Prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday, his party’s radio station and Lebanon’s official news agency reported. His fatal shooting will certainly heighten the political tension in Lebanon, where Hizbullah’s leading Muslim Shi’ite party has threatened to topple the government if it does not get a bigger say in Cabinet decision making.
The above came from JP. According to Al Jazeera, “…there was panic in Beirut following the assassination, with people rushing to get home.” Most of the sources agree that it adds to the tension initiated by Hezbollah blackmail that resulted in all Shia ministers resigning from the government.
Lebanon gets closer to the edge of the abyss, and there is only one interested party: Iran that pulls the strings via its proxy, the chinless wonder of Damascus.
I haven’t seen a reaction yet from the Lebanese bloggers, only a prophetic post from yesterday:
I can feel it from here. The fear. The venom. The hatred. I can hear the vitriol in the privacy of homes – it’s so loud, it deafens me. If Lebanese were not polarized already, then today, after the speeches given by two of the country’s top henchmen, there is no question about it. Druze, Shi’ites, Sunnis and Maronites, cluster together in ever-tighter circles. People ask each other whether they have armed themselves. Wait… what am I saying? They asked themselves that question almost a year ago… . I remember.
The boiling point is nearing.
Cross-posted on SimplyJews
I am waiting for the proverbial “the Jews killed him.”
This would not have happened if Israel had finished the job last summer.
Everyone involved in ending that war prematurely is partially responsible for the instability in Lebanon.
But if all the Lebanese are going to do is thrust for position at each crisis and never face their existential responsibility to eliminate the terrorists among them, the country is finished.
It is not in Israel’s interest to have a failed state on the northern bordeer.
You may be right at that, Ed, but Israel was never given a chance to really win a war, if you look at the history.
Why have I put that “but” there? Sorry, it should be “and” or something.