| Iranian project in Lebanon Many of today's Lebanese problems are a consequence of long-standing events in Iran, where the Islamic revolution under the leadership of Imam Khomeini won in 1979. He called on Muslims around the world to fight against two devils, the United States and the Soviet Union, to defeat the state of Israel and liberate the territory of Palestine. The ideologists of the Iranian clergy, exporting the ideas of the Islamic revolution to neighboring countries (Iraq, where Shiite Muslims make up 60% of the population, and other Gulf states), relied on Shiite communities. It has reached the point of calls for the overthrow of existing regimes and the creation in their place of a regime similar to the Iranian one.
Fearing this, Iraq, then led by Saddam Hussein, began military operations against Iran in 1980, with the support of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, the United States and a number of European countries.
Syria, being hostile to Saddam's regime and in a state of economic crisis, began to provide assistance to Iran, supplying it with surface-to-surface missiles and other weapons, receiving oil and financial support in return. Even then, the Syrian-Iranian alliance began to support Shiite armed groups in Lebanon - Amal, which appeared in the mid-1970s at the beginning of the civil war, and Hezbollah, created in 1982. They became an instrument of the Iran-Syria alliance, and Lebanon became a military base in their fight against Israel.
What is the Party of Allah building?
Historically, the Shia community is the poorest segment of Lebanon's multi-religious population. Shiites living in the south and northeast of the country were engaged in agriculture. In search of work in the capital, they began to populate the suburbs of Beirut. In the 1960s, the ideas of socialism were popular among the Shiite poor. Many Shiites joined the Lebanese Communist Party.
As soon as Imam Khomeini came to power in 1979, he began to support the Shiites of Lebanon. The Iranians organized Shiite religious four-year schools that paid students large scholarships (up to $500 per month). Then the training continued in Iran for four years, after which the graduates received the rank of imam. Thus, Tehran created a huge army of propagandists of the Shiite pro-Iranian religious movement, completing the matter with the creation of the Shiite Hezbollah party in Lebanon in 1982. It relies on paramilitary units undergoing training at special bases in both Lebanon and Iran. It receives weapons and finances from Tehran. Over the past 20 years, about 60 thousand Hezbollah representatives have undergone military training in Iran.
Why is this party popular among the majority of the Shiite population of Lebanon? The Party of Allah - this is how Hezbollah is translated - finances hospitals, maternity hospitals, and provides assistance to families who, for one reason or another, are left without a breadwinner. In return, loyalty to the ideas of Hezbollah is required, and any dissent is persecuted, even to the point of reprisals against those who do not want to submit. The party has a television and radio station, newspapers and magazines - that is, it has a powerful propaganda machine. In schools where children from low-income Shiite families study for free, compulsory pro-Iranian religious education is conducted.
What is Iran's goal in funding Hezbollah? Create an Islamic state in Lebanon! Hezbollah is a state within the state of Lebanon, with a weak army and a puppet president pursuing a pro-Syrian policy. Iran, which is quietly developing its nuclear program, is using Hezbollah to fight Israel.
The Syrian leadership also provides support to Hezbollah, trying with its help to destabilize the situation in Lebanon, if only to avoid an international tribunal. After all, Syrian leaders are the main suspects in organizing the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Damascus is also dissatisfied with the fact that it was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in the spring of 2005 and thus comply with UN Security Council Resolution No. 1559 adopted in the fall of 2004.
But the majority of the Lebanese population is against the existence of an armed group in the country and demands its disarmament in accordance with the inter-Lebanese agreement concluded back in 1989 in the Saudi city of Taif. This is also prescribed by UN Security Council resolutions.
The Iran-Syria project is doomed to failure because it is opposed by the United States, most European and Arab countries, and the Lebanese themselves, who want their children to live in a peaceful country that does not serve the interests of others.
Alien Wars
In the 1970s, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its armed forces began using Lebanese territory to conduct military operations against Israel. This split the Lebanese people into two. The Christian population believed that the Palestinians had almost created their own state in Lebanon and that this must be fought, and Muslims stood up to defend the Palestinians. In 1975, civil war began in Lebanon.
The Americans, supported by Arab states, authorized the Syrians to restore order in Lebanon. Israel, which needed to secure its northern borders from Palestinian attacks, agreed to the idea.
Damascus readily took on this mission, because it had long looked with envy at its prosperous neighbor - the level of well-being of the Lebanese was much higher than the standard of living in Syria. In 1976, Syrian troops were brought into Lebanon and took full control of the country, but Syria never fulfilled its obligations to curb Palestinian armed groups. The period from the actual occupation of Lebanon by the Syrians until the withdrawal of their troops in 2005 can be considered the darkest days in Lebanese history. Syria was interested in the continuation of the civil war in Lebanon, and therefore pursued a policy of increasing internal contradictions, while profiting by robbing the country and undermining its economy.
