Thomas Friedman, writing from Beirut, says that Hizbullah’s shine is rapidly wearing off the more its ally, the Syrian regime, continues killing its own people.
Thanks to former NMH Faculty member El Johnson, herself living in Beirut, for calling our attention to this piece:
Thomas Friedman, “Words of the Prophets,” New York Times Op-Ed piece, April 29, 2012
Yesterday, shots were fired across two borders shared with Syria: those of Lebanon and Turkey.
“With the populations in neighboring countries divided between those who support the opposition in Syria and those who hope that embattled President Bashar al-Assad will remain in power, some fear that the conflict could expand across the region and widen political, ethnic and religious fault lines.”
UPDATE — May 13, 2012 — Sunni vs. Alawite clashes in Tripoli point toward increasing spillover effect from the turmoil in Syria. Story at BBC
As I was reading in preparation for class this week, I came across this really cool timeline of the Arab Spring. For people who have a few extra minutes and want more information on the revolutions and aftermath in the Middle East, this is a really helpful website. What I like is that it gives both quick snippets about the events, but also provides a link to an article on what happened. Its put out by the Guardian, so all the links are to its own content, but it’s still helpful.
من الصحافة العربية - From the Arabic Press
Lebanon’s Iranian backed Shiite militia Hezbollah (“Party of God” ) is feared throughout the mainstream Arab world as a dangerous ”state within a state.” The indictments handed down by a UN backed tribunal this past week in the case of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which are believed to charge some members of Hezbollah with the crime, prompted the group’s leader Hasan Nasrallah to denounce the tribunal as a tool of Israel and the United States and to swear that the group would never allow its members to be arrested and tried. Hezbollah (also spelled Hizbullah) came within a whisker of taking over the country militarily in 2008.
The two cartoons below reflect fears of Hezbollah’s influence.
The cartoon at left is from Al-Sharq al-Awsat, July 3, 2011. The International Tribunal at right is “hammering” Hezbollah, which, in turn, is hammering Lebanon.
The cartoon at left is from Al-Sharq al-Awsat, July 4, 2011, and shows the International Tribunal about to walk Lebanon’s red carpet of welcome. However, Hezbollah is busily laying land mines along the way.
A UN backed tribunal has issued four arrest warrants in the case of the assassination of former Lebanese P.M. Rafik Hariri in Beirut in 2005.
من الصحافة العربية - From the Arabic Press
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, March 14, 2011
On Valentine’s Day, 2005, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut. Elements from Hizbullah and pro-Syrian interests to this day remain the prime suspects in a UN inquiry which has yet to release its conclusions. In the aftermath of the assassination, the streets of Beirut erupted in what was dubbed alternately “The Cedar Revolution” (after the national tree) or “The March 14th Movement” resulting ultimately in the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Six years on and thanks to the steady growth of Hizbullah’s power, Syria is making a comeback in Lebanese affairs; hence, in the cartoon Lebanon walks the knife blade at the six year mark. The caption at upper right reads “Six Years After the Cedar Revolution.”
Lebanon has a new Prime Minister: Najib Mikati. The worry for many is that he has the support of the Shiite movement Hizbullah (Hezbollah). While he is a Sunni, he is not in favor with the former Sunni PM Saad Hariri and his supporters. As a result, there have been protests in the streets of some Lebanese cities today.
Experts once again are blaming the instability on the sectarian nature of Lebanon’s constitution. As Gary Gambill explains,
“Lebanon is governed less by explicit constitutional provisions than by a body of political traditions reflecting elite consensus over the years. The 1926 constitution said very little about the nuts and bolts of Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system. It was the informal 1943 National Pact that reserved the presidency for Maronite Christians, the office of prime minister for Sunni Muslims, and (a few years later) the office of parliament speaker for Shiite Muslims, while apportioning parliament seats according to a fixed sectarian quota. This informal understanding became the cornerstone of Lebanon’s consociational democracy, cemented only by longstanding political precedence.”
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has thrown his hat in with Hizbullah in the race to form a new government in Lebanon:
Lamis Andoni, “Walid Jumblatt: Lebanon’s Kingmaker,” Al-Jazeera (English), Jan. 22, 2011
The Druze are a religious sect that branched off from the Ismaili Shiites in the eleventh century.
UPDATE — Jan. 24, 2011 –
“To nominate a prime minister, Hezbollah and its allies, which have 57 seats in the 128-member Parliament, need a total of 64 votes. Saad Hariri’s coalition has 60, and Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druse minority, has 11. Mr. Jumblatt, once an ally of Mr. Hariri’s, has emerged as the kingmaker, saying on Friday that he will stand by Hezbollah and Syria, which supports it. But given the divisions within Mr. Jumblatt’s own coalition, it is not clear how many votes will go to Hezbollah’s candidate.”
Nada Bakri, “Hezbollah Seeks to Ease Misgivings Before Talks,” New York Times, Jan. 24, 2011
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