The Circle Is Now Complete: Hizbullah Takes Over Lebanon

The Islamic terror group Hizbullah has now completed its longstanding goal of taking over Lebanon on behalf of its terror masters in Syria and Iran. It has established a front seat position for its ongoing jihad against Israel and there isn't much that the Lebanese people, or anyone else for that matter, can do about it.

The world watched with indifference as Hizbullah first undermined and disrupted the government of Saad Hariri on the eve of indictments being handed down in the assassination of Rafik Hariri that was likely to pin the blame for the assassinations on Hizbullah, Syrian, and even Iranian officials.

Now, the world wakes up to a new reality in Lebanon. Hizbullah is hand picking the Prime Minister and the Druze are going along with this because it is in their interest to avoid a fight with the far stronger militarily-speaking Hizbullah, which has operated with impunity despite UNIFIL requirements for disarmament under UN SCR 1701.

Expect that the new Lebanese government calls for the withdrawal of UNIFIL and pursuit of claims that Israel still occupied Lebanon, despite UN reports noting that Israel has fully withdrawn from Lebanon.

Saad Hariri is calling this a coup d'etat, and he's not far off the mark. Hizbullah played the game better than anyone else and managed to overthrow the government and institute its own officials without so much as a fired shot (until today's rioting in response to the Hizbullah takeover), although protests have broken out in Sunni-dominated enclaves because of the Hizbullah-dominated process that put Shi'ites in charge:

After days of political wrangling, the candidate chosen by Hezbollah, Najib Miqati, a billionaire and former prime minister, won 68 seats in Lebanon’s 128-member parliament, enough to name the next government in a country as divided as it is diverse. His elevation was a clear victory for Hezbollah, which has ruled out Mr. Hariri’s return to power, and it marked the culmination of what was already accepted as a fact of life here: that Hezbollah is the country’s pre-eminent military and political force.

“What has happened is virtually a coup d’etat, a political coup d’etat,” Mr. Hariri said in an interview at his home near the seat of government that he and his team left only days before. “Me and my allies, we will represent the opposition.”

He blamed former allies and said he was filled with “lots of feelings of betrayal.”

The prospect of Mr. Hariri in the opposition could ensure prolonged instability in a country still haunted the legacy of its 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.

Mr. Hariri represents Lebanon’s Sunni Muslim community in a system that rigidly divides power among its sects. A government without his participation would assuredly be viewed as Shiite-dominated and beholden to Hezbollah. That very prospect unleashed the protests Tuesday in Beirut, Tripoli and other predominantly Sunni towns.

“It is a day of anger against the interference of Iran and Syria,” Mohammed Kabbar, a lawmaker from Tripoli, told protesters who went on to burn a van belonging to Al-Jazeera, an Arab satellite channel thought to be sympathetic to Hezbollah.

Hizbullah's choice Mikati is an unusual one. He's a former Prime Minister, who presided over a caretaker government following Rafik Hariri's assassination, and was likely chosen by Hizbullah as a means to placate the Sunni population and rubber stamp their takeover. He's seen as pro-Syrian, which is another sign that Mikati may not have Lebanon's best interests in mind - particularly when Hizbullah's top priority right now is to undermine, destabilize, and thwart the tribunal looking into Hariri's assassination by any means necessary.

Politicians allied to Hezbollah have said the first priority of a government they form would be to cut links with the tribunal, which is expected to accuse Hezbollah members of involvement in the 2005 killing. Hezbollah denies any role.

The demonstrators in Tripoli called for Mikati, a telecoms tycoon who comes from the northern port city, to withdraw his nomination and said the investigation in Rafik Hariri's killing could not be blocked.

Lebanon deserves justice for the assassination of Hariri, and Hizbullah is doing whatever it can to block the culprits from being brought to justice.

Hizbullah's growing and dominating effect on the Lebanese government may lead the US to cease providing foreign aid and assistance, and will require the Obama Administration to tip-toe around the issue of Hizbullah's terrorist infrastructure and involvement in attacks on the US and its strategic interests in the region.

