Bassil eulogizes Nasrallah, says only state can protect Lebanon — Naharnet

2024-11-07

[NAHARNET] Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
chief Jebran Bassil has marked 40 days since Israel's 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...>
by publishing a eulogy and political statement in al-Akhbar newspaper.

Lamenting that he ''lost a friend who will not be repeated,'' Bassil noted that only ex-president, FPM founder and his father-in-law General Michel Aoun
...former president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
was dearer than Nasrallah to his heart.

''You wanted to avoid war and you believed in your ability to avert it through the deterrence equation, but it chased you and targeted you. You wanted to liberate Jerusalem, betting on the unity of arenas for that, but the capabilities of the Axis (of Resistance®) were smaller than your will,'' Bassil added, addressing Nasrallah.

Much, much smaller.

''Protecting 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...
will remain in our conscience and Israel's occupation of it will remain impossible. But we want to be frank with you as we have always been: that can no longer be achieved without a strong and just state that can lead a defense strategy that preserves all the elements of strength,'' Bassil went on to say.
"Yadda yadda yadda" he added

Link

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