Lebanon and Palestine On Fire: A Clash in the Morning, 2 Bombs at Night

After 4 months of not being able to watch the news due to exams and work, which I'd like to call a bliss, I was never expecting to see anything as messed up and twisted as today's incidents in Lebanon. Just in the morning, I noted my dad watching the news on Lebanon's Al-Mustaqbal Television. I thought he was watching the news.

Well, he was. But it was what appeared to be a gun battle, apparently between the Lebanese Army and Palestinian fighters who are members of Fatah al-Islam. What happened today was despicable, and such a group is giving a bad name to Islam by sticking the name of Islam in its group name as well as carrying out bus bombings in February, killing 3 civilians. According to Al Jazeera,

Scores of people have been hospitalised after fighting between the army and Fatah al-Islam extended from the perimeter of Nahr al-Bared camp to the city of Tripoli...

Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's prime minister, accused Fatah al-Islam of trying to destabilise the country. In a statement, he said: "The blows dealt by Fatah al-Islam against the Lebanese army are a premeditated crime and a dangerous attempt to destabilise [Lebanon]"He called on the people of Lebanon, which has been battling political chaos for months, to "join ranks behind the army and Lebanese security forces."

Earlier, Fatah al-Islam told Lebanon's army not to take "provocative actions" against the group. The authenticity of the groups' statement could not be immediately verified but its language was similar to previous statements from the group. "We warn the Lebanese army of the consequences of continuing the provocative acts against our mujahidin who will open the gates of fire... against [the army] and against the whole of Lebanon."

The Palestinians can't afford another decimation at the hands of the Lebanese Army let alone the Lebanese Forces and Kataeb, who'd probably see an open engagement against the Palestinian militants as a green light to storm Palestinian refugees, etc.

Even stranger is that Fatah al-Islam was accused of being tied with Lebanon's northern neighbor, Syria, which has been occupying Lebanon for quite a while.

Fatah al-Islam was formed last year by fighters who broke off from the pro-Syrian Fatah-Intifada group. Lebanese officials allege Fatah al-Islam is merely a front for Syrian intelligence in Lebanon.

Ahmad Fatfat, a Lebanese cabinet minister, said Sunday's violence was part of efforts to sabotage the setting up of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, a former prime minister. While a UN inquiry into the Hariri killing has not yet concluded, interim reports have implicated Syria and Lebanese officials.

"There is someone trying to create security chaos to say to world public opinion: 'Look, if the tribunal is established, there will be security trouble in Lebanon'," Fatfat said. Syria and Fatah al-Islam deny having any relationship. Fatah al-Islam statements have appeared on Islamist websites known to publish al-Qaeda statements.

Interesting set of developments there. But to break it down, many Palestinian militant groups, even Hamas, are known to be pro-Syrian, and wouldn't mind Syria's occupation of Lebanon once more. Also, keep in mind that like the null connection between Saddam and Al-Qaeda (Saddam was a secular brute, while Al-Qaeda are "religious" extremists), Syria is a secular nation and Fatah al-Islam is supposedly "Izlamofashist". They couldn't have mutual interests. Furthermore, I disagree with Fatfat, who, like all Arab Ministers of Interior and/or Information, just like to digest info and spin it to the masses. I doubt the violence today had anything to do with Hariri's tribunal, which sadly to this date has not been conclusive. Today's violence had to do with an arrest attempt at people who are accused of bank robbery (they could've used the cops, but apparently they knew who they were up against and instead sent the army).

The BBC news website gives us another picture. Reported this morning, BBC wrote,

Fighting erupted on Sunday morning after security forces raided a building in Tripoli to arrest suspects in a bank robbery. After resisting arrest, militants said to belong to Fatah Islam then attacked army posts at the entrances to the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, which is home to some 30,000 displaced Palestinians. Several hours later a large force of Lebanese troops hit back at Fatah Islam, storming the building on the outskirts of Tripoli and killing a number of militants. Fatah Islam spokesmen portrayed the fighting as an unprovoked aggression by the Lebanese army. "The problem began with repeated arrests of our brothers in Tripoli. We've always defended Sunnis in Lebanon," a spokesman called Abu Salim told al-Jazeera TV.