Turkey; Qatar Quit Efforts To Mediate Lebanese Crisis

Just days after the Saudis gave up in their efforts to mediate the Lebanese political crisis and Turkey and Qatar picked up the role, Turkey and Qatar have given up as well.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's diplomats at the UN proffered a resolution condemning Israel building housing. It's typical of Middle Eastern regimes to go after Israel when their domestic political situation is in flux, and this is no different. Lebanon's Saad Hariri needs to bolster support and pushing UN resolutions is seen as one way to do so.

The UN move is calculated to help garner support among other Middle Eastern regimes to back Hariri over Hizbullah, Syria and Iran.

Saudis Give Up On Lebanese Mediation Efforts As Hizbullah Struts Its Stuff

The Saudis have been trying to mediate the difficult political situation in Lebanon following Hizbullah's withdrawal from the government. They've given up on the mediation efforts and the hope is that Qatar and Turkey will pick up where the Saudis left off.

Prince Saud al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's minister of foreign affairs, said Wednesday that his country had abandoned mediation talks to resolve Lebanon's political crisis that caused the government's collapse last week.

Al-Faisal made the comments in an interview with state-run Saudi TV in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt where he was attending an Arab economic summit to discuss economic challenges facing Arab nations. He also described the political situation in Lebanon as "dangerous."

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar Assad have been personally involved in an attempt to resolve Lebanon's political crisis, the Saudi foreign minister said.

But when no agreement was near the Saudi king "lifted his hands and kept away from the negotiations," al-Faisal said.

Meanwhile, Qatari and Turkish foreign ministers arrived in Lebanon Tuesday in an apparent attempt to pick up where Saudi and Syrian efforts left off.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani met with President Michel Suleiman, and caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri among other leading political figures, state-run Lebanese news agency (NNA) reported Tuesday.

Hizbullah withdrew from the government ahead of a report that was likely to name members of the terror group along with Syrian and Iranian officials in the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The tribunal investigating the assassination may call on Interpol to assist with the arrests of those that are eventually indicted.

While the diplomats are busy doing their work, Hizbullah is not so quietly or subtly laying the groundwork for their own takeover.

Hizbullah staged a quiet show of force Tuesday that rattled nerves, hours before senior Qatari and Turkish officials began talks in Beirut in an attempt to contain political tension over a U.N.-backed tribunal probing the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik Hariri.

Hizbullah’s actions came hours before Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Bin Jaber al-Thani and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu began a series of talks with Lebanon’s political leaders aimed at preventing a slide toward sectarian strife.

As The Daily Star went to press early Wednesday, Sheikh Hamad and Davutoglu were in talks with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. The two officials will spend the night in the capital to hold further talks with other political leaders Wednesday.

Hizbullah is the reason that the Lebanese government is in the position it is in, and its terror outfit is likely among those behind the assassination of Hariri, but should that become official the terror group would lose support from the Lebanese people as the group has long claimed to be a resistance group to Israel (even though Israel has not occupied Lebanon since 2005 and Hizbullah caused a devastating war after its terrorists invaded Israel and killed several soldiers and kidnapped two others (Regev and Goldwasser), leading to a brief, but devastating war for large parts of Southern Lebanon where Hizbullah openly operates in defiance of UNIFIL and SCR 1701).

Indictments Filed In Hariri Assassination Probe

The indictments have been filed, but their contents wont be made public for several leaks despite leaks hinting at the possibility that Hizbullah, Syria, and Iran were involved in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005. The draft indictment will now be reviewed by pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen.

The pretrial judge will decide whether the case presented by the prosecutor, Daniel Bellemare of Canada, is strong enough to go to trial. The court said that if he chooses to issue formal indictments, he will then make the names public. Officials close to the investigation said this process will likely take six to eight weeks.

"The Registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon can confirm that the prosecutor of the tribunal has submitted an indictment," the court said.

The court also said the investigation into the murder of Mr. Hariri, and other linked cases, is continuing and that other suspects could be indicted.

"The indictment marks the beginning of the judicial phase of the tribunal's work," the court said. "The prosecutor and his team will continue to vigorously pursue his mandate with respect to both continued investigative activity and the prosecution of this case."

