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Green Light Given to Suicide-Bombing Fest in Lebanon

Green Light Given to Suicide-Bombing Fest in Lebanon
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By: Ibrahim al-Amin

Al-Akhbar, June 21, 2014

For 20 years, Hizbullah has been obliged to pay the price twice. The first being the price required to achieve its successes, and the second being the price that its enemies and opponents want to force it to pay for having achieved these successes.

Green Light Given to Suicide-Bombing Fest in Lebanon

After what happened in Syria over the past four months, many governments, intelligence services, and terrorist cells alike realized that the confrontation with Hizbullah is difficult and complex.

Hizbullah succeeded in not only discovering and tracking down a large number of terrorists involved in attacks against its base, and in Lebanon and Syria, but the party also showed unprecedented perseverance in hunting down those terrorists wherever they may be, in Lebanon or Syria, in the areas under its influence and those of its allies, and beyond. This was no laughing matter for Hizbullah, though its intelligence abilities may only be verified by way of the results they have achieved.

Practically speaking, Hizbullah was able to destroy the main logistical bases of the suicide bombers in Syria and along the border with Lebanon. Hizbullah dealt direct and fatal blows to the majority of individuals involved in terror attacks, both in the planning and execution thereof. In collaboration with security services in Lebanon, Syria, and elsewhere, Hizbullah was able to dismantle many cells that could have done a lot more damage.

True, the terrorists have been greatly weakened as a result. But Hizbullah, neither on the battlefield nor in its strongholds, has taken any practical action to suggest it is reassured by the results. Hizbullah judged that it has weakened the "lunatics" to a large extent, but the party knows their true makeup well, and it has information indicating these groups remain active and are attempting to regroup, and to gather enough support to resume their terrorist activities.

The bid to weaken the Iran-Iraq-Syria-Hizbullah axis is now obligated to go through al-Qaeda and its offshoots.

It is not logical to say that there is a full complementarity between al-Qaeda offshoots and the governments of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey. But there is a great deal of overlap, centering on the fact that these countries, in addition to the Western powers and "Israel", believe that only al-Qaeda and its offshoots can stand their ground in the battlefield, especially following the series of unprecedented scandals surrounding all other armed gangs that have been described as "moderate." In other words, the bid to weaken the Iran-Iraq-Syria-Hezbollah axis is now obligated to go through al-Qaeda and its offshoots.

Everyone is acting on the basis that the terrorism that swept through Iraq recently, which has wrested entire areas out of the control of the Iraqi state, can restore equilibrium following the series of defeats in Syria and then Lebanon.

While the state of euphoria that has possessed the governments involved in supporting this brand of terrorism remains confined to the political gains they seek in Iraq and Syria, the euphoria that emerged among the supporters of the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" [ISIL] has far exceeded these governments' calculations. Indeed, the novel situation has prompted a considerable number of terrorist groups to restart their engines, either to emulate or complement ISIL's feats, or appear as though they have the ability to match ISIL - something that is mostly visible among the groups affiliated to al-Nusra Front and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

These groups are interlinked, and have a central "prime mover" in our region. Meanwhile, there have been major political developments following the recent election in Syria, which granted President Bashar al-Assad a large popular base; the parliamentary election in Iraq, which reinforced Nouri al-Maliki's position in power, and the failure of the bid to extend Michel Suleiman's term in Lebanon. All this was expected to lead to a readjustment in the strategy of the rival camp.
It is in this context that the recent events in Iraq played out, and also the attempts to heat things up in the Syrian front to achieve a major coup in Aleppo or the south. Similarly, a decision was made to re-ignite the Lebanese arena, to put pressure on Hizbullah toward making political concessions - as related to the presidency and the government - in exchange for security, and push its back to the wall to prevent it from playing any role in Iraq similar to the role is has been playing in Syria.

A decision was made to re-ignite the Lebanese arena, to put pressure on Hizbullah toward making political concessions... in exchange for security.
It is in this climate that all alarm bells went off at once in the corridors of the security services in Lebanon. First, the Intelligence Directorate of the Lebanese army received cryptic tips from the United States about groups having arrived in Lebanon to carry out attacks against healthcare facilities. It was the view of some analysts that this meant attacks on hospitals in Beirut's southern suburbs where wounded Hizbullah fighters are being treated.

Then there were tips from European capitals, relayed to the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces, about the arrival of cells comprising Saudi nationals into Lebanon to carry out attacks on Shias in particular. There was also information about a sudden surge in the activity of groups affiliated to the armed Syrian opposition in the Bekaa Valley, including in the town of Arsal, where al-Nusra Front has reportedly regrouped despite the security measures taken by the Lebanese government.

All these warnings indicate that a green light has been given to reignite the Lebanese arena. The goal: to undo the achievements of the Resistance in Syria though a "suicide-bombing fest" in Beirut and its suburbs, as one well-placed source puts it.
It will take time to fully understand what happened on Friday. There is no evidence that attacks were about to be carried out in Beirut nor is there overwhelming evidence that Abbas Ibrahim was the target of the suicide attack in Dahr al-Baidar, and the same goes for the rumors about a Mossad document and a journalist from a Lebanese origin who warned about Ibrahim's assassination. Similar theories have been circulating on social media, and it seems that some have a very vivid imagination regarding events that never materialized.


But what is certain is that there are some parties trying to push Lebanon toward a return to the tension that prevailed before the battles in Qalamoun were settled. There are worrying signs from the northern regions, where those who were hurt by the government's security plan might be seeking to bring back chaos. There is also an attempt to blackmail Hizbullah and its allies on many political and security-related issues, and all that this camp can do in the meantime is be more patient.


Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

 

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