Uprooted Palestinian: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM – سلام القدس عليكم: 17/10/2021

Saturday, 23 October 2021

Sayyed Nasrallah to ’Israel’: We’ll Act Appropriately if Our Oil is in Danger, Palestine Muslims’ Main Cause

October 23, 2021

Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered on Friday night a speech in which he tackled various regional and internal topics.

Addressing thousands of people in Dahyieh [Southern Suburb of Beirut], Sayyed Nasrallah congratulated the Muslim world on the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad [PBUH], and his grandson Imam Jaafar al-Sadiq [AS], and the Muslim Unity Week.

The Prophet of Mercy&Unity

On the event of celebration, His Eminence explained that “Among the blessings of Imam Khomeini and the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran is the point that appears to be creating disputes, which he turned to a point of unity when he called to labelling the period between the 12th and 17th of Rabiul Awwal as a Muslim Unity Week [between Sunni & Shia Muslims].”

“We must get to know Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] to be our model in life; and we cannot get to know Islam or the Muslim Sharia law without getting to know this prophet, his behavior, words and biography,” he added.

In parallel, the Resistance Leader underscored that “There is an Ummah [nation] which Prophet Mohammad [PBUH] has brought from the darkness of ignorance, dispersion, illiteracy, and getting lost through building a state for Islam, and conveying the divine religion and the eternal message.”

Sayyed Nasrallah further highlighted that “Among Prophet Mohammad [PBUH]’s achievements was that he altered the view towards humanity, in which he annulled all values of ignorance and applied the Islamic system; the Quran confronted looking to women as inferiors and praised them instead.”

“No inner peace was present during the Age of Ignorance. People were killed or attacked for any reason,” he stated, noting that “The Messenger of Allah achieved an inner peace that can’t be even imposed by police or army. It was a peace from within minds, hearts, and souls made by culture and piety.”

Meanwhile, His Eminence clarified that “The humankind is responsible for their countries, people, lands, honors and dignities of people once attacked. This is the religion of Prophet Mohammad [PBUH].”

“Those who are mostly praised by Allah are the ones who know the rights of their brothers and try their best to satisfy such rights,” Hezbollah Secretary General confirmed.

Palestine Main Cause

Moving to the regional front, Sayyed Nasrallah reiterated that “The top priority and responsibility among Muslims is Palestine with its opressed people, detainees , refugees and violated sanctities that every human being must be concerned about.”

“Among the most important battles any person can engage in against normalization is to boycott ‘Israel’,” he emphaized, pointing out that “Funding the Palestinian Resistance is a great responsibility that Arabs, Muslims and humans must shoulder.”
Normalization with “Israel”

On the same level, His Eminence hailed the “Bahraini youth- who protested normalization with ‘Israel’- given the fact that they faced the police crackdown and are fully aware of the repercussions of their support of Palestine.”

“The position of the Bahraini scholars as well as Yemen and its people in denouncing normalization and supporting Palestine is an expression of commitment to the Islamic duty and responsibility,” he stressed, noting that “The US and some Arab regimes want our Arab and Muslim people to eliminate even this hatred through cementing normalization. They want us to love and praise ‘Israel’.”

Sayyed Nasrallah also underlined that “The conference of normalization in Erbil was a trial that if not blasted, it would have been followed by similar conspiracies.”

In addition, the Resistance Leader viewed that “Announcing a cease-fire in Yemen while the siege in place means the continuation of the war,” denouncing the fact that “Instead of condemning the victim in Yemen, the international community must listen to the popular will of the millions of Yemenis.”

Brutal Daesh

On another level, Sayyed Nasrallah said that “It is strange and surprising that some sides remain silent regarding Daesh’s [Arabic Acronym for the terrorist ‘ISIS/ISIL group] brutal crimes.”

“Islamic unity means cooperation, rapprochement and integration among Muslims and avoiding fighting among them,” he reminded, lamenting the fact that “It is unfortunate what Daesh has achieved in the name of the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH], while the Americans say that they’ve created Daesh, and there are those who do not want to listen.”

Clarifying that “Muslims have triumphed in all arenas where they cooperated and united with each other,” His Eminence mentioned that “The greatest responsibility on Muslim scholars and elites is to prevent any action that could lead to sedition.”