In Beirut, talks over the formation of a new government were postponed Monday as a regional emergency meeting was under way in Damascus to resolve Lebanon's crisis. Last week, Hezbollah, the Shiite political and militant group, and its political allies toppled the government headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Rafik's son, due to its support for the international tribunal.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman said talks with the parliament to nominate a new prime minister will take place next Monday and Tuesday.

The international court investigating Mr. Hariri's murder has exacerbated tensions inside Lebanon, as the tribunal is expected to indict between two and five Hezbollah members, according to officials briefed on the case.

Hizbullah has threatened violence if the indictments come down against its members. Hizbullah's top thug Nasrallah says that they would not acccept the results of the indictment and continue to claim that the US and Israel were behind the assassination and that the ongoing political crisis in Lebanon is the result of US and Israeli actions.

It goes without saying that Nasrallah and Hizbullah wont support current Prime Minister Saad Hariri's attempts to reconstitute the government after Hizbullah and its allies withdrew from the government.



Diplomats from around the world are pledging to back a stable government in Lebanon, including from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Spain and Russia.

U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly, who met Sunday with Zahle M.P. Nicholas Fattouch, reiterated her country’s support for the divisive U.N.-backed court probing the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Connelly was quoted as calling the tribunal “the Lebanese people’s best hope for putting its tragic and bloody history of political violence behind it.”

The tribunal is expected to name Hizbullah members in an indictment to be issued Monday and antipathy surrounding the court – as well as the issue of “false witnesses” – last week prompted the resignation of 10 March 8 ministers and independent M.P. Adnan Sayyed Hussein, toppling Hariri’s national unity government.

Fattouch, who successfully headed March 14’s Zahle list for 2009’s parliamentary polls before splitting from the bloc, is considered a key target to vote with March 8 following imminent consultations to find a new prime minister.

“Until now, we are communicating to reach a final decision which strengthens the unity that Zahle and the Bekaa have always enjoyed,” Fattouch said after meeting Connelly. “The most important thing [discussed] during our meeting was the major challenge, which is not how to form a new government, but how to re-establish the Lebanese nation.

“How do we take steps to build political platforms to reach national unity in an environment of active constitutional institutions which can only save the Lebanese?” Fattouch said.

An unidentified European diplomat told A.F.P. Friday France had requested the formation of an emergency “contact group,” consisting of representatives from Syria, Saudi Arabia, France, the U.S., Qatar, Turkey “and possibly other countries with a stake in Lebanon,” in order to confront the country’s worst political crisis since May 2008.

Considering that the Saudis and Egyptians are backing the Hariri government, it is not a surprise that Iran, Syria, and Hizbullah are in opposition; one theory as to why the assassination was carried out was that Hizbullah and Iran were opposed to Rafik Hariri getting closer to the Saudis. In other words, this is another front in the longstanding Sunni-Shi'ite conflict that has manifested itself in recent years as Iran (and its proxies and allies) versus the Sunni majority Saudis (and Egyptians).

Hizbullah Defends The Indefensible

The terror group Hizbullah attempts to defend the indefensible actions it has taken in the past week. The terror group, which is a proxy army for Iran and Syria, is expected to be implicated in the assassination of Rafik Hariri by a United Nations investigation report to be issued tomorrow along with Syria's President Bashar Assad and Iranian officials.

The crisis is the climax of long-simmering tensions over the U.N. tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The court is expected to indict members of Hezbollah, which could re-ignite hostilities between Lebanon's rival Shiite and Sunni Muslims. Rafik Hariri was a Sunni.

Hezbollah is Lebanon's most powerful military force, with an arsenal that far outweighs that of the national army.

Saad Hariri had refused Hezbollah's demands to cease cooperation with the court, prompting Wednesday's walkout.

Nasrallah's speech was seen as important sign of his movement's mindset at a time when many fear the country's political tension could descend into civil strife. His demeanor was calm and he emphasized that Hezbollah will work for change through democratic means.

The U.S. has denounced Hezbollah's walkout as a transparent effort to subvert justice.

