Hezbollah Riots in Lebanon
Michael J Totten (H/T: Michelle)
While I was in Lebanon gathering the material I've been publishing, Hezbollah kept threatening to strangle the country by seizing major roads, including the one that leads to the airport. I was worried I might get stuck there, but I didn't. Today, though, they finally make good on their threat. Palestinian guerillas are reportedly helping.
Future TV and LBC say there are clashes between rioters and commuters. Cars, as well as tires, are burning.
UPDATE: Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Seniora accuses Hezbollah of intimidation and terrorism. He may be over-reacting a bit with the t-word in this context, but it's telling because he used to call them a "resistance" movement instead of terrorists. Those days are gone.
UPDATE: ...
Read the whole thing and keep checking back for updates.
*** Iran/Hezbollah Makes Its Move
Jules Crittenden
While we’re distracted with Billary, Obama, SOTU, surge, etc., Iran and its Hezbollah stooges are making their move in Lebanon. Haaretz report here. Two people were killed and at least 100 more wounded Tuesday in clashes during a Lebanese general strike called by the Hezbollah-led opposition in a bid to topple Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s Western-backed government.
Lebanon’s anti-Syrian majority leaders Tuesday accused the opposition of staging a “coup” against the government by blocking major roads. Thousands of protesters blocked main roads in Beirut and around the country with rubble and burning tires as the strike began.
“This is a coup d’etat. This is a revolt in all sense of the word,” Christian leader Samir Geagea told the Lebanese television station LBCI.
Freedoms Zone’s own Blacksmiths of Lebanon are all over it. Blacksmith Jade in comments below has more on the timing: [...]
This is actually bad timing by the mullahs. The day George Bush is due to speak to Congress, Islamic Terrorism and Regional Domination Inc. just bought a big billboard advertisement for why Iran needs a big smackdown in Iraq, and why its nuke sites have to be taken out. Iran … not George Bush, the United States or even al-Qaeda … is the greatest threat to peace and stability in the Middle East and possibly, short-term, in the world. Maybe this will even get pencilled into tonight’s speech. I doubt it will convince anyone, however.
*** Iran Turns Up the Heat
John Hinderaker
Our friends at MEMRI have pulled together a series of news stories from the Middle East that, collectively, paint a grim picture. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has declared a general strike with the objective of bringing down the government. Hezbollah supporters have blocked streets and highways with burning tires, as in the photo below: [image]
MEMRI reports: On January 22, 2007, the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hizbullah, came out with a front-page headline declaring "Tomorrow All of Lebanon Will Be Immersed in Rage." The daily reported that "tomorrow, Lebanon will enter a new phase in the internal political conflict that has foreign aspects. On Tuesday, the opposition will launch a new, high-quality wave of activity which now aims to topple the [current] government and to promote the establishment of a new [one]." According to the daily, the opposition's plan of action, starting tomorrow, includes "blocking main and secondary roads all over Lebanon, from the north to the south, including the Beqa' valley and [the capital] Beirut... The roads will be blocked with tires... This will be accompanied by demonstrations on the roads and at [major] junctions: the resident of each region will stay in their area and block the roads there... so that traffic will be completely paralyzed."
Hezbollah's call for a general strike, and its effort to bring down Lebanon's government, are widely assumed to have been ordered by Iran. Al Jazeera, meanwhile, lost no time in "recognizing" the Hezbollah-led Lebanese opposition: ...
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