Monday, November 27, 2006

I am about to board the plane, but there are so many developments in Lebanon. Not only regarding the arrest of the Lebanese Forces' special "Collision Force"--which was notorious during the war for its responsibility for car bombs, assassinations, and torture. But there have been many clashes around Lebanon--many of them not even reported in the press. `Imad Marmal in As-Safir mentions briefly what happened in Tariq Jadidah between Sunnis loyal to Hariri and opponents. In East Beirut: there were clashes between `Awnis and Lebanese Forces all day today. There were other security developments but one source asked me to not to report on the blog. All this is bound to escalate. Hariri Inc is acting too self-confident merely due to US support, not knowing that US ability to help them in Lebanon is very limited, with the exception of statements of support that can be cashed in any Lebanese bank. The Israeli option (of support for Hariri Inc) was already tried and it led to nowhere: if anything, it wound up reinforcing the line of demarcation between Hariri Inc and opposition, and it led Hizbullah to be more emboldened. The war shattered illusions of friendship with Hariri Inc on the part of Hizbullah. I predict that Hariri Inc will blink first: they don't have much choice. The opposition side is gaining momentum. Clashes, when they occur ,will be far from the classic Muslim versus Christians: they will be Sunni versus Sunni and Christian versus Christian, plus other forms of conflict. Where are all those US reporters (especially on the pages of the Washington Post) who acted all giddy about the Cedar "revolution"? If you need to examine the low state of affairs for Hariri Inc, look at the face of Walid Jumblat these days. He does not look victorious.