In response, Sayyed Nasrallah urged the “continued political, popular, and media condemnation of all those who were about to push Lebanon towards strife,” pointing out that “The resistance in Lebanon emerged victorious by cooperation and collaboration, and the resistance in Palestine wins when it is united on the internal and external fronts with the axis of resistance.”

A Sounding Message to “Israel”

Regarding the bloody massacre in Tayouneh, His Eminence underlined that “Hezbollah is following up with the investigation, which is good and brave.”

On the issue of border demarcation, Hezbollah Secretary General declared that his party “won’t say anything related to the land and maritime border demarcation, which is left to the Lebanese state.”

“The ‘Israeli’ enemy is illusional if it thinks that it can act freely in the disputed maritinme area before reaching a firm conclusion,” Sayyed Nasrallah announced, noting that “At the appropriate time, when the resistance sees that Lebanon’s oil is in danger, it will act on this basis.”

On another level, His Eminence stated We don’t have any problem in the issue of the Hezbollah has no problem with “negotiating with the International Monetary Fund and we hope that Lebanon would send one united and real delegation.”
“The wealthy have responsibilities towards those who are under the line of poverty, and tradesmen shouldn’t monopolize the goods or raise the prices,” he concluded.

Sayyed Nasrallah to ’Israel’: We’ll Act Appropriately if Our Oil is in Danger, Palestine Muslims’ Main Cause

October 23, 2021

By Al-Ahed news

Hezbollah Secretary General His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah delivered on Friday night a speech in which he tackled various regional and internal topics.

The Prophet of Mercy&Unity

“Those who are mostly praised by Allah are the ones who know the rights of their brothers and try their best to satisfy such rights,” Hezbollah Secretary General confirmed.

Palestine Main Cause

Sayyed Nasrallah also underlined that “The conference of normalization in Erbil was a trial that if not blasted, it would have been followed by similar conspiracies.”

Brutal Daesh

On another level, Sayyed Nasrallah said that “It is strange and surprising that some sides remain silent regarding Daesh’s [Arabic Acronym for the terrorist ‘ISIS/ISIL group] brutal crimes.”

A Sounding Message to “Israel”

Regarding the bloody massacre in Tayouneh, His Eminence underlined that “Hezbollah is following up with the investigation, which is good and brave.”

Geagea Summoned by Military Court over Tayouneh Ambush, Refuses to Testify

October 22, 2021

Head of Lebanese Forces militia Samir Geagea was summoned by Lebanon’s military court for questioning over the deadly ambush which killed seven civilians earlier last week in Tayouneh.

Both Reuters news agency and local media reported the move late Thursday, noting that it was based on confessions made by militants who were arrested on the day of the deadly shooting.

“The government commissioner to the military court Judge Fadi Akiki gave a signal to listen to the testimony of the head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, in the Tayouneh file,” Reuters news agency quoted informed sources as saying.

“Confessions made by the detainees in this file… Judge Akiki’s reference requires that Geagea be heard before him in the military court,” the sources added.

Commenting on the summoning, Geagea said he has not yet received a request to listen to his statement, but noted that if this happens he will not appear before the Military Court if Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah is not also summoned.

“The commissioner should listen first to Sayyed Nasrallah,” he said in an interview with MTV local channel.

The head of the notorious militia who committed massacres during the 15-year civil war claimed that his party “has a license,” while Hezbollah has not, without referring to the deadly shooting in this regard.

On October 14, seven Lebanese civilians were martyred as Lebanese Forces (LF) militants and snipers opened fire at peaceful demonstrators protesting against politicization of investigation into last year’s powerful Beirut Port blast.

Among the victims were a passerby and a woman who were shot in their heads by (LF) snipers.

Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah lashed out at the LF, saying that its project is to ignite a civil war in the country. In a speech on Monday (October 18), Sayyed Nasrallah hit back at Geagea threat that the LF has 15,000 militants, warning him against miscalculation with the powerful Lebanese Resistance movement.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

Al-Manar Security Sources: Confessions of the Arrested for Tayouneh Crime Led to Issuance of Subpoena against Geagea

October 22, 2021

Security sources told Al-Manar TV that 25 suspects have been arrested for Tayouneh crime, adding that their confessions led to the identification of the culprits in the attack on the protesters and the locations in the scene surrounding.

