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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Lebanese opposition declares independence uprising
2005-02-18
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The multi-sectarian Lebanese opposition Friday demanded Syria end its military presence and called for dismissal of the government.
"In response to the policy of intimidation and terrorization by the Lebanese authorities and the Syrian authorities, the Lebanese opposition declares the launching of the democratic and peaceful uprising for independence," the opposition said in a statement. "We demand the dismissal of the government, which has no legitimacy, and the formation of a transitional administration to protect the Lebanese people and ensure the immediate withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon to pave the way for holding free and honest legislative elections."
The opposition also called for an international investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri under the auspices of the United Nations.
Posted by:Steve

#14  Not just Hezb'allah, let's not forget the heavily armed Paleos sitting in Ein-el and other shitholes. You know - the ones Lebanon sorta forgot to absorb since they were so useful as permanent refugees...

Not so useful anymore, guys?...
Posted by: Tholuck Angomotch9553   2005-02-18 6:57:04 PM  

#13  Hell yes Zhang Fei: let's do this bad boy.
Posted by: Secret Master   2005-02-18 6:23:15 PM  

#12  If the majority of the Lebanese really want the Syrians out, all we have to do is provide air support and a few dozen Special Forces troopers to point out the targets, as we did in Afghanistan. The question here is whether we want to control the aftermath, which will require some amount of manpower. The Lebanese militias are armed and can serve the role of the Northern Alliance during the Afghan campaign.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2005-02-18 6:09:38 PM  

#11  could be good timing, what with W meeting all those "high level" thinking folks on "their" ground. And he let's them know, "We stand with the Lebanese people."
Posted by: Sherry   2005-02-18 5:21:06 PM  

#10  While I sympathize with Lebanon's people in this, they are not actually as united as they ought to be.
Beside Hizbollah, which is pro Syria by virtue of their weapons supplies, there are innumerable Syrian agents who have been bought or blackmailed into helping Syria.

What will be interesting over the next few days is seeing which public figures come out with pro Syria op-eds.

Carter?
Kissinger?
Brezinski?
Posted by: mhw   2005-02-18 5:15:50 PM  

#9  Day ain't over yet...
Posted by: tu3031   2005-02-18 5:06:47 PM  

#8  You could save a lot of bloodshed by just killing Assad first.
Posted by: 2b   2005-02-18 5:03:25 PM  

#7  Lemme see... 3,777,218 (July 2004 est.) and there is, according to Debka, 1.4 million Syrian workers.
Does look like there would be some ketchup with that popcorn.
Posted by: Sobiesky   2005-02-18 4:49:58 PM  

#6  Right on Sobiesky. The Djinn is out of the bottle.
Posted by: Rex Mundi   2005-02-18 4:44:37 PM  

#5  Can we get a little Ukraine-style protest out of Beirut?
Posted by: sludj   2005-02-18 4:39:16 PM  

#4  Debka says Syria is arming its citizens in Lebanon.
Posted by: phil_b   2005-02-18 4:38:13 PM  

#3  An image of falling domino pieces may be good here, too.
Posted by: Sobiesky   2005-02-18 4:29:03 PM  

#2  under the auspices of the United Nations.

Yeah, they will do a great job - after they steal all of Hariri's money and divide it up among the investigators.
Posted by: 2b   2005-02-18 4:28:39 PM  

#1  Where did these people get this outlandish idea of holding free and honest elections?

Oh yeh, I forgot about Iraq...My bad.

Posted by: BrerRabbit   2005-02-18 4:24:39 PM  

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