16 July 2010 By Abdul Rahman
Al-Rashid This week marks the forth anniversary of
the war in Lebanon - between Israel and Hezbollah. The
anniversary has been accompanied by many small events
that remind us of the horror. The incident involving a
young man who infiltrated Beirut airport after cutting
through its barbed wire fence to hide in the
undercarriage of a Saudi aircraft has raised the
question: How…and not why? It is unlikely that this
was a terrorist incident, but the question which
concerned international aviation security
organisations so greatly was how an individual with
steel scissors managed to enter the airport field,
reach the airplane and get into its undercarriage,
without being noticed by the numerous security points
in the airport? At the same time, a commotion was caused by
motorbike riders leading the UN's Security Council to
withdraw after these motorbikes aggressively pursued
UNIFIL troops, who were guarding the Israeli-Lebanese
border. According to Israel, these
Hezbollah-affiliated Bikers were trying to deter the
international troops from villages, which Hezbollah
has transformed into places for military armament. Here a reduction in the activities of the
international troops is not possible, and can only
happen in one case; that is the preparation for a new
war. At the same time, Israel took advantage of the
UNIFIL crisis, disclosing some of its information and
maps and accusing Hezbollah of transforming 160
villages in Southern Lebanon into weapon warehouses
and centres for military leadership. As a matter of
warning or intimidation, the Israelis said they intend
to destroy these villages if there is an outbreak of
war. This all is happening amid rumours, circulated
over the past two months, about the International
Criminal Court preparing to charge Hezbollah with the
assassination of Lebanese President Rafik al-Hariri,
and not Syria or al-Qaeda. Four years have elapsed since this full-scale war,
and it will very likely to be followed by another one.
I'm not saying this citing a piece of information, but
due to the increasing armament and the rising
political tension in the region. War will not be
prevented this year or the year after unless a
political development occurs at the negotiation table
with regards to the comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace
process, or if a military development emerges in a
distant front, thus neutralizing the existing forces
on Lebanese soil. We all know that Hezbollah considers itself
victorious in the past war, indicating that it has
doubled the number of its missiles and fighters, and
that today it is stronger than ever before. On the
other hand, Israel says that it won the war, the
evidence being that the past four years have been the
calmest in the history of its clashes with Lebanon.
However, although the two sides differ in their
evaluation of the previous battle, they agree that the
upcoming war, if it erupted, would be greater.
Hezbollah says that it possesses improved
capabilities, and it will be able to achieve a greater
victory within Israel, whereas the Israelis say they
prepared today for war more than ever before, and this
time they intend to destroy hundreds of southern
villages in a fashion similar to what they did to the
southern outskirts of Beirut in the previous war. Far from the yells of threats or boasting of war
preparations, it is the Lebanese political
leadership's duty not to allow this negative
development towards fighting. Practically speaking,
the UNIFIL troops are in the interest of Lebanon
rather than Israel. Its presence, activity and
testimony protect Lebanon, because it is the only
international decisive authority and barrier between
war and peace. Let's all recall that the 1967 disaster
in Egypt was initiated by a reckless decision by late
President Jamal Abdul-Nasser, when he requested that
the UN withdraw the Yugoslavian forces and the rest of
its international troops from its border with Gaza and
Sharm el-Sheikh, thus paving the way for Israel's
crushing aggression less than three weeks later. On the ground, the causes for fighting are
numerous; the first one is the rising regional
tension. The second is the increasing armament and
Israel explicitly says that it will start the war to
prevent Hezbollah from its increasing offensive
potentials. Here lies the role of the Lebanese
political leadership, which acted well when increasing
the numbers of its troops at the border, and hastened
to reassure UNIFIL. Comments 💬 التعليقات |