The confessions also revealed that some of the culprits were holding guns and hiding inside cars in the neighborhoods close to the protest, according to Al-Manar sources.

The security sources added that a considerable number of the culprits have got out of sight.

The sources noted that political interventions led to procrastination of the issuance of subpoena against the head of the “Lebanese Forces” militia, Samir Geagea in order to identify the legal authority which will hear his testimony.

Seven martyrs and around 30 injured were reported during the armed attack carried out by the “Lebanese Forces” militiamen on the peaceful protestors in Tayouneh area on Thursday, October 14. The protesters were demonstrating against the politicized decisions of Al-Bitar.

Source: Al-Manar English Website

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Islamic Jihad Detainees Emerge Victorious in Battle of “Empty Stomachs”

22.10.2021

By Staff

In yet another victory scored by the Palestinian ‘Islamic Jihad’ detainees, the resistance movement’s Leadership Committee announced that its detainees have suspended their hunger strike, declaring victory against the ‘Israeli’ occupation prisons administration.

A statement made by Islamic Jihad spokesman Tarek Izzeddine mentioned that “in a rapid development, the committee decided to suspend the strike, declaring to our people the victory of our resistance fighters in the battle of empty stomachs.”

He, however, made clear that details of the deal will be announced later.

“The victory of the detainees in their hunger strike against the occupation’s prisons administration is a victory of the entire Palestinian people and a turning point in the confrontation with the jailer to achieve the demands, adding that breaking the pride of the occupation at the hands of the Islamic Jihad has been certain.

The committee also explained that the decision to suspend the open hunger strike was made after the ‘Israeli’ prisons’ administration has submitted to most of the Islamic Jihad detainees’ demands, atop of which was to stop the brutal campaign against them, return the isolated ones, and improve the conditions of the female detainees.

Additionally, the committee thanked the Palestinian people and the free people of the world who supported this movement to preserve the organizational identity and the heritage of the Palestinian martyrs.

Lebanon: Samir Geagea Summoned By Lebanon’s Military Court over Tayouneh Ambush

22.10.2021

Source: Agencies

By Al Mayadeen

The summon follows incriminating confessions made by members of the Lebanese Forces.

Visual search query image — Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea

Lebanese Forces Leader Samir Geagea was summoned by Lebanon’s military court for questioning over a shooting attack on a peaceful demonstration in Tayouneh. The summons follows incriminating confessions given by some of the arrested Lebanese Forces members, according to a source cited by Reuters.

Lebanon’s Interior Ministry has lately confirmed that the Lebanese Forces party was behind the attack that left 7 martyrs, saying that rooftop snipers aimed directly at people’s heads.

What do you need to know?

On Oct. 14, hundreds of Lebanese citizens were marching towards the Palace of Justice in Beirut. Protesters desired to object to the politicization of what was supposed to be a uniquely juridical process regarding the Beirut Port explosion that rocked the city almost a year and a half ago.

The demonstration was supposed to be a peaceful act but the reaction the protesters received was not – some did not make it back home to their families. According to security reports cited by various Lebanese media outlets, it is almost certain that at some point in the march, the latter came under fire from snipers belonging to the Lebanese Forces Party (LF). The ambush left 7 people dead including Maryam, a mother of 5, who was deliberately sniped while attempting to get her children to safety after hearing gunfire.

Who is Samir Geagea?

Samir Geagea, the head of the current LF party, has a long history of massacres. In 1978, Geagea headed an assassination squad that broke into Tony Frangieh’s home, the head of a rival faction named Al-Marda, and assassinated Frangie in cold blood, along with his wife and 3-year-old child.

What did Nasrallah say?

Sayyed Nasrallah: ’LF’ The Biggest Existential Threat to Christians; Hezbollah Has 100k Fighters to Defend Lebanon

“The real endgame of the Lebanese Forces is to ignite a civil war that would lead to demographic change.”

This is what the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, revealed in his speech on the recent developments in Lebanon after the Tayouneh ambush.

Sayyed Nasrallah confirmed the desire of a party [The Lebanese Forces] to make “our people in Ain al-Remmaneh and Furn El Chebbak” believe that their surrounding neighbors in the Southern suburbs are their enemies, decrying the labeling of the murder of demonstrators as “an act of resistance” by some of the LF’s officials.

