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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese remember bloody past after Assad fall — Naharnet
2024-12-10
[NAHARNET] Across 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
Having failed to defeat Hezbollah in battle, Israel is looking for apostates and dividing Lebanon
2024-11-20
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Dmitry Polyakov

[REGNUM] A month and a half after the start of the ground operation in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the start of the second stage. The main goal is to destroy Hezbollah's missile potential.

The Israeli army has made its largest attempt to break into its northern neighbor's territory. At the same time, the Jewish state continues to carry out daily airstrikes on the "land of cedars." Not only the border areas in the south are under fire, but also the Bekaa Valley and the suburbs of Beirut.

However, behind the military component of the operation there are other aspects.

BETTING ON COLLABORATION
As a result of Israeli bombing in the border zone of Lebanon, more than 40 thousand residential buildings in almost 40 settlements have already been destroyed.
There is a price for hosting vicious, genocidal scum who turn out not to be strong or clever enough to carry it off.
It is noteworthy that there are several completely untouched towns in the area. Among them are Rmesh, Ain Ebel, Maroun ar-Ras, Dbel, located in the Bint Jebel region, and al-Klaya in the Marjayoun region. These small towns are populated mainly by Maronite Christians.
In other words, towns that are not hosting the vicious, genocidal scum, etc..
Formally, the reason these cities are not under Israeli attack is the mediation efforts of the Catholic Church. Residents regularly receive assurances from the Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador) in Lebanon that the Christian border areas will remain safe. In addition, a diplomatic representative of the Holy See has repeatedly visited the Lebanese-Israeli border since October 7, 2023, including on a humanitarian mission.

But Israel may also have other reasons for leaving Christian cities untouched.

One of the stated goals of the ground operation is to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
Said buffer zone having been defined by Israel as not hosting that vicious, genocidal scum, etc., exactly like those Christian cities/towns.
In the recent past, such a project was already implemented in the form of the so-called "South Lebanon Security Zone", which existed from 1985 to 2000. Formally, it was controlled by the South Lebanon Army (SLA), a paramilitary formation consisting of Maronites, Shiites and Druze. However, in reality, the zone was an Israeli protectorate with a military presence of the IDF.

It is noteworthy that many of the AJL commanders came from the cities of Rmesh, Dbel and Ain Ebel, which remain untouched today. In addition, it is known that the inhabitants of Marun ar-Ras and Klaia collaborated with Israel. It is quite possible that today the Jewish state is again returning to the tactics of interaction with the Maronite population. And there are some prerequisites for this.

Currently, Lebanese society is extremely polarized. There is no single position on the Israeli invasion. One part of the citizens supports the continuation of the resistance, while the other blames Hezbollah for the conflict and supports its disarmament, as well as negotiations with Israel.

This position is most often taken by supporters of right-wing nationalist parties, dominated by the Maronite Kataeb and Lebanese Forces. Moreover, during the Lebanese civil war (1975–1990), prominent Maronite families such as Gemayel and Chamoun briefly collaborated with the Jewish state to achieve their own political goals. Israel’s bet on the Maronites may therefore be a well-founded move.

DESTABILIZATION STRATEGY
Israel's current actions are aimed not only at inflicting a military defeat on Hezbollah, but also at significantly reducing support for the movement. This strategy is being implemented through the internal destabilization of its northern neighbor.

The systematic bombing of southern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley and the suburbs of Beirut suggests that Israel is seeking to displace more than a million Shiites, which in turn is expected to lead to social tensions in the "Land of the Cedars."

Already, about half a million Lebanese have fled the war to neighboring Syria, and almost 900,000 to the interior of the country. This has immediately caused tensions within Lebanese society. In addition, Israel has also begun to strike Shiite areas in cities where the majority of the population is made up of members of other faiths, which makes them see Shiites as a threat to their security.
…because they are…
Therefore, massive Israeli bombings are aimed not only at the military component, but also indirectly intensify interfaith confrontation.

Another goal the Jewish state likely wants to achieve through its attacks is to reduce support for Hezbollah within Shiite society.
The insight is blinding.
In Lebanon, the Shiite voice is not only Hezbollah, but also the Amal party. It is important to note that there are significant socioeconomic differences between their electorates. The first party has always been the focus of the disadvantaged strata of the population, while the second party has been the focus of the middle class and the bourgeoisie, which has created the image of Amal as a more respectable party in the Lebanese political system.
Does Amal also have a terrorist army, or is that Hezbollah’s special role?
Moreover, the stratification of Shiites also depends on their places of settlement. The Bekaa Valley is generally home to a poorer population. In southern Lebanon, on the contrary, citizens are more affluent. Most of the leaders of the Shiite community also come from this region. Understanding these differences, in recent years Hezbollah has been actively expanding its support base in the south of the country, taking away the electorate from Amal.