... which is kinda hypocritical, because Lebanon has yet to try the criminals in the government, and those ministers who are running for complete control of Lebanon, from Jumblatt to Geagea. But what Fatah al-Islam did was absolutely wrong and indefensible. I could only hope that they renege on their "promises" to set fire to Lebanon, which could only result in civilian death and chaos. And then the Hariri link is brought up again:

Fatah Islam is a radical Palestinian splinter group alleged to have links with al-Qaeda. Lebanese officials also believe it has ties to Syrian intelligence. Other Palestinian groups have distanced themselves from Fatah Islam, which emerged last year after splitting from a Syrian-backed Palestinian splinter group, says the BBC's Beirut correspondent Jim Muir.

After the violence broke out, Syria temporarily closed two border crossings with northern Lebanon because of security concerns. Some link the eruption in violence to moves at the UN Security Council to set up an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, two years ago, our correspondent says.

Syria is against the tribunal, and some Lebanese government sources have accused Damascus of trying to stir up trouble to head it off. Lebanon's Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, said Fatah Islam was making a deliberate attempt to destabilise the country. The Nahr el-Bared camp has been under scrutiny since two bus bombings in a Christian area of Beirut in February, blamed on Fatah Islam militants based in the camp.

Come to think of it, this might have some truth to it, even though a lot of the arrests and attempts at arrest of the members of Fatah al-Islam were recent.

However, just as I was going to go to sleep, this happens: an explosion occurred in Al Ashrafiyeh, a popular Christian sector in Beirut, (you guessed it) Lebanon. Could the explosion have anything to do with the incident that happened with Fatah al-Islam? It's possible, considering that the bus bombings that were caused (supposedly by Fatah al-Islam as per the news articles already presented) occurred in Christian neighborhoods of Beirut.

Black smoke has been seen billowing over the Lebanese capital after a large explosion was heard in the east of the city. The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation reported that the blast on Sunday night was in Ashrafieh, the Christian sector of the city, near a major shopping centre. Reuters reported security sources as saying that one woman died after a device went off under a car. The agency said that the woman died when a wall of her home next to the mall collapsed, and that six other people were wounded by shattering glass. The explosion came after day-long battles in the northern port city of Tripoli between Lebanese troops and members of Fatah al-Islam in which at least 37 people were killed.

BBC puts the death toll at 40. However, this recent act of terrorism is condemnable because it was done against civilians. Fatah al-Islam, however, fought soldiers during the afternoon raid, so that could not necessarily be labelled terrorism, for terrorism is done against civilians.

Meanwhile in Palestine, in Gaza, another bomb occurred, this one more deadlier than the bomb that went off in Ashrafiyeh. And this time, it wasn't done by any "Izlamofashist" terrorist group (or suspect). This time, it was done by your friendly neighborhood Israeli Army, dropping air mail to Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas politician living in the Gaza Strip. Instead of killing the politician, 8 civilians are dead and 13 injured. Members of the politician's family died in this assault. According to Al Jazeera,

At the al-Shifa hospital, where the wounded were taken, al-Hayya said: "We will go ahead despite the challenges, despite the martyrs, despite the pain that I am suffering and my people are suffering."

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, said on Sunday: "If the measured steps we are taking, in the political and military sphere, do not bring about the desired calm, we will be forced to intensify our response." His comments came after fighters in Gaza fired at least 10 rockets at southern Israel, some of which landed in the town of Sderot causing damage but no casualties. In Sderot, though, protesters called on the government to act to stop the attacks.

Meanwhile, Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's strategic affairs minister, threatened to pull his party out of the government unless Olmert ordered a large-scale operation against Hamas. "Either Hamas is going to be dismantled, or the government is going to be dismantled," Lieberman said in a statement. "This is not an ultimatum, but these are the options." However, if Lieberman were to quit, Olmert would still have a small majority.

The blabber about Israel saying that it will take measures to stop the attacks is obvious: Israel provokes Palestinian fighters provoke Israel provokes Palestinian fighters... and on and on and on. And strong words on al-Hayya's part. To understand why the Gazans are sufferring, you might find this page insightful.

Even more interesting... Israeli politics these days is shifting to the right. I'll be covering Israeli and Palestinian politics later on this month or the next, as well as Iraq's changing political sphere. Lebanon... I can't talk about much as it is too chaotic to determine the real political status there. However, for now, let's just hope that the fire that started in Palestine and Lebanon is put out before it conflagrates and burns more people with it. If it is not stopped, it will just consume and consume until it can't find anything else to set on fire.

Salaam, from Saracen