The Secretary-General pointed out that the head of this party is trying to generate an imaginary internal enemy in the hopes of keeping Christians worried about their local presence, thus spreading desperation in order to anoint himself as “the defender of Christians.”

The LF and its leader were not mentioned by name previously in order to avoid raising tension, the Secretary-General noted, despite the recurrent insults Hezbollah received from the right-wing party.

Lebanese and international condemnations

Former Lebanese Prime Ministers Fouad Siniora, Saad Hariri, and Tammam Salam expressed their “deep shock and sorrow,” and completely condemned the reprehensible events which left seven martyrs in the Tayouneh (Beirut) area.

In the same context, the international response continued on the recent Lebanese events, as Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran issued statements regarding the ambush.

From Russia, With (Taliban) Love

October 22, 2021

By Pepe Escobar posted with permission and cross posted with The Cradle

Facing high expectations, a five-man band Taliban finally played in Moscow. Yet the star of the show, predictably, was the Mick Jagger of geopolitics: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Right from the start, Lavrov set the tone for the Moscow format consultations, which boast the merit of “uniting Afghanistan with all neighboring countries.” Without skipping a beat, he addressed the US elephant in the room – or lack thereof: “Our American colleagues chose not to participate,” actually “for the second time, evading an extended troika-format meeting.”

Asia’s powerbrokers dropped an Afghan bombshell in Moscow today: ‘the country’s reconstruction must be paid for by its military occupiers of 20 years.’

Washington invoked hazy “logistical reasons” for its absence.

The troika, which used to meet in Doha, consists of Russia, the US, China and Pakistan. The extended troika in Moscow this week featured Russia, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and all five Central Asian ‘stans.’ That, in essence, made it a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, at the highest level.

Lavrov’s presentation essentially expanded on the themes highlighted by the recent SCO Dushanbe Declaration: Afghanistan should be an “independent, neutral, united, democratic and peaceful state, free of terrorism, war and drugs,” and bearing an inclusive government “with representatives from all ethnic, religious and political groups.”

The joint statement issued after the meeting may not have been exactly a thriller. But then, right at the end, paragraph 9 offers the real bombshell:

“The sides have proposed to launch a collective initiative to convene a broad-based international donor conference under the auspices of the United Nations as soon as possible, certainly with the understanding that the core burden of post-conflict economic and financial reconstruction and development of Afghanistan must be shouldered by troop-based actors which were in the country for the past 20 years.”

The West will argue that a donor conference of sorts already happened: that was the G-20 special summit via videoconference earlier in October, which included UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Then, last week, much was made of a European promise of 1 billion euros in humanitarian aid, which, as it stands, remains extremely vague, with no concrete details.

At the G-20, European diplomats admitted, behind closed doors, that the main rift was between the West “wanting to tell the Taliban how to run their country and how to treat women” as necessary conditions in exchange for some help, compared to Russia and China following their non-interference foreign policy mandates.

Afghanistan’s neighbors, Iran and Pakistan, were not invited to the G-20, and that’s nonsensical. It’s an open question whether the official G-20 in Rome, on 30-31 October, will also address Afghanistan along with the main themes: climate change, Covid-19, and a still elusive global economic recovery.

No US in Central Asia

So the Moscow format, as Lavrov duly stressed, remains the go-to forum when it comes to addressing Afghanistan’s serious challenges.

Now we come to the crunch. The notion that the economic and financial reconstruction of Afghanistan should be conducted mainly by the former imperial occupier and its NATO minions – quaintly referred to as “troop-based actors” – is a non-starter.

The US does not do nation-building – as the entire Global South knows by experience. Even to unblock the nearly $10 billion of the Afghan Central Bank confiscated by Washington will be a hard slog. The IMF predicted that without foreign help the Afghan economy may shrink by 30 percent.

The Taliban, led by second Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, tried to put on a brave face. Hanafi argued that the current interim government is already inclusive: after all, over 500,000 employees of the former administration have kept their jobs.

But once again, much precious detail was lost in translation, and the Taliban lacked a frontline figure capable of capturing the Eurasian imagination. The mystery persists: where is Mullah Baradar?

