Lebanon, car bomb, assassination, civil war,

players: USA, Israel, Syria, Hezbollah, Palestinian refugees

Lebanese anti-Syrian Lawmaker Walid Eido, his son, Khalid, and two of his bodyguards were killed on Wednesday.

So Not much has changed. Neither has the media coverage. We hear from Walid Jumblat who is supported by the US. Everyting is oversimplified and fingers always point to Syria. But Israel reaps the benefits of civil war and a weakened Lebanon . hmmm

Please see the Angry Arab for details and analysis.

CNN International

Lebanese Army seizes Fatah al-Islam positions
Government gives military ‘green light’ to deal with security crisis in north

By Rym Ghazal
Daily Star, Lebanon

NAHR AL-BARED, NORTH LEBANON: Covered by an intense artillery barrage, the Lebanese Army drove Fatah al-Islam militants back from the periphery of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp Friday, with the army taking over militants’ positions along the camp’s perimeter. Residents of areas surrounding Nahr al-Bared awoke Friday to one of the heaviest battles between the army and the militants since clashes broke out two weeks ago, as the army pounded away with tank fire and artillery beginning at about 7 a.m., breaking the usual routine of heavy nighttime exchanges of fire.

CNN International

Daily Star, Lebanon

Palestinian factions work to end fighting
But abu al-aynayn says fatah-al-islam ’should be readily crushed’

Beirut — BEIRUT : Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Beirut representative Abbas Zaki said Friday various that Palestinian factions were working on ending the fighting at Nahr al-Bared “in a way that would yield minimal side effects.” “We are ready to cooperate fully with the Lebanese Army and government to solve the crisis, yet it is important to act fast, because if fighting persists the suffering of Palestinians will increase and additional burdens will seep through and the crisis will worsen,” Zaki said after a meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at the Grand Serail.

Fatah commander in Lebanon Brigadier Sultan Abu al-Aynayn said in comments to LBCI television “…While it is true that we might disagree on the means, a positive sign lies in the fact that various Palestinian and Lebanese groups agree that Fatah al-Islam should be readily crushed,” Aynayn said.

Read entire article

Inside Narh al-Bared and Bedawi Refugee Camps
By FRANKLIN LAMB, Counterpunch

…The Welch Club now considers the Lebanese Army a serious problem. The Bush administration is trying to undermine and marginalize it to eliminate one of the last two obstacles to implementing Israel’s agenda in Lebanon.
If the army is weakened, it can not protect _over 70% of the Christians in Lebanon who support General Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement. The F.P.M. is mainly constituted of well educated, middle class and unarmed Lebanese civilians. The only protection they have is the Lebanese Army which aids in maintaining their presence in the political scene. The other type of Christians in Lebanon is the minority, about 15% of Christians associated with Geagea’s Lebanese Forces who are purely militia. If the Club can weaken the Army even more than it is, then this Phalange minority will be the only relatively strong force on the Christian scene and become the “army” of the Club.

Another reason the Club wants to weaken the Lebanese Army is that the Army is nationalistic and is a safety valve for Lebanon to ensure the Palestinian right of return to Palestine, Lebanese nationhood and the resistance culture led by Hezbollah, with which is has excellent relations.

For their part, the Welch Club wants to keep some Palestinians in Lebanon for cheap labor, ship others to countries willing to take them (and be paid handsomely to do so by American taxpayers) and allow at most a few thousand to return to Palestine to settle the ‘right of return’ issue while at the same time signing a May 17th 1983 type treaty with Israel with enriches the Club members and gives Israel Lebanon’s water and much of Lebanon’s sovereignty….

BBC

A former top American diplomat says the US deliberately resisted calls for a immediate ceasefire during the conflict in Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
Former ambassador to the UN John Bolton told the BBC that before any ceasefire Washington wanted Israel to eliminate Hezbollah’s military capability.

Mr Bolton, a controversial and blunt-speaking figure, said he was “damned proud of what we did” to prevent an early ceasefire.

Bolton and the administration have much to be proud of; over 1000 Lebanese civilians and 43 Israeli civilians were killed in the war, billions of dollars worth of Lebanese infrastructure and homes were desroyed by US provided bombs dropped by US provided Israeli air power, Hezbollah gained a new reputation and power which it is still exerting today, Israel was humiliated, and the US lost more prestige in the region, not that we had much left anyway.

Mr. Bolton and the US administration can also then be proud of the daily deaths and injuries incurred by Lebanese civilians due to US provided cluster bombs dropped in civilian areas of Lebanon during the final 72 hours of the war.

CNN

To view the entire segment visit Democracy Now!

Speaking to Amy Goodman, Newsday Middle East bureau chief Mohamad Bazzi explains who is involved in the ongoing protest in Beirut. The protest has been mostly framed in the US as a pro-Syrian Hezballah sponsored attempt to bring down the government of Fouad Siniora. At one point the Bush administration charged that Iran and Syria were planning a coup.

Bazzi makes clear that the crowd, estimated by some to be over 800,000, included Shia, Sunni, and Christian Lebanese. It is not a solely Hezbollah sponsored demonstration.

Author Amal Saab Ghorayeb describes the conflict as a pro versus anti-American political divide in Lebanon rather than pro versus anti-Syrian political divide. As she points out, many people and groups involved in the current protest, including Maronite Christian General Michel Aoun, have fought a lengthy war to drive Syria out of Lebanon in the past.