quote: The leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has warned the Lebanese army not to enter the Palestinian refugee camp north of Tripoli where it has been confronting Islamic militants.
Nasrallah -- in a televised address to mark the seventh anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon -- said that to enter the camp would be crossing a red line, and the Palestinians should not be touched.
quote: Nasrallah was also critical of the Lebanese government's request to the United States for military aid during the crisis.
"We should be aware of the American interference," he said. "[As for] the American intervention in this incident there should be an investigation into who took the decision."
The Hezbollah leader also said that Lebanon must not be allowed to become a battleground between the army and groups affiliated with al Qaeda. He said this would tempt the United States to bring the war on terror to Lebanese soil, as it had in Iraq.
"Are you willing to fight the wars of others inside Lebanon?" he asked his audience. "I want to warn that we should not be dragged by the Americans to fight their battle in Lebanon."
I'll comment a little later. G'night.
Posts: 1594 | Registered: Apr 2006
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Hum. It seems to me that this is perhaps not very bright of Nasrallah. It's one thing for the Arab states to use the Palestinians as cat's-paws in their eternal struggle with Israel. It's quite another to have them act as states within the state, telling regular army troops where they can and cannot go. That makes them an actual internal challenge to Lebanese sovereignty, which is pretty shaky anyway. The Lebanese leaders are probably not very happy with that; after all, this is their own personal power base, here. Although Syria might not mind, I suppose.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Somehow I think that if the people, who are cheering the government fighting Hezbollah, have to choose between American ammo, and not fighting at all, they'll take the ammo. Though I really have to wonder how heavily underpowered Lebanon is going to accomplish what Israel could not.
Besides, it's already a proxy fight, if they want to make the argument. Hezbollah is funded by Iran, Lebanon is partially funded by and supplied by us. If they want it to be fair, they have to cut their ties to everything East of the Jordan River.
Bush would be smart to use this to claim a victory. Nasrallah wants to keep Al Qaeda out of Lebanon in an effect to not have Lebanon turn into another Iraq, so would could argue that Bush's policy actually worked. Except for the fact that Hezbollah is still a terrorist organization (albeit a much, much more complex one than I'd say any other in the world in that they actually provide much in the way of education and health services, regardless of the propaganda that comes attached to them.
I'm more concerned with Muqtada al Sadr reappearing in Iraq.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Except for the fact that Hezbollah is still a terrorist organization (albeit a much, much more complex one than I'd say any other in the world in that they actually provide much in the way of education and health services, regardless of the propaganda that comes attached to them.
This is actually rather interesting, if you are able to view it detachedly as an exercise in political science. In some sense, all states are organisations that rule their territory by fear based on force; but since this is unstable in the long run, most states also supply some level of services, thus gaining the cooperation of their subjects. Now, in most modern states, this process has gone so far that the description of a state as based on force is barely recognisable, and most people will actually fight to retain their current organisation. In Hezbollah, we see something very early in the process of emerging from purely force-based; and in Hamas, we have something that hasn't emerged at all, and also doesn't control any territory. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Hezbollah becomes a literal textbook example for future students of political science.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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You mean some sort of new age Social Contract Theory?
Hamas provides schools, health care (sort of), funds to "victims" of Israeli attacks, and they have a clearly defined political arm.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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