While some in Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
and in Beirut's Dahieh suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, fired shots of jubilation into the air, celebrating Hezbollah's Wednesday attack on Mt. Dov, bigwigs in Leb were quick to accuse Hassan Nasrallah's organization of trying to drag the country into another war with Israel.
"Where is the interest of Leb if it gets dragged into a war with Israel, when Israel is the one that needs it?" former Lebanese president Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
wrote on his Facebook page.
Samir Geagea... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ...
, one of the leaders of the March 14 Alliance, said that "today's development indicates that Hezbollah is more and more expanding its regional schemes against the Lebanese state."
"Hezbollah has no right to implicate the Lebanese people in a battle with Israel. There is a government and a parliament which can decide on that," Geagea went on to say.
Hezbollah has been facing a lot of internal criticism in Leb over the past three years, mostly due to its constantly increasing involvement in the civil war in Syria. Two years ago, Hezbollah sent large forces to Syria to help
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
's army recapture territories it lost to rebels trying to oust the Syrian president, after it appeared Assad was losing his grasp on Syria.
Since Hezbollah joined the fighting in Syria, Leb has turned into a target for attacks by Sunni rebels - some more moderate than others - as well as attacks by al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
, both Sunni organizations opposing the Assad regime.
Dozens of Lebanese people - both soldiers and civilians - have been killed in these attacks, which include boom-mobiles and rocket fire, while Hezbollah has been accused of dragging Leb into a war it has no stake in.
Like Syria, Leb is a complicated and tangled web of religions and sects which includes Christians, Druze and Moslems. There's a variety of Moslem sects - Sunni, Shi'ite and Alawites.
Leb itself was torn to shreds in a civil war that claimed the lives of thousands between the years 1975-1990. Many in the country fear that Hezbollah's involvement in Syria will lead to another civil war, mostly between Sunni and Shi'ites. Many rounds of fighting between Sunni and Shi'ite have already taken place in several Lebanese cities, particularly in Tripoli, since the beginning of the Syrian civil war.
Officials in Leb expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
of the consequences of any Hezbollah response to the attack in Quneitra even before Wednesday's attack, especially in light of the crisis the country faces - including attacks by Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
as well as matters of internal politics.
| The Times of Israel provides more disapproving quotes from more major Lebanese politicians here. |