"The tribunal is an independent, international judicial process whose work is not subject to political influence, either from inside Lebanon or from outside," U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly said Sunday after meeting with Hariri. "The efforts by the Hezbollah-led coalition to collapse the Lebanese government only demonstrate their own fear and determination to undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and independence."

The Times report notes that Hizbullah's military capability exceeds that of the Lebanese military but doesn't note that the terror group should have been disarmed by the UN and the same Lebanese military as part of UN SCR 1701.

The terror group continues operating with impunity and it is increasingly throwing its weight around Lebanon to the detriment of the Lebanese people. It brought down Prime Minister Saad Hariri's (Rafik's son's) government when it saw the writing on the wall with the impending UN report implicating top Hizbullah, Syrian, and Iranian officials. Since it, and its terror masters in Damascus and Tehran, couldn't tolerate such revelations, it has attempted to subvert the process by bringing down the government amid claims that the report is the work of the US and Israel.

Hizbullah's claims aren't justified by the facts or any evidence. Unfounded claims and threats are the currency that Hizbullah is dealing in. It hopes that enough people throughout the Middle East buy into the nonsense that the US and Israel were behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

No Wonder Hizbullah Brought Down Lebanese Government

Reports coming out of Lebanon indicate that the UN special tribunal investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri was set to announce that Syria, Iran and Hizbullah were behind the assassination.

Sources familiar with the investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri in 2005 told Newsmax that the United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon will accuse Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei of giving the order to murder the former Lebanese prime minister, according to the Lebanese website Naharnet.

The sources told Newsmax, an American news website, that the tribunal will lay out evidence showing that the murder was committed by Iran's Quds force and Hezbollah.

The order to murder Hariri was transmitted to Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's top commander at the time, by Quds force chief Qassem Suleymani, sources familiar with the investigation told Newsmax.

The sources said Mughniyeh and his brother-in-law, Mustapha Badr al-Dine, put together the hit team that carried out the attack. "The Iranians considered Hariri to be an agent of Saudi Arabia, and felt that killing him would pave the way for a Hezbollah takeover of Lebanon," one of the sources said.

According to the sources, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, the head of Syrian intelligence, also played key roles in the assassination plot.

A few days ago Hezbollah toppled the government of Saad Hariri, son of the assassinated former prime minister. Saad Hariri returned to Lebanon Friday after visiting the US and France.

The report is scheduled to be released Monday. It's little wonder that Hizbullah was trying to divert attention from its culpability by bringing down the government and Iran's latest claims that they shot down US UAVs and that they've made advances on their nuclear enrichment program. Hizbullah has pitched itself as a resistance group dedicated to stopping Israel's involvement in Lebanon, but this shows through the lie, and reinforces the reality that Hizbullah is nothing more than a proxy army for Damascus and Tehran.

Hizbullah has threatened further violence if anyone attempts to take those involved in the assassination into custody.

The report also indicates that Hizbullah, Syria, and Iran carried out the assassination because they considered Rafik to be too close to Saudi Arabia.

Lebanese leader Amin Gemayel notes that Hizbullah's threats and actions are designed to maximize their power by any means necessary and that the Lebanese people are seeing through their machinations.

Lebanon's Political Crisis Deepens

Lebanon's political situation remains exceedingly fragile as Hizbullah has pulled out of the government and has forced the Lebanese President to bring about talks for a new Prime Minister. Those talks are scheduled to begin on Monday.



Hizbullah didn't like the fact that Prime Minister Saad Hariri was backing efforts to investigate the assassination of his father, Rafik Hariri. His assassination has been tied back to Hizbullah and its terror masters in Syria and Iran and Hizbullah is doing all it can to avoid responsibility and culpability.

Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that his party will "calculate our steps" after withdrawing from the Lebanese government, at a meeting of party leaders on earlier on Thursday, Al-Jazeera reported.

Nasrallah explained that his party left the government because the "expected result of the international tribunal for the former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri is aimed at the resistance."

Suleiman asked Hariri, as well as other members of his party, to remain in their positions in a transitional government, Lebanese news sources reported on Thursday.

Hizbullah told Suleiman that it will not allow Hariri to continue as prime minister, according to a Thursday report by Lebanese paper Al-Akhbar.