Baradar, who led the political office in Doha, was widely tipped to be the face of the Taliban to the outside world after the group’s takeover of Kabul on 15 August. He has been effectively sidelined.

The background to the Moscow format, though, offers a few nuggets. There were no leaks – but diplomats hinted it was tense. Russia had to play careful mediator, especially when it came to addressing grievances by India and concerns by Tajikistan.

Everyone knew that Russia – and all the other players – would not recognize the Taliban as the new Afghan government, at least not yet. That’s not the point. The priority once again had to be impressed on the Taliban leadership: no safe haven for any jihadi outfits that may attack “third countries, especially the neighbors,” as Lavrov stressed.

When President Putin casually drops the information, on the record, that there are at least 2,000 ISIS-K jihadis in northern Afghanistan, this means Russian intel knows exactly where they are, and has the capabilities to snuff them, should the Taliban signal help is needed.

Now compare it with NATO – fresh from its massive Afghan humiliation – holding a summit of defense ministers in Brussels this Thursday and Friday to basically lecture the Taliban. NATO’s secretary-general, the spectacularly mediocre Jens Stoltenberg, insists that “the Taliban are accountable to NATO” over addressing terrorism and human rights.

As if this was not inconsequential enough, what really matters – as background to the Moscow format – is how the Russians flatly refused a US request to deploy their intel apparatus somewhere in Central Asia, in theory, to monitor Afghanistan.

First they wanted a “temporary” military base in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan: Putin–Biden actually discussed it at the Geneva summit. Putin counter-offered, half in jest, to host the Americans in a Russian base, probably in Tajikistan. Moscow gleefully played along for a few weeks just to reach an immovable conclusion: there’s no place for any US “counter-terrorism” shenanigans in Central Asia.

To sum it all up, Lavrov in Moscow was extremely conciliatory. He stressed how the Moscow format participants plan to use all opportunities for “including” the Taliban via several multilateral bodies, such as the UN, the SCO – where Afghanistan is an observer nation – and crucially, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), which is a military alliance.

So many layers of ‘inclusiveness’ beckon. Humanitarian help from SCO nations like Pakistan, Russia and China is on its way. The last thing the Taliban need is to be ‘accountable’ to brain-dead NATO.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

Beirut Shootings: How Western Media Manipulation Hides the Murky Hand of US Imperialism

Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on OCTOBER 22, 2021

Steve Sweeney

The attack bore all the hallmarks of a US-backed intervention, and it doesn’t take much digging to find the links between the murky hand of Washington and the dark forces behind the bloodshed on the streets and a cover-up by a compliant western media.

Last week’s killing of seven people in the Lebanese capital Beirut, widely believed to be carried out by a far-right Christian fascist militia, is a worrying sign that the US wants to provoke a new civil war to destabilize the country in a change in its Middle East strategy.

The attack bore all the hallmarks of a US-backed intervention, and it doesn’t take much digging to find the links between the murky hand of Washington and the dark forces behind the bloodshed on the streets and a cover-up by a compliant western media.

Supporters of the Shi’ite Amal and Hezbollah movements were fired upon as they made their way to the Palace of Justice for a peaceful demonstration against what they perceive as the politicization of a probe into last year’s devastating port explosion.

The judge heading up the investigations, Tarek Bitar, is being directed by the US Embassy they claim, accusing him of unfairly and disproportionately targeting their allies while ignoring those close to Washington.

They may have a point. But the debate over the fairness and transparency of the judicial report is a side issue to the events that took place in the Tayouneh district of Beirut last week.

A peaceful march that had been approved by the authorities was fired upon by snipers placed on buildings along its route. It was an ambush by US-backed fascists who are hell-bent on plunging Lebanon into chaos.

None of the seven people killed in the protest were armed. Among the dead was Meryem Farhat, a mother shot through the head as she was getting ready to collect her child from kindergarten. Delivery driver Ali Ibrahim was also killed by sniper fire.

Not that you would know any of this judging by how the incident was reported by the western press. Readers would be forgiven for thinking that it was a Hezbollah march that turned violent, with the movement seemingly responsible for the deaths of its own supporters.

