Eighteen years ago the Lebanese army, for the first time since 1975, returned to the south.
Following Israeli forces’ withdrawal in May 2000, it was Syria until April 2005 & Hezbollah until July-August 2006 that made it otherwise impossible to have Lebanese soldiers reclaim authority in a part of the country that had remained a post-civil war battlefield.
Under duress, Hassan Nasrallah accepted not only the state’s return, but a separate security force - UNIFIL - that tripled in size and, for the first time since 1978, given an expanded mandate to monitor the Blue Line & any armed violations along the border.
Turning southern Lebanon into one of the world’s most militarized regions.
And meant to prevent exactly where we are.
UNSCR 1701 is not just a ceasefire deal between Hezbollah and Israel. It is a mechanism never utilized by the Lebanese government. And in essence, a stepping stone to the neutralization of our geography - once and for all - from regional war.
The resolution was passed with Chapter 6 (rather than Chapter 7) authority so that Nasrallah would accept it, meaning UNIFIL cannot take independent military action. But in fact it is somewhere in-between: a Chapter ‘6.5’ resolution that allows the state to request UNIFIL support in monitoring all our borders, stretching not just along the Blue Line with Israel but along the entire Lebanese-Syrian frontier.
And that is the essential part of the resolution meant to deter weapons flow - in either direction - between Lebanon and Syria, and prevent any militiamen or sub-state infrastructure returning to the south that would allow a repeat of Nasrallah’s self-acknowledged misstep that led to the July 2006 War.
All of this to say that 1701 was shaped by an already battered and first post-Syrian occupation state, reeling from regular assassinations and trying to do two things at once: represent Lebanon’s interests at home and abroad, and find a dignified way for Hezbollah to turn into a normal politial party and - already called for in UNSCR 1559 - disarm.
What is happening, today, at the UN in New York is the exact opposite: a Lebanese government that is both unable & unwilling to take any reasonable risk in bringing this dangerous round to a sensible end that is good for Lebanon. Instead, it is parroting Iran’s concerns to the world and misleading the Lebanese public.
Similar to the way the state behaved, at times through capitulation, under Syrian occupation.
Any deal on the horizon without a Lebanese government championing the state’s fundamental role in claiming absolute authority over all its geography means a deal that gives Iran an inevitable way out.
But 1701 isn’t going anywhere. It remains the Lebanese government’s responsibility to request international support, and not simply refer to it as an aspiration without agency or affect.
And it is an absolute shame, that at Lebanon’s most trying time, we have no government leader worthy of anything other than submission to Hezbollah and surrender to its security concerns.
Perhaps that explains why, despite all the propoganda meant to distill confusion to the contrary, Hassan Nasrallah murderer my father as he made Lebanon’s case.
Not to just to the UN in July & August 2006, in Doha in May 2008, in months and years thereafter to diplomats in Beirut and dignitaries in capitals across the globe from Washington, DC to Paris and Moscow…
But directly to Tehran.
wsj.com/articles/SB100…
لحزب الله: كنتم تنادون بوحدة الساحات ولكن تخلوا عنكم جميعا، فهل ستستمرون بالتضحيات؟ كفى أوقفوا الحرب العبثية فالحرب ليست قدرا بل قرار، وإن أردت إعطاء أمثلة فأذكر ايران التي لم تقبل بالتضحية بشعبها من أجل أي إسناد أحد ومثلها سوريا التي حيّدت نفسها.
الزعيم اللبناني سامي الجميل : "سمعنا كل سردية حزب الله ونقول: لا يمكن لأي حزب أو رجل أن يتفرد بجر #لبنان بأكمله الى الحرب".
ستة ملايين لبنان زائد مليون ونصف نازح سوري زائد 12 مليون مغترب، يقرر مصيرهم رجل واحد !؟ وبأي صفة يقرر مصيرهم.
استيقظت الشعوب العربية على شعارات النصر التي رفعها جمال عبد الناصر، الجنرال المغمور الذي سُحق جيشه في ساعات قليلة، مما يجعله ربما أحد أسوأ القادة العسكريين في تاريخ البشرية. ومع ذلك، استمرت هذه الشعارات الخاوية في الانتشار، وتوالت معها "الانتصارات" الوهمية مع القذافي وعرفات وميشال عون وأسامة بن لادن والظواهري وأبو مصعب الزرقاوي، ومؤخرًا قادة طهران. هذا الهوس بالحرب والانتصارات الوهمية ليس سوى تعويض عن الفشل الحضاري. الفاشل يلجأ إلى العنف، ويؤدلج هذا العنف، ثم يرفع راية النصر الزائف ليغطي على عجزه في تحقيق تقدم حقيقي في مجالات البناء والتنمية البشرية. ما لم يفضح نظامنا التعليمي هؤلاء "المنتصرين" فان المجتمع الفاشل سيبقى ينتج أمثالهم.
النائب سامي الجميل: ندعو حزب الله الى وقف جبهة الاسناد فوراً وتسليم سلاحه وجنوده الى الجيش اللبناني وهذا ليس استسلاماً بل عودة الى الدولة والانتماء والتخلي عن المغامرات الاقليمية
🇱🇧✝️ A rocket fell on the roof of the hall of St. George's Church in Rayak, Zahle District, but did not explode
سقوط صاروخ على سطح صالة كنيسة القديس جاورجيوس في رياق، قضاء زحلة، ولم ينفجر
#ChristiansMENA
Cease fire between Israel and Hezbollah should take place AFTER the implementation of UN resolutions 1559 and 1701.
Under UNSCR 1559 Hezbollah should disarm starting by removing the militia from Beirut, Mount Lebanon and the north.
Under UNSCR Hezbollah should withdraw from the southern border with Israel till the Litani River.
#Biden and #Macron call for a cease fire between Israel and Hezb should be immediately applied AFTER UN Resolutions are applied...
كل سياسي يستطيع المساعدة على الانقاذ. يجب على سليمان فرنجية مثلاً ان ينسحب من السباق الرئاسي وادراك انه كان مجرد ورقة في مسرحية "الحوار" السمجة وعلى طاولة قمار لاعبين قساة يعتبرون كل شيء اضرارا جانبية.