Palestinian troops left Lebanon only after the Israelis invaded the southern and mountainous parts of the country and the capital Beirut in 1982. Syrian troops were pushed back into the Bekaa Valley. The PLO leadership moved to Tunisia. The Lebanese breathed more freely.
But the Syrians continued to interfere in the internal affairs of Lebanon, directing the situation in a direction favorable to themselves, keeping the flames of civil war alive. Only in 1989, in the Saudi city of Taif, the warring parties, realizing the senselessness of the bloodshed, met and concluded a reconciliation agreement, and also adopted a new constitution.
The first point of the agreement provided for the dissolution of all paramilitary groups. And since Syrian troops were in Lebanon, Damascus was tasked with ensuring the implementation of this agreement and facilitating the disarmament of the groups. It was agreed that after two years from the signing of the agreement, Syria would withdraw its army from Lebanon.
Most military units surrendered their weapons. An exception was made for Hezbollah, which enjoys the support of Damascus and Tehran. The Syrians began to delay the withdrawal of their army from Lebanon under various pretexts. The main reason cited was the presence of Israelis in the buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Under the guise of fighting against Israeli occupation, the Syrians, with the participation of Iran, began to arm Hezbollah.
But in 2000, Israel withdrew troops from Lebanese lands, complying with UN Security Council Resolution No. 425. Under the auspices of the UN, the border between Lebanon and Israel was demarcated. And then Syria did not allow the Lebanese army to enter the south of Lebanon, allowing armed Hezbollah units there. After all, Syria controlled the Lebanese territories bordering Israel.
Periodically, with the approval of Damascus and Tehran, Hezbollah carried out forays into the territory of the Jewish state, causing retaliatory measures. This hindered the restoration of the economy, destroyed during the war.
The majority of Lebanese political forces demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops and the disarmament of Hezbollah, which Syria resisted in every possible way, making attempts to destabilize the situation in order to demonstrate that only its presence can guarantee peace and quiet. Under pressure from the international community, the UN Security Council adopted resolution No. 1559 in 2004. She obliged Syria to withdraw its troops and demanded the disarmament of all illegal groups, including Hezbollah.
Damascus, in response to the UN decision, in violation of the Lebanese constitution, extended the tenure of its protege, puppet President Emile Lahoud, who is pursuing a pro-Syrian policy to the detriment of the interests of his country. And on February 14, 2005, the former Prime Minister of Lebanon (with an explosion with a capacity of 1000 kg of TNT) Rafik Hariri was killed. He was a supporter of the withdrawal of Syrian troops and raised Beirut from ruins, rebuilding the capital. Syrian intelligence services are suspected of organizing the terrorist attack.
That brutal murder united the Lebanese people and brought them to the streets demanding that the Syrian government immediately clear Lebanese territory of its troops. The international community did not stand aside either. Unable to withstand the pressure, in the spring of 2005 the Syrian army left Lebanon.
How Iran and Syria fought with Israel
However, one more problem remains - the armed units of Hezbollah. Thanks to the financial, military and political assistance provided to it by Iran and Syria, the group created underground bunkers and missile launchers in towns and villages near Israel’s northern border and transported more than 13 thousand missiles there through Syria.
So the current war, which began on July 12, 2006 after Hezbollah attacked an Israeli patrol, is in fact a war between Iran and Syria on the one hand and Israel and the United States on the other. Hezbollah's attack on the patrol, as many in Lebanon believe, was carried out on orders from Tehran and Damascus. The trouble is that someone else’s war was again taking place on Lebanese territory - most of the infrastructure in the country was destroyed and, worst of all, more than 1,200 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured. The greatest damage was caused to the Shia community in Lebanon. More than 15 thousand houses in dozens of villages and cities were destroyed, about 1 million refugees fled the southern territories of Lebanon and the Shiite neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
What is the solution to the problem? First of all, the disarmament of Hezbollah, as required by the latest UN Security Council resolution No. 1701, adopted on August 11, and previous resolutions. Naturally, as the resolution says, government troops should enter the south of Lebanon. But if the Iranian clergy and Syrian leadership again do not allow Hezbollah to submit to the demands of the Lebanese government and the international community, then Lebanon could again plunge into civil war.
And one more important addition. To defuse the situation in the Middle East, Israel needs to make a wise decision and, despite all the difficulties, find a solution to the Palestinian problem. This will destroy the basis for the creation of extremist organizations like Hezbollah. Otherwise, there remains a danger of Syria and Iran being involved in future conflicts and the consequences may be unpredictable. Riyadh NAJM, Beirut-Moscow |
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