However, it is the southerners who have suffered the most in the current conflict. In order not to lose their support, the Party of God is allocating small compensation: $300 for a family of four and $100 for each adult male.
They have the funds for that after that billion dollars of gold and cash was burnt up?
However, these amounts are unlikely to cover all the damage incurred. As a result, there are already signs of discontent in the Shiite community, which may appear in the future.

Another consequence of the Israeli operation was the deepening of differences between Hezbollah's allies. First, tensions increased between Hezbollah and Amal. Following the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, Amal Secretary General Nabih Berri called for an unconditional ceasefire. His position was supported by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Druze leader Walid "Wally" Jumblatt.

All three agreed to a cessation of hostilities and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah and the redeployment of the Lebanese army to the south of the country.

Secondly, Gebran Bassil, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, another Hezbollah partner in the March 8 Coalition, also criticized the Shiite party. In his opinion, the “united fronts” strategy chosen by the “Axis of Resistance,” which implies the unification of all pro-Iranian forces against Israel, was a fatal mistake.

It is noticeable that as the conflict grows, Hezbollah's domestic political partners are increasingly distancing themselves from it and advocating for a ceasefire rather than continued resistance. In the current circumstances, the Party of God will be forced to either take their position into account and not put forward excessive conditions in the negotiations, or it will remain in the minority.

Thus, the current Israeli ground operation pursues several goals at once, and the military aspect is only one of them. In a month and a half of military action, the Jewish state was unable to destroy Hezbollah's military potential. However, it managed to change the conditions in which the Shiite movement exercised its power.

Lebanese society is becoming increasingly divided. Hezbollah is losing support among both its political partners and its supporters. Moreover, it no longer has control over the entire south of the country. These factors, rather than military superiority, may be decisive in the current conflict.
Those factors result from the IDF’s military superiority, not separate from it.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Bassil Calls for Repatriation of Syrian Refugees
2023-01-14
[ALMANAR] Head of Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
 Gebran Bassil
...arrogant, overbearing son-in-law of Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah suck-ass and wannabe Bashir al-Assad who plans on being president of what's left of Leb as soon as the old man's dead and the votes have been phonied up...
 urged the Lebanese government on Thursday to put in place further measures to cut the number of Syrian refugees in the country.
Get'em otta here!
In an FPM conference on refugees, Bassil said that Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ...
 must implement its plan to return the refugees and must apply local and international laws.

Bassil asked the international community to stop pressuring Lebanon, financing the displaced and making them scared of returning to their land.

"The international community must rather finance the safe return of refugees," Bassil said.

Lebanon has given shelter to more than 1 million Syrian refugees but many claim the number is far higher. The U.N. refugee agency has registered about 825,000 Syrians but stopped counting them in 2015 at the request of Lebanese authorities. Officials touted last year a plan to return 15,000 refugees a month, which has so far failed to materialize.

UNHCR says at least 76,500 Syrian refugees returned voluntarily from Lebanon since 2016, some in government-organized trips and some on their own.

Syria’s conflict that began in March 2011 has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon may be getting tired of Hezbollah
2022-01-03
[JPost] Perhaps wishful thinking, but let it happen.
Parliamentary elections in Lebanon that are scheduled for next year will be the first vote since the popular protests were launched in 2019.

First, it was Gebran Bassil, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the son-in-law of Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun, who attacked the Shia Islamist political party Hezbollah and said that there would be "political consequences" for its actions against his party as it continues blocking the Cabinet from meeting.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese Christian leader Gebran Bassil says alliance with Hezbollah imperiled
2022-01-03
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The head of Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...a formerly French, now an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. ...
’s largest Christian party said on Sunday that a 15-year-old alliance with the country’s powerful Shia group Hezbollah was no longer working and must evolve.

The televised speech by Gebran Bassil
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Aude Blasts Those Trying to Protect 'Criminals' in Port Blast Case
2021-12-13
[An Nahar] Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude on Sunday slammed the parties who are attempting to "conceal the truth and the criminals" in the Beirut port blast case, at a mass marking the 16th anniversary of the liquidation of Gebran Tueni."It is no longer acceptable for the government to remain paralyzed in its decisions and actions nor to remain subject to a political minority that acts as the ruling majority," Aude quoted Tueni as saying prior to his liquidation.

