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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| One man's fight to take on Hezbollah in Lebanon |
| 2009-04-09 |
| Ahmad al-Asaad has decided to stand up to the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon's June 7 parliamentary elections, despite the widespread belief he stands no chance in the face of the Shiite Goliath. "I will topple the Iranian project," Asaad, a south Lebanon native who heads his own mainly Shiite party, told AFP. The election will pit the Hezbollah-led alliance, backed by Syria and Iran, against the Sunni-led majority, backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia. The Lebanese Option Gathering, as Asaad's party is known, is an "independent" movement that aims, he says, to stand up to Hezbollah's "monopoly over Shiite representation" in Lebanon. The 46-year-old mathematician-turned-businessman ran for a seat in the 2005 parliamentary elections but lost to Hezbollah by a wide margin. Unfazed, the silver-haired father of two plans to run again, this time with a list of 14 members of his party, founded in July 2007. Lebanon's rival political groups joined ranks in a unity government, in which the opposition has veto power, at the start of the summer of 2008 under a Doha-sponsored accord aimed at ending the worst inter-Lebanese violence to rock the country since the 1975-1990 civil war. The national unity government has been largely paralysed, however, with ministers locking horns over Hezbollah's stockpile of arms. "The opposition's plans are dangerous for Lebanon and for the Shiites in particular," said Asaad, the son of former House Speaker Kamel al-Asaad. "The opposition uses the Shiites as fuel in their plan to establish an Iranian empire." The Asaad dynasty has itself come under fire among residents of the south, some of whom accuse the family of a political monopoly of its own. "Ahmed al-Asaad is from a feudal family which wants to take us backwards and which considers us as servants," said Rami Hammud, a businessman from the southern coastal town of Tyre. But Ahmad al-Asaad says his plan for the south, much of which was destroyed during Hezbollah's month-long war with Israel in 2006, is one of reform and development. Yet his is a vision from afar, as he rarely frequents his hometown, 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Israeli border. In fact, he only returned to Lebanon in 2003 after decades abroad. "Of course I'm afraid," Asaad told AFP. "I'm afraid they'll liquidate me. I fear for my life and my project." In early April, a Lebanese Option Gathering member's car was set on fire in Beirut's southern suburbs, one of three major Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese press. Tens of cars owned by party members have been reported set on fire or bombed in the past year. The party's offices, also in the southern suburbs, came under fire in March. "They come at night, like bats, and burn our cars. This is Hezbollah's responsibility," Asaad said. The militant party has denied any involvement. And while he has openly denounced Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's call for "open war" with Israel last year, he says he is ready to launch a war of his own against the Shiite militia. "The resistance's role is over," Asaad said. "We have had enough of Hezbollah using us and exploiting the people in the name of the resistance." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 Bull---if he actually becomes dangerous, they'll just kill him. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-04-09 03:44 |