Liberal British mouthpiece The Guardian explained to its readers: “The trigger for the clashes in neighborhoods near the justice courts, which left dozens more injured, was a protest by members of Amal and Hezbollah, two predominantly Shia political parties, against a judicial probe into the massive blast in the port last year.”

“…eyewitnesses said they heard at least two explosions near the site where a protest was supposed to be held by Iran-backed Shia militia Hezbollah against a judge who is investigating last year’s devastating blast at Beirut’s port. Thursday’s shootings mark the deadliest civil violence in Beirut since 2008,” reported the part Saudi-owned Independent.

It concluded in carefully chosen language: “The heavily armed Hezbollah has accused Mr. Bitar of conducting a politicized probe.”

The Independent failed to mention the Lebanese Forces at all. Instead, it opted to make vague references to ‘unidentified gunmen.’ The Guardian mentioned their name once, but only to say that Hezbollah ‘claimed’ to have been shot at by the Christian militia.

The rest of the article followed a similar pattern to that of The Independent, containing snippets such as ‘chants of “Shia, Shia, Shia’ were heard on the streets.

“Large numbers of men brandishing weapons took to the streets throughout the day, and gun trucks flying Hezbollah and Amal flags paraded through the Bekaa Valley in a show of strength not seen since Hezbollah overran west Beirut in May 2008…” it added, failing to mention that Bekaa is nowhere near the Lebanese capital. This was the crowning glory of The Guardian hatchet job, evoking images of violent Muslims seeking to overthrow Lebanon, no doubt to impose an Islamist caliphate.

France 24 went with: “Last week, Hezbollah led a protest to demand his dismissal. It sparked a gun battle in the heart of Beirut that left seven people dead and reignited fears of new sectarian violence.”

It continued with a paragraph about “hostage diplomacy and what it means for those imprisoned by Tehran” in an exceptionally tenuous attempt to link the shootings to Iran.

That they let the Lebanese Forces, a US-backed right-wing militia led by a war criminal, off the hook is no mere accident.

Nor is the reporting down to lazy journalism. This would be to deny the role of the media as a propaganda tool used and manipulated by western imperialism to manufacture a consensus among the public.

That is that Hezbollah and Amal are the bad guys and it is up to the west, always the good guys in any situation, to step in and save the people of Lebanon from their evil clutches.

The use of descriptions such as ‘Iran-backed Shia militia Hezbollah’ is a not particularly subtle, but deliberate attempt to paint the movement – which is a legitimate political force with representatives in the Lebanese parliament – as a foreign-controlled entity.

The irony of this is, that it is, in fact, the very group responsible for the attack that is in hock to external forces, namely the US, “Israel” and Saudi Arabia who see the Lebanese Forces as its proxy inside the country.

It is perhaps best known in the west for its role in the brutal massacre of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children on behalf of “Israel” at the Sabra and Chatila camps during the Lebanese civil war.

I visited the camps and met survivors of the three-day pogrom in Beirut earlier this year and they described how the Christian militia raped and executed more than three thousand defenseless people, as the camps were surrounded by Israeli soldiers.

The leader of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, has been convicted of war crimes, sentenced to life in prison for ordering four political assassinations, including that of former prime minister Rashid Karami in 1988.

For many, he will always be associated with the massacre of scores of people, including the bombing of Sayidat al-Najat church in Jounieh killing 10 people and wounding 54, with Christians also targeted by the bloodthirsty Geagea.

But he was released under an amnesty in 2005 following Lebanon’s so-called Cedar Revolution which took place after the assassination of prime minister Rafik Hariri, the perpetrators of which have never been brought to justice.

Geagea’s propulsion into the limelight once more comes with the US suffering a series of defeats across the Middle East, including its humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan and its failure to dislodge Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

His reelection in May has led many Arab and European nations to restore diplomatic relations with Damascus, with border crossings reopening along with the return of ambassadors and consulates as they recognize political reality.

But Assad could not have held on to power without the explicit support of the Syrian people. No leader could have withstood the pressure exerted on him without it.

Not only has he defeated Washington’s regime-change operations – he has come out the other side stronger, having faced down five US presidents; Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden.

The US now appears to be strengthening its relations with Kurds in the north of the country once more where its soldiers are based as an occupying force. The Biden administration recently announced there would be no troop withdrawal, reassuring Kurdish officials after the debacle in Afghanistan.