"As if Gebran was speaking about what’s happening today," he added.

"Tueni said in 2005 that the unveiling of the truth would mean that criminals, whoever they may be and wherever they may be, would no longer enjoy protection, but we were surprised by many crimes, topped by the capital’s explosion, and we were not surprised by the attempt to conceal the truth and the criminals," the Metropolitan went on to say.

Lamenting that "we’ve become used to hearing about such issues because this approach has deepened in Lebanon Hezbollahstan
...the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity™, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade...
," Aude decried that "the absence of holding any culprit accountable has led us to this lawlessness and to insulting the judiciary and judges and evading justice."



Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon: Berri Criticizes Aoun, Calls for Forming Cabinet Without Veto Power
2021-09-03
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch. In 2020 Hezbollahblew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate faci8lity exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that...
’s Parliament Speaker, Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
, criticized President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 over the government deadlock and called for forming a new cabinet in which the president has no veto power.

Berri also lashed at Aoun’s son-in-law and the head of the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, MP Gebran Bassil
...arrogant, overbearing son-in-law of Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah suck-ass and wannabe Bashir al-Assad who plans on being president of what's left of Leb as soon as the old man's dead and the votes have been phonied up...
, without naming him, denouncing his threats to withdraw from Parliament.

"For whose benefit is the threat of resignation from Parliament?" Berri asked.

He added: "We will not be false witnesses to the mass execution of the Lebanese people." The speaker was referring to earlier comments made by Bassil, who hinted that his bloc might withdraw from Parliament.

In a televised speech on the 43rd anniversary of the disappearance of the founder of Amal Movement, Imam Musa al-Sadr, Berri said: "Fear and anxiety this time over Lebanon are from the inside and not from the outside."

"We are facing an attempt to hijack Lebanon and bring it down from within," he warned.

He also called for speeding up the formation of the government, which should focus on addressing the fuel crisis, reviving the judiciary and security agencies to combat corruption, and holding the parliamentary elections on time.

Berri went on to say that a new government should be formed without a blocking third, referring to Aoun’s reported insistence on having a share in the cabinet that guarantees his allies’ right to veto ministerial decisions, despite the Presidential Palace’s denial.

The speaker also spoke of the Beirut port explosion, saying: "We were the first to extend a helping hand to the families of the deaders, and we affirmed that there is no immunity that covers any person involved" in the Aug. 2020 blast.

He added: "The judicial investigator is required to implement the laws, starting with the Constitution."

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US hails EU’s decision to adopt new sanctions regime on individuals in Lebanon that have caused the crisis-struck nation to an almost complete collapse
2021-07-31
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

After years of being urged to do so, the EU announced a sanctions regime that includes potential travel bans to the EU and asset freezes on entities linked to those sanctioned.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

According to a senior EU diplomat, Hungary was still opposed to the sanctions regime until late Thursday. Hungary has voiced its public support for Gebran Bassil, the Lebanese president’s son-in-law who was sanctioned by the US last year for acts of corruption.

The US has mainly been the sole enforcer of sanctions on Lebanese officials for acts of corruption or their ties to Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization by Washington and several European and Gulf countries.

But France, which distinguishes between the Iran-backed group’s so-called military and political wings, has been the major obstacle in the face of a unified international policy for Beirut.

US-based sources familiar with the matter have said the US is working on announcing more sanctions on Lebanese politicians or members of their inner circles in the near future.
Link


Good Morning
2021-06-17

Soros quietly drops $200,000 backing
another far-left prosecutor in Virginia
Thursday June 17th, 2021

sisters_g_1800
Hezbollah's multipurpose drug trade
Developed world obliged to help Afghanistan's COVID-19 fight
Gebran Bassil 'coerced' my father to apologize, says Lebanese woman hailed for confronting MP
Why Has Civil War Returned To Ethiopia?
Afghan Forces Retake Center of Kunduz%u2019s Khan Abad District
Yemenis have demanded that the lifting of the Houthi siege of Taiz should be included in any peace initiative to end the war
Shocking moment hooded thug batters man with cobblestone on NYC street after stalking the victim for several blocks and leaving him needing brain surgery

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Gebran Bassil 'coerced' my father to apologize, says Lebanese woman hailed for confronting MP
2021-06-17
[ARABNEWS] A Lebanese woman hailed as a hero for confronting the widely despised MP Gebran Bassil
...arrogant, overbearing son-in-law of Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah suck-ass and wannabe Bashir al-Assad who plans on being president of what's left of Leb as soon as the old man's dead and the votes have been phonied up...
, has vowed to remain defiant despite claiming her father was forced to apologize for her actions.

