Salem-News.com Lebanon articles Page 3

Targeting Hezbollah in Beirut

Israel and Al Qaeda Top Suspects List in Second Bombing Attack in Five Weeks

(Makfouz Rouweiss store, Dahiyeh) - This observer was sitting with my friend Zuhair on my balcony in south Beirut, when at 6:20 pm on 8/15/13 erupted a huge blast that seemed to shake our 12 story concrete building even more so than the one just down the street did on July 9.

We both leaned over the railing at the same time. I commented that I did not see any smoke, while he spoke only two words: “Bir Abed.”

Lebanon Offers Palestinians Syria Ramadan Greetings

'Eid Mubarak, Dear brothers and sisters! Yalla! Go back where you came from!'

( MASNAA, Syria/Lebanon border) - On 8/5/13 this observer decided, quite on the spur of the moment, to take a three day break from Damascus the next morning and make a quick trip to Beirut to do some errands because offices would be closed starting at dawn for Eid al Fitr celebrations (a day later for Shia Muslims).

The annual Eid al-Fitr, being the festival of the breaking of the month long Ramadan fast, which observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

Seven of Syria`s Thirteen Palestinian Camps Now Controlled by Salafi- Jihadists

“Syria’s Palestinian camps have become theaters of war,” - UNWRA Commissioner Filippo Grandi.

(HOMS Palestinian Refugee Camp, Syria) - Jihadists are entering Syria at an accelerating pace, according to Syrian, UNWRA, and Palestinian officials as well as residents in the refugee camps here.

For the now-estimated 7000 imported foreign fighters, Palestinian camps are seen as optimal locales for setting up bases across Syria.

Caving to White House Pressure... Livni Squeals, Kerry Deals and the EU Picks Up the Tab

One of Livni’s demands was the EU doing what it did and targeting with the ‘terrorist’ label Hezbollah’s military wing.

(BEIRUT) - It was reportedly a hectic and intense past weekend in Washington and London according to an emailed report from a Capitol Hill source.

The Obama and Cameron administrations tracked down and button-holed the leaders of the 28 European Union delegations gathering in Brussels to finally vote on whether Hezbollah’s ‘military wing’ should be sanctioned...

`Let`s Cut `Em Off at the Knees and Let Allah Sort It Out!`

AIPAC & OFAC Ratchet-Up US Sanctions Targeting Syria and Iran’s Populations.

(DAMASCUS) - The US Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Assets Control, since March of 2012, is directed by Mr. Adam J. Szubin who more than once has boasted on the sidelines of a Congressional Hearing on Iran and Syria and at last March’s AIPAC’s national conference, that he fancies himself a modern day Inspector Javert.

Choosing the Victor Hugo character, according to one Congressional source, as a kind of role model because of Javert’s focused and relentless obsession.

Hezbollah`s Palestinian Problem... and Vice Versa

Syrian government forces claim that Hamas has even trained Syrian rebels in the manufacture and use of home-made rockets.

(BEIRUT) - Many Lebanese and Syrian supporters of the region's Resistance culture, increasingly led by Hezbollah, are chastising, for a number of reasons, their former Islamist ally Hamas.

Pillorying them with accusations that the latter are ingrates who are creating a host of problems for Hezbollah and its support for the Syrian regime, during the continuing crisis.

The End of Syria as We Know It?

Why Obama is Declaring War on Syria...

(BEIRUT) - The short answer is Iran and Hezbollah according to Congressional sources. “The Syrian army’s victory at al-Qusayr was more than the administration could accept given that town’s strategic position in the region. Its capture by the Assad forces has essentially added Syria to Iran’s list of victories starting with Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, as well as its growing influence in the Gulf.”

Other sources are asserting that Obama actually did not want to invoke direct military aid to the rebels...

Return Palestine... US and Israel Lobby Reel from Hezbollah al-Qusayr Victory

Perhaps less appreciated here in Beirut are al-Qusayr’s effects on the Zionist occupiers of Palestine and their currently traumatized US lobby.

(BEIRUT) - Although al-Qusayr may not be the decisive battle for Syria, it is irrefutably an important turning point in the crisis which has given the regime much sought military momentum.

Plenty of adjectives and some clichés are being bandied about from Washington to Beirut to describe the al-Qusayr battle results and significance.

UK Trying to `Nobble` Nasrallah
...and Banish Hezbollah to Outer Darkness

The MP did at least declare an interest: "I am one of the vice-chairs of Labour Friends of Israel." Well, there's a surprise.

(LONDON) - Earlier this month an MP got up in the House of Commons and proposed that the UK government outlaw, or "proscribe", the whole Hezbollah organisation, not just its military wing.

"I accept that a full ban on Hezbollah may be difficult to achieve," he said, "but even an EU ban on the military wing of Hezbollah would send a powerful message that we do not tolerate Hezbollah’s and Iran’s terrorism...."

Lebanon Greets the Special Rapporteur for Palestine With an Ear Full

42,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria have been forced into Lebanon.

(DAMASCUS) - The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Palestine, Professor Richard Falk, came to Lebanon last week on an unofficial visit to survey opinion while fact finding the condition in Palestinian refugee’s camps.

It was the Professors first visit to Lebanon since the fateful summer of 1982.