The Region and the Bleak Days!

Explosions, destruction, settlement of scores, liquidation of leaders, assassinations, allies and opponents, loyalists and opposition, March 8 in the face of March 14, sects, denominations and political blocs... In Lebanon, the small country both in size and in resources, the tone is rising and the intelligence apparatuses for Arab, regional and Western states are engaging in a battle on its soil. The only side achieving supremacy is Hezbollah’s intelligence apparatus, which is deploying all its efforts to achieve Syria’s and Iran’s interests at the expense of the country’s sovereignty. Following the explosion in Ashrafieh in Beirut, Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Hezbollah rushed before anyone else to condemn the operation, in an accurate implementation of the Arab saying: He killed the man then marched in his funeral while weeping! Al-Assad’s regime described the explosion which caused the fall of dead and wounded as being a “cowardly terrorist” act, as though he was not slaughtering children, killing women and carrying out daily massacres against the innocent in his country. As for Hezbollah, it expressed its “strong condemnation of this hideous and condemned crime, as it is a sinful attempt to target stability and undermine national unity.” It also called on the security and judicial bodies to mobilize their efforts and energies, in order to uncover the details of the crime, expose the criminals and present them to justice. Whoever reads Hezbollah’s statement would think that the party is cooperating with its people to maintain security and stability, uphold civil peace and protect national unity! Whoever looks closely into it, would think that the party is collaborating with the special international tribunal looking into Rafik al-Hariri’s assassination, and did not refuse to surrender the accused, thus defying its country’s demands and international justice. It is as though the men wearing “black shirts” did not threaten all of Lebanon and invade Beirut in 2009. Whoever listens to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah would never doubt he is the one rejecting dialogue to negotiate over disarmament, and refusing to end its “divine” party’s control over the communications network at the Beirut Airport. But why was General Wissam al-Hassan, “the shy man standing in the shadow during times of political ambiguity” – as he was described by the Lebanese MTV channel – or the “detector of assassinations” – as he was described by Al-Hayat – why was he assassinated? According to the Lebanese, during the last five years, Al-Hassan entered the danger zone after he exposed numerous violations. The eyes of the “murderers” were thus closely watching him and awaiting the opportunity to retaliate against and get rid of him, as he constituted a nightmare for the killers and the murderers. The man exposed numerous crimes following the Syrian pullout, exposed several Israeli espionage networks, and became a clear target after he thwarted former Minister Michel Samaha’s mission that featured the triggering of explosions and perpetration of assassinations in Lebanon, in cooperation with Syrian National Security chief Ali Mamlouk. Following these efforts which spared Lebanon numerous security earthquakes, the killer had to kill Al-Hassan, not to mention the sectarian and other security reasons which this killer could no longer tolerate. Al-Hassan was among the most brilliant and patriotic security leaders, and spent most of his time working to protect his people and uncover and thwart the plans before they are carried out. Based on the nature of the explosion and the way the assassination was perpetrated, the killer wanted to send an urgent message to the Lebanese domestic arena. He aimed at terrifying this arena and at saying that all of Lebanon was now threatened, that the entire country will be led towards an unknown fate, chaos and sectarian strife, in a way intersecting with a regional strife being concocted in secret and in public to shed more innocent blood. In reality, there is no hope for those awaiting solutions from the United Nations and the Security Council to stop the bloodbath in Syria or in Lebanon, as long as the killers are free, and the tyrants are implementing the crimes, then condemning them and weeping like everyone else. Children are still being slaughtered and women and innocent citizens are still being killed in cold blood in Syria on a daily basis, while the world is standing by, watching what is happening and issuing condemnations. And recently UN-Arab Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi “who has failed in his mission after his predecessor failed,” said during his last visit to Beirut: “If the number of those being buried in Syria recedes in the Eid, this would mark the beginning of the exit from the dangerous situation. At that point, we would be able to talk to the internal and external sides to help the Syrians find a solution to their problems.” How can an international peace envoy speak with such a logic, superficiality and political stupidity, knowing that the only progress he achieved throughout his mission was to have his pictures taken and issue statements before television cameras. Does he know that the killing is mounting on a daily basis, that Al-Assad’s thugs are besieging the provinces with tanks and aircrafts and that they are continuing to kill the people, all the people, without any mercy, while he is seeking an “unfair truce”? Does he not know that the killer is this hostile regime? There is no doubt that the terrifying criminality seen the other day equals that which was seen when Al-Hariri assassinated. It is even identical to it at the level of its accuracy, the way it was planned and the way it was implemented. Moreover, the perpetrator is the same, even if the name of Abu Adass was absent. This reveals that the criminal was able to deliver a message, saying that he can perpetrate other crimes, that he will not stop at that one, and that he will not be bound by any time or place. It also reveals that the noose is tightening around Al-Assad, who has no other choice but to mobilize the “thugs” on the foreign arenas to undermine Lebanon – and the entire region later on – through the provocation of doubts and civil and sectarian conflicts. This requires the urgent adoption of a decision to support the opposition with funds and weapons, in order to get rid of this criminal regime as soon as possible. Moreover, the Lebanese should put their finger on the bleeding national wound, and face the pain and the bleak days at whichever price, so that truth is not buried. This marks the beginning for the prevention of Iranian interference, the trying in court of Al-Assad’s “demons,” the ending of Hezbollah’s hegemony and the thwarting of the Iranian axis’ plan to lead Lebanon and the entire region towards a very costly battle!!  -- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.