On Sunday, a video was widely shared of Yasmine Masri scuffling with bodyguards working for the head of the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
 [FPM] after she heckled him with a cry of "shame on you."

The brawl took place at a restaurant in Bassil’s home town of Batroun, northern Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch...
Masri said she was assaulted and had her phone broken by his security entourage but she told Arab News she was proud to confront Bassil. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
 she said her father had been "coerced into apologizing" for her the bust up.

On Tuesday, a photo of the MP and the 31-year-old woman’s father was published in Lebanese media along with a story saying he met Bassil and apologized for his daughter’s behavior.

Masri was having lunch with friends in a newly-opened restaurant in Batroun when she saw Bassil and his entourage.

Lebanese are furious with the ruling elite and blame them for plunging the country towards economic collapse.

As the son-in-law of Lebanese President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 and a strong political ally of Iran-backed Hezbollah, Bassil in particular has come to symbolize the country’s corrupt self-serving politicians.

Last year, the US issued sanctions against him, accusing him of being "notorious for corruption."

Speaking to Arab News, Masri said Bassil "forced her father in to apologizing under threat, blackmailing and shaming him." She preferred not to give details of the nature of the blackmail.

"I have received physical threats," she said. "Just now, shortly before responding to this interview my mother called and asked me to stop; saying she doesn’t want to pick me up injured from a hospital."

But Masri, who like many young Lebanese is broiling with anger over the country’s plight, vowed not to stop expressing herself.

The food and drink manager was angered that Bassil had the audacity to show up in public as if he had no responsibility for the country’s woes.

Recounting what happened, she felt within her rights to shout "shame on you" in Arabic.

She said Bassil sent his bodyguards over to her and they threatened to beat her.

"I told them go ahead and they started beating me ... then I took back my phone and followed them and took a video. Then they beat me again and threw my phone on the floor and broke it," she added.

Masri said FPM supporters chased her for up to four hours around Batroun after the initial clash and would not let her leave the area.

"Batroun’s pompous blowhards [supporters of FPM and Bassil] were spitting at me, insulting me and threatening me all over the place," she said.

Masri describes herself as a politically-independent civil society activist, who became active during widespread anti-government protests in October 2019.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese woman assaulted by bodyguards of lawmaker GebranBassil after she publicly shamed him in restaurant
2021-06-15
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanon: Macron Expects The Worst... Hariri Considers Stepping Down
2021-06-13
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] A senior political source stressed the need for Leb
...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch...
’s officials to deal seriously with the concerns expressed by French President Emmanuel Macron over the failure of efforts to form a government.

In comments to Asharq al-Awsat, the Lebanese source said that Macron was striving to ensure continued support to the Lebanese as their country is heading towards political vacuum, although he had pledged to defend his efforts to form a government that would lead the required reforms.

In a news conference on Thursday, Macron said: "We are technically working with several partners in the international community so that at some point, (...) if the absence of government persisted, we could succeed in preserving a system under international constraint, which would then allow the funding of essential activities and support for the Lebanese people."

According to the Lebanese politician, Macron’s announcement confirmed the failed negotiations to form the government, which returned to square one, without any breakthrough that can be relied upon to resume the consultations.

The French president insists on securing the minimum level of services for the Lebanese to fortify social security, which would reassure the military establishment and other security forces to enable them to maintain stability, according to the political source, who added that Gay Paree has almost given up hope that the ruling authority would be able to save Lebanon from collapse.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, the little lost dog had finished eating the rat terrier...
 a source in the Shiite duo (Amal Movement and Hezbollah) told Asharq al-Awsat that their recent meeting with the head of the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, MP Gebran Bassil, did not achieve any progress in the government formation issue, as the latter insists on granting President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
 a share of eight portfolios in a government of 24 ministers.

Sources well-informed of the meeting that took place between Bassil and the representatives of Amal Movement and Hezbollah stressed that Aoun has entrusted the government negotiations to his "political heir", which means that he was willingly giving up his powers.

"Hariri’s patience will not last indefinitely," according to the sources, who noted that the premier-designate was waiting for final answers from Aoun’s team to make a decision about maintaining his efforts or abandoning his mission.

Pending the developments of the coming days, Hariri’s decision will be based on coordination with his allies and consultation with Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
, who, for his part, launched an initiative to expedite the formation of the government.
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