Did Hezbollah try to assassinate Harariri? Did Iran and Hezbollah put a blockade on the airport?
There's this AP report, also Reuters, also ABC (correction - ABC uses AP report). Lot's of rumors flying around on internet discussion boards. No beep on CNN yet.
Are clashes in Yemen some-how related? What exactly is Iran brewing and is it connected to the EU "carrots" offer to cease nukes?
Finally - is the increasing Shiite violence in the past few days somehow related to Iranian desires to disrupt the Israeli 60th independence day? Is Bush's visit to Israel related?
Some insights from the AP article:
Lebanon's political crisis took a turn for the worse this week when the government decided to confront the powerful Hezbollah. The Cabinet on Tuesday said it would remove Beirut airport's security chief over alleged ties to Hezbollah.
The government also declared that a telecommunications network used by Hezbollah for military purposes was illegal and a danger to state security.
I suspect AP's reporter is biased (if not embedded with) in favor of the Shiites. Why else associate blame? The context is however quite wide and open to interpretation. Hezbollah were actively creating a state within a state and finally the non-Shiite sects took a stance.
In areas where government support is strong, some businesses were open but many people stayed off the streets and traffic was lighter than usual amid a heavy army presence.
...
Roads to the Beirut seaport also were blocked.
Sounds like civil war to me...
One more point I'd like to make: Hezbollah has maintained that they are the "protectors of Lebanon from the zionist oppression". Their recent moves obviously were not perceived as such by any Lebanese group.
Update
Hezbollah declares the Lebanese Army an enemy - I'm not sure who "ya-libnan" is associated with, but considering a headline like "Hezbollah holding Lebanon hostage, again" on their website, I assume they are not Shiite.
If anything, beyond the disinformation that's being promoted, it is clear that the groups opposed to Hezbollah are taking a strong stance. They have before and backed down, the key question is how long will they hold their own against the Shiite revolution this time.
Update 2
A revolution in Lebanon, Hostages at the international airport, and still not a front page story at CNN.Com. At least they managed to break the news - about 10 hours after every other media outlet did.
(com 2) They claim it's "just a labor union strike". And this note is even more curious: "Gunshots could be heard, but the origins were unclear."
ReplyDeleteBoohahaha! CNN are afraid of their own shadow - what and when did you expect from them to report?