Despite Assad’s plans for decentralization announced in April, the Kurdish administration there is pursuing a policy that seeks political recognition from the US. It is a move that has alienated many of its supporters and undermines its dismissal of claims it acts as a “proxy force” in the region.

Having lost the military and now the political war on Syria, it seems logical that the US would change its strategy to foment further instability in Lebanon, with a return to civil war only serving to benefit Washington and Tel Aviv as they hope for the sectarian division of the country.

The hands of the US were all over the Tayouneh attack, which came straight out of the Washington/CIA copybook, mirroring its interventions and use of proxy forces to oust governments or prop up its client states in Latin America and across the world.

Geagea’s militia – many of whom have been trained by “Israel” – would be an obvious choice for the US given his previous overtures to Washington, confirmed in a 2008 Wikileaks cable.

He claimed that the Lebanese Forces had as many as 10,000 well-trained soldiers, telling the US embassy: “We can fight against Hezbollah. We just need your support to get arms for these fighters.”

But, speaking in a public address on Monday, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah explained that the Shi’ite movement commands a 100,000 fighters-strong military structure, dwarfing that of the Lebanese Forces. The difference between the two, he pointed out, is that Hezbollah’s forces protect the Lebanese people.

It may be enough to concentrate the minds of the more pragmatic US officials, but the links between Washington and the Lebanese Forces run much deeper than that of Geagea who, despite his delusions of grandeur, remains a marginal figure and is unlikely to be trusted with a leading political role.

Walid Phares, a former leading light in the Lebanese Forces, now acts as a national security advisor and consultant on Middle Eastern politics in the US. Fleeing the country in 1990, he went on to advise the presidential election campaigns of Mitt Romney and then Donald Trump.

During the Lebanese Civil War, Phares told Christian militiamen that they were the vanguard of a war between the West and Islam. He justified the fight against Muslims by saying “we must have our own country, our own state, our own entity, and we have to be separate.”

Despite his peddling of far-right, Islamophobic conspiracy theories, he has rebranded himself as an academic and has testified to international bodies including the European Parliament and UN Security Council on international security matters and the Middle East.

He does not appear to have held any official government post, but his closeness to a former president and his movement in elite circles is clearly a cause for alarm.

The links do not end there. Soon after the shootings, journalist Hosein Mortada claimed to have identified one of the snipers as Shukri Abu Saab – who he said works as a security official at the US embassy.

Perhaps unsurprisingly there has been a blanket media silence over the revelations, while the embassy itself has not responded to the allegations, raising suspicions further.

US ambassador Dorothy Shea has long been accused of using the embassy as an outpost for the imperialist carve-up of Lebanon and opening the country up to the mercy of the World Bank and the IMF.

It may be passed off as a mere coincidence that under secretary of state Victoria Nuland was in the Lebanese capital at the time the ambush took place, pledging an additional $67 million to the country’s armed forces as she demanded economic reform and the need to hold elections as a prerequisite for continued US support.

It also may be a mere coincidence that the Lebanese army changed its narrative of events soon after the US cash boost to appear to blame Hezbollah for its own supporters being shot at. This is despite footage circulating that appears to show a Lebanese soldier shooting at protesters.

But the attempts to destabilize Lebanon came soon after the formation of a new government, ending 13-months of political deadlock, along with the US failure to disarm Hezbollah despite sanctions and other external pressure.

The US is also angered after Hezbollah smashed sanctions imposed by Washington on Iran and Syria, by importing oil to alleviate Lebanon’s fuel crisis. This slap in the face for imperialism was a humiliating defeat, breaking the siege of Lebanon with ease and at the same time rendering the restrictive measures meaningless.

It also exposed the declining power of the US on a global stage, with the dollar at risk of losing its position as the world currency and with it Washington’s ability to control global financial markets.

Solidarity among nations has proved vital in defeating the US, and it is solidarity among the Lebanese people that will help the country rise up once more and consign the likes of Geagea and the Lebanese Forces along with all those who seek to destroy Lebanon to the dustbin of history.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!

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Saturday, 23 October 2021

What do you need to know?

Who is Samir Geagea?

What did Nasrallah say?

Lebanese and international condemnations