September 26, 2024
Few people know that Lebanon was once part of Syria. It was detached from Syria by Imperial France and made into a nominally Maronite Christian nation. Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims and Druzes were also encompassed in this newly engineered country of 6 million.
Then came 100,000 Palestinian refugees driven from their ancestral home in what is today Northern Israel. The admixture of these Palestinian refugees enflamed Lebanon’s traditional ferocious tribal rivalries. In 1975 they burst into major civil war between Maronite Christians and Muslims and Druzes, and clashes between Sunni and Shia militias. I arrived in Beirut in 1975, Day One of the civil war.
It was a horrible affaire, marked by hideous atrocities and massacres. France, the US, Syria and Israel openly mixed into Lebanon’s mayhem. I had never seen such raw hatred, sadism and barbarity. The conflict culminated into the massacres of thousands of Palestinian civilians – mostly women and children – at the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps by Christian militiamen aided by Israel.
After the civil war in 1990, Lebanon slumped into more tribal hostility and astounding corruption as this ancient Phoenicia nation fell apart. Nitrates carelessly stored in the port of Beirut blew up, killing hundreds. The national bank was looted.
Israel invaded in 1978, 1982 and 2006 in a failed effort to crush the Palestinian resistance, PLO. I was with the Israeli Army when it attacked southern Lebanon in 1982. Lebanese Sunni guerillas fought back, joined by fighters from a new Shia militia, Hezbollah.
Now the carnage has resumed with the Gaza bloodbath and Israel’s newly launched mass air attacks on southern Lebanon on 21-23 September that killed 558 civilians and wounded 1,835.
This massive attack followed Israel’s booby trapping of Hezbollah communications that killed and injured thousands of people, blinding many or blowing off their hands or genitals. This is pure Biblical ferocity.
Israel is relentlessly driving the Arab population from southern Lebanon. Ever since its founding in 1947-48, Israel’s right-wing has had its eyes on southern Lebanon. On its northern edge lies the Litani River, one of the last major water sources not in Israeli hands. Water is growing scarce everywhere in the Mideast. The Litani is a major prize, Israel has long coveted the two ancient seaports of Tyre and Sidon. Walking through them takes you back to the Bible. Some of Israel’s wilder right-wingers also claim southern Syria should be annexed by Israel. Why stop there? Others covet Iraq’s capitol, Baghdad, which had a large Jewish population before 1948.
Israel’s now ruling hardliners seem to have in mind a plan to drive Gaza’s Palestinians – themselves already refugees from Galilee and the Haifa region – into neighboring Jordan’s deserts. Up to 40% of Jordan’s people today are Palestinians driven from what became Israel.
With all this in mind, President Joe Biden’s UN speech last week was a symphony of hypocrisy. Biden and the US Congress provided Israel with well over $300 billion, with more coming as well as the latest US arms. The US supplies intelligence information and blocks efforts by the UN and many nations to force Israel to halt its destruction of Gaza. As Pat Buchanan said, ‘Congress has become Israeli-occupied territory.’
Israel’s usual salami tactics of grabbing small pieces of Arab land have worked very well. So, is Lebanon next? PM Benjamin Netanyahu will face court charges of bribery and malfeasance once this conflict ends, so he’s in no rush to bury the hatchet. The big powers who could make a difference have all been bought. Russia is at war. Only the powerful Israel could act to shut down this murderous conflict.
Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2024
This post is in: Lebanon
NAMASKAR!
Lebanon has a large Christian population. The statistics says, Lebanon has about 70 % Muslims and about 30 % Christians unlike in 70’s.
It was Christian nation until 1970. It was 70% Christian and 30 % Muslim by than. Christianity in Lebanon traces its roots to the dawn of Christianity itself , in fact Christ Himself visited Lebanon. Lebanon was one of the most peaceful country in the Middle East and known as Paris of the East.
Today Lebanon is in the hands of Hezbollah the notorious terrorist movement aided by Iran. Their aim is to wipe out Israel unfortunately Hezbollah is in the verge of disappearing in the world so much so the Iran’s supreme leader taken shelter in the bunker.
What is happening in the Middle East is a tragedy and a crime. All sides are guilty to some extent, but only Israel has America at its beck and call. America needs to use its influence to promote peace and reconciliation.
Likely, Lebanon will be the next annexation by Israel. The UN should force the Israelis to stay in the borders assigned to them. It won’t happen.
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The UN Charter has to be re-written to increase the size of the Security council by 20 members; they can have a few of them as permanent but there should be no veto powers. The current security council will not like that. Also the land the UN is on should be totally free from the interference of any country. It should not be founded in the US.
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It’s disappointing that the UN or World Court hasn’t stepped in.
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It’s disappointing that the rest of the world hasn’t stepped in. They are likely afraid of upsetting the US. The US is largely responsible for this.
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I’m surprised the Atomic Scientists haven’t updated their Doomsday Clock to advance it a few seconds. I cannot think of things getting much more serious.
An accurate assessment of the middle east situation in a nutshell. The big powers are bought off and the small powers that aren’t vassal states have been destroyed. It’s somthing to listen to the UN speeches denouncing Israel from hypocritical countries that have their own problems and can do nothing. Their moral roar is somthing to behold. Your also right it seems about Russia being a paper tiger. If they weren’t, the war would be over now. Now that Israel’s brilliant use of pagers and cell phones has helped destroy Hezbollah as a threat, (plus its targeted bombing of Beirut). It has inadvertently given the idea and a green light for other countries to use this method of assassination. People will be nervous when the answer their cell phones the world over! The first person to come to mind is the orange man. The dems or deep state, which ever you prefer, tried twice with no success. Now the Israelis have shown the way to new methods. How fortunate . As for our western WEF installed leaders, they won’t go quietly at all. None of the Western governments have been able to make any changes in who is in charge. From Canada’s Trudeau, through France, Germany, Spain, etc. Even the US is poised to “declare” their deep state darling Kamala POTUS in November, votes be damned. Only Hungary has Orban who manages to remain, for now. Freedom of speech and real journalism have been rolled up as our heavily indoctrinated population in the west reap penalties for not following the government narrative. We now live in a desensitized society that is moving quickly to a more authoritarian Orwellian twenty first century, presuming we do not have a nuclear conflict with Russia. China must be afraid now seeing all this. They know they’re the last country in the way of US global domination. IMHO