Published: November 29, 2006
Op-Ed Contributor
Crossfire War - Hezbollah to Stage Anti-Government Street Demonstrations
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - TEHRAN WATCH - West Asia Theatre: Tehran - Beirut - Damascus/Paris - Washington - Rome; Hezbollah and Opposition Groups to Stage Massive Rallies Within 48 Hours to Overthrow PM Siniora - Supported by the West
Night Watch: BEIRUT - Reuters reports that a source in Beirut, close to the opposition, has stated Hezbollah and its political allies are going to stage massive, anti-government rallies within the next 48 hours to demand the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora be overthrown. It is no coincidence that means the rallies, street demonstrations, will be taking place on Friday, the Muslim holy day, this is Tehran's timing. [
ASHARQALAWSAT]
The opposition to Lebanon Prime Minister Siniora is definitely pro-Damascus and pro-Tehran, led by the head of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah but he is joined by two significant political allies, the Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, another Shi'ite and Christian leader Michel Aoun a former general, militia leader and protege of Saddam Hussein. Aoun is also opposed to the West having so much influence in the Siniora government and perhaps also in the region. Aoun is perhaps a Lebanese nationalist who believes Beirut will do better working with Damascus-Tehran instead of with Paris - Rome-Washington. I suspect he is more opposed to the European lead UNIFIL forces in Lebanon than he is opposed to Israel. Hezbollah - Damascus - Tehran view UNIFIL as just another example in a long line of historical examples of Europe-U.S. military involvement, invasions, and occupations of West Asia (Middle East).
The source was quoted, "The decision to take to the streets has been taken and there will be a large demonstration in Beirut within 48 hours. There will be an announcement with the details later." This is a follow up to Nasrallah's call for a new government which he has been making since October, just two months after the war with Israel ended, and that increased Hezbollah's political influence not only in Lebanon but in the entire Islamic world. Tehran is now building on that spiritual-political foundation to control Beirut and with the support of non-Shi'ite political parties.
What has also prepared the way for Tehran, through Hezbollah to control the country, has been a campaign of assassinations of political obstacles Tehran has been currently waging, like former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri early last year and very recently Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel being the two most prominent. Just last week six pro-Tehran ministers resigned from Siniora's cabinet. There are now warnings that chaos could result from the anti-government demonstration and that is exactly what Tehran prides itself on, crisis-chaos creation, which they find strengthening. An instrument Iran uses to generate more support for Islamic extremism and its foreign policy directed largely at the West.
Since the first wave of fighting ended against Israel in August Hezbollah has been rearming massively. At first it seemed it was just in preparation for the next wave of war, against Jerusalem, but now it seems Tehran's priority is to make certain, if civil war breaks out again, Hezbollah will definitely be in the best position to eliminate, slaughter any political-armed opposition and with UNIFIL caught in the crossfire.
Tehran has been targeting UNIFIL ever since it came out of the Rome conference, which is why Tehran has been making a lot of anti-Rome - Vatican statements. I suspect that if UNIFIL had not been created the next war against Israel would have started by now.
Night Watch Information Service
http://www.crossfirewar.com
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