"He is not fit to have this responsibility, as experience has proven," a Hizbullah source told Al-Akhbar.

Another Hizbullah source told Lebanese daily A-Safir that Hariri will not be prime minister anymore "because he is part of the problem, not the solution."

Thus, it has resorted to bringing down the Hariri government.

Iran is playing its role in all this as well. It's claiming that the fall of the Hariri government is the fault of the Israelis and the US government, which makes no sense unless you think that getting to the bottom of Rafik's assassination and bringing those responsible for his assassination to justice is somehow blame-worthy.

Hizbullah isn't a resistance group. It's a terrorist group that continues operating in contravention of UN SCR 1701, which requires that all militias operating in Lebanon be disarmed. Hizbullah continues to maintain a significant military force, particularly in Southern Lebanon and UNIFIL attempts at disarmament have been limited at best. Hizbullah may at one time have been a resistance group when Israel had invaded Lebanon to deal with the PLO in 1981-2 and thereafter, but Israel has withdrawn from Lebanon since 2005. Hizbullah is not resisting Israel's occupation of Lebanon - it's resisting Israel's existence and uses its position in Lebanon to maintain a destabilizing element on Israel's northern border.

The US is working through France to try and keep Syria on the sidelines and to avoid any violent outbreaks in the coming days and weeks. France has long had a relationship with the Levant and still has good relations in Lebanon and Syria dating back to France's colonial days.

Hizbullah Causes Crisis In Lebanon By Withdrawing From Government

When the terror group Hizbullah doesn't get what it wants, it agitates in all manner of action to get what it wants. It started a devastating war with Israel that caused tremendous damage in Southern Lebanon because it thought it could do serious damage to Israel. It forced its way into the Lebanese government and now it is causing a crisis by withdrawing from the government so that the Prime Minister must take steps to form a new government.

Ten ministers from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and its political allies announced their resignation on Wednesday and called on President Michel Suleiman to form a new government.

Eleven ministerial resignations would be enough to bring down the government of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. There was no immediate news on whether another minister, Adnan Sayyed Hussein, who Hezbollah supporters also expect to resign, was stepping down.

Lebanon would be better off if they fulfilled the requirements under UN SCR 1701, which required the Lebanese and UNIFIL to disarm all militias operating in Lebanon, including Hizbullah, but they have repeatedly failed to do so because Hizbullah is well entrenched and heavily armed - moreso than either Lebanon or UNIFIL would care to admit.

Southern Lebanon is essentially Hizbullahland and this may be a step in furtherance of resuming attacks against Israel and/or destabilizing the government of Prime Minister Hariri so that they can increase their reach further.

This is yet another sad day for the Lebanese who are trying to rebuild after decades of sectarian violence, the Israeli invasion to stop the PLO, and Hizbullah's disastrous war.

UPDATE:
Hizbullah must really be worried that the investigation into Rafiq Hariri's assassination will turn up major links to the terror group and its backers in Syria and Iran. PM Hariri is Rafik's son. Hizbullah blames Israel for the assassination without a shred of evidence, even as all fingers point back at Hizbullah and their terror masters in Syria and Iran.

The announcement took place as Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was in the United States where he has been meeting with various US and United Nations officials.

US President Barack Obama was set to meet Wednesday with the Lebanese prime minister to discuss political tensions in his country stemming from the Hariri investigation, the White House said Tuesday.

The Hizbullah ministers had said they were planning to resign in the afternoon unless Western-backed Hariri — the son of the slain leader — agreed to their demand to convene an urgent Cabinet meeting over the tribunal crisis, Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalifeh said on Hizbullah 's Al-Manar TV.

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Hariri said that he would "seek all means to reach solutions that can guarantee stability, calm and maintain national unity," Lebanon's Daily Star reported.

Hizbullah members are expected to be indicted by the Hariri tribunal, which will hand over its findings within "hours or days," according to a Wednesday report in Lebanese newspaper An Nahar.

Hizbullah has denounced the tribunal as an "Israeli project" and urged Hariri to reject any findings by the court, which has not yet announced any indictments.