Word: lebanons
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...Syria, its interests in Lebanon may not be identical to Hizballah's, but they're just as vital. You have to go back to 1982 to understand what's at stake for Syria. On February 2 the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood seized Hama, one of the country's largest cities. Then Syrian President Hafiz al-Assad (the current president's father), convinced his regime was about to fall to the Islamic opposition, ordered his Special Forces to level Hama. Some 35,000 people were killed, most of them hostages. In the aftermath, what surprised and shook Assad was his discovery that...
...count on much in Lebanon, but my experience has been that if you keep on poking at the red lines, like pushing the Lebanese into holding a politically charged trial when the country is teetering on a precipice, you'd better brace yourself for civil war. With the way Iraq is going, you would think that would be the last thing the White House would want. But apparently not. On Tuesday Bush insisted the tribunal go forward, which means he'll soon have to deal with finding a way to put out Beirut's latest fires...
...killing on Tuesday of industry minister and anti-Syrian legislator Pierre Gemayel is a stark reminder that Lebanon's politicians remain as vulnerable as ever despite an array of security precautions. Some spend most of their time in well-protected homes surrounded by sealed-off streets; others rely on armed bodyguards or have switched smoked-glass limousines for nondescript vehicles or armor-plated SUVs. Mosbah Ahdab, a Sunni legislator from Tripoli and a member of the anti-Syrian parliamentary bloc, has lived under the threat of assassination for more than two years. "I take precautions," he says in an interview...
...Lahoud won his extra three years anyway, setting Lebanon on a perilous path of confrontation between allies of Syria and its opponents that led to Hariri's murder in a massive bomb blast five months later. And two years on, that confrontation appears to still be taking a deadly toll. Gemayel's murder has brought Lebanon's Western-backed government dangerously close to collapse. Six pro-Syrian Shi'ite ministers quit the 24-member coalition cabinet a week ago after their bid for extra seats that would give them a veto-wielding one-third stake in the government was rebuffed...
...Still, Ahdab, a multi-lingual businessman from a prominent Tripoli family, believes the root of Lebanon's political crisis lies in a fundamental disagreement over the future identity of Lebanon. Does Lebanon want to remain a pluralistic, open society or join the Syrian-Iranian alliance of anti-Western states? he asks. "An agreement is needed on what kind of Lebanon we want for the future," he says. Until that happens, Ahdab and his political colleagues will continue to remain vigilant and wary of the threat that lurks in Lebanon's darker corners...