Fighting Near the Shores of Tripoli: Lebanon's, Not Libya's

By W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

Over the weekend, we received word that fighting was taking place in-and-around the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, not far from where last year's fighting took place between the Lebanese Army and the Al-Qaeda affiliate group Fatah Al Islam in the bloody battle of Nahr al-Bared. The current fighting, which is now being widely reported throughout the Western media, is between pro-democracy Sunnis and pro-Syrian Alawites (allied to Hezbollah). [more...]

Lights Out Temporarily in Lebanon By W. Thomas Smith, Jr.

The proverbial lights have gone out in Lebanon. But for those of us having faith in that country's swelling pro-democracy majority, the lights will only be out temporarily. For now, however, it's dark. In the wake of last week's shameful concessions to the terrorist group, Hezbollah, on the part of the Lebanese government and the legitimate army - which barely fired a shot in defense of the Lebanese people - Hezbollah has achieved a never-before-realized strengthening of its position in that country. This upper hand was achieved by force and against the will of most of the Lebanese people - Christians, Druze, and yes, Muslims, both Sunni and many Shiia. What makes it worse is that the international community - which has been warned time and again, heard appeals for assistance from various pro-democracy groups, and vowed to support the government, the army, and the will of the majority - did nothing to prevent Hezbollah's thugs from attacking the state and winning. [more...]

Brigitte Gabriel on Terrorist Takeover of Lebanon

Brigitte Gabriel, renowned Middle East expert, author of the New York Times Bestseller "Because they Hate" and founder of ACT for America.org knows firsthand what Lebanon is going through: "What is happening in Lebanon is an Iranian takeover and submission of Lebanese democracy using its proxy terrorist army Hezbollah (party of Allah). Iran is preparing a base from which to attack Israel aided and abetted by Syria in a common goal of confronting Israel.

300 Iranian top military trained fighters landed in Lebanon the day the airport was shot down to aid in the fighting as Syrian wings joined with them and Hezbollah in West Beirut. [The violence was triggered by the government's attempts to ban a telecommunications system used by Hezbollah.] Both Iran and Syria, as well as the terrorists are laying the groundwork for a major offensive against Israel in the near future, that are the beginning stages of a confrontation that will engulf the Middle East."

At least 58 people have been killed and 189 have been wounded since the clashes broke out on Thursday. The violence is the worst to hit Lebanon since the end of its civil war in 1991. For the past 17 months, Lebanon's elected, pro-Western government has been locked in a power struggle with Hezbollah. Lebanon's presidency has been vacant since pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term ended in November. Despite general agreement on army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman to fill the post, political wrangling among Lebanon's political factions has kept the issue from coming up for a vote. Parliament is scheduled to convene Tuesday to try to elect a new president for the 19th time. It is unclear if the latest fighting will force the government to postpone the session. [more...]