To All March 14 Forces: The Battle is in al-Qseir Countryside!

Imad Marmal

As-Saffir, 23-04-2013

The walls of the Lebanese disassociation policy towards the Syrian crisis cracked and fell to ruins when rockets hit Hermel and its surroundings in the past few days. This plainly indicated Lebanon's vulnerability to Syria's devastating war, whether by the military challenge conveyed in the cross-border shelling or by the humanitarian-security challenge regarding the Syrian migrants.
If the historic and geographic ties between the two countries eventually imposed a natural impact on Lebanon, then the Lebanese demography in the Syrian borderline rang more intense and complicated repercussions in the Syrian crisis.
Consequently, Lebanese residents in al-Qseir countryside decided to defend themselves against the armed groups, and Hizbullah offered them logistical support. This triggered Hizbullah's rivals in Lebanon to hold it accountable for "dragging Lebanon into a confrontation with the Syrian people."
On the other hand, sources close to Hizbullah considered this violent campaign accusing it of fighting alongside the Syrian regime as part of an open battle against Hizbullah, but in different forms according to the prerequisites of each phase.
Sources reiterated that this targeting was premeditated and reached Hizbullah's belief system, political role and choice of resistance. The new form of targeting regarding the Syrian file manifested by the assaulted being tried and the assaulter acquitted.

Well-informed sources described the media and political campaign on Hizbullah as integrated with the military attacks that the armed groups impose on Lebanese in Syria and Hermel.
Moreover, sources pointed out that these groups are in fact an ally to some internal forces that participate in arming and funding the Syrian militants, and there is some kind of harmony between the two sides.

The sources further noted that one of the functions of these accusations was to cover the involvement of some Lebanese parties in Syrian events, after Lebanon was turned into a supply channel linking the armed groups with the countries sponsoring the war on Syria.

Furthermore, accusations indicating that Hizbullah is somehow involved in the Syrian crisis - without taking into consideration the Lebanese residents living in al-Qseir countryside - are considered yet another factor of pressure on Hizbullah, others including the tense situation and increasingly sectarian speech in Sidon.
These sources further accentuated that Lebanese nationals in Syria were subject to assault from the beginning of the crisis; the kidnapped Lebanese in Aazaz are an exhibition of this point.

Therefore, Lebanese residents in al-Qseir countryside had one of two choices; either be killed and kidnapped, or defend themselves. Seeing they chose the second choice, Hizbullah's duty imposed that it should provide the minimum level of support and aid.

Likewise, the sources pointed out that Hizbullah has the conviction of helping whoever participated in liberating the occupied territories in Southern Lebanon and the West Bekaa, also some Lebanese in Syrian cross-border areas had their share in the resistance's efforts. Consequently, Hizbullah believes it must support them.

Sources further highlighted that the Lebanese in al-Qseir countryside include all sects, stressing that some parties continually repeat the same logic they used during the "Israeli" occupation of Southern Lebanon; they criticized resorting to an armed resistance to defend their land and preferred to use political and diplomatic means for liberation, up until the actual reality proved that complaints and words do not achieve anything. Today, they repeat the same monologue towards Lebanese in Syrian border villages.

These Hizbullah supporters stated that the best the theorists of March 14 forces can do is ask their allies in the so-called Syrian opposition and al-Nusra Front to stop attacking the Lebanese in Syria and Hermel. Only then will tension fade and calm be restored.

However, it is evident that this party wants these repetitive assaults to occur, especially in Hermel, in order to target Hizbullah, accuse it of being dragged into the Syrian crisis and exploit this provocation in the supposed parliamentary elections.

Source: al-Ahed News, translated and edited by moqawama.org