Beirut Clashes Trap Citizens
Being curled up in the bathtub hiding from stray bullets didn't stop me from writing about what's happening in Beirut. Here are the stories of some of the other residents who were stuck in their houses for nearly 24 hours as Hezbollah troops battled supporters of the Lebanese government.
The sudden eruption of clashes between Hezbollah and supporters of the Lebanese government trapped residents of central Beirut in their houses for nearly 24 hours.
The loud weapons being fired ended suddenly on Friday afternoon with Hezbollah in full occupation of Beirut. However, New TV is reporting that Hezbollah is now marching on the Druze suburbs south of Beirut. There are also reports of clashes in the northern city of Tripoli.
Shop owner Ali Amin contends, “We had no prior warning. There are always clashes in mixed areas during protests, but we had no idea that it would escalate when things started on Wednesday. I went to work on Thursday, and got trapped in my shop.”
Rania, a student at the American University of Beirut, notes, “My mother went to watch [Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan] Nasrallah’s speech at a friend’s house in [the Christian area of] Ashrafieh. The fighting started immediately after, and she had to stay there. My younger brother was at home all by himself. I got stuck at my boyfriend’s place, which was really awkward.”
A local pub owner spent Thursday night in his pub eating steak, watching TV, and listening to the Hezbollah, Amal, and Syrian Social Nationalist Party gunmen fire at opponents in the street. He says, “I was doubly trapped. There was fighting around my pub, and there was fighting in the area around my house. I had no choice.”
The Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces (ISF) did not participate in the fighting. Hezbollah faced little opposition to its takeover of the city. Druze leader Walid Jumblatt publicly declared that he put his faith in the Lebanese government, and would not allow Hezbollah’s militia to force private citizens and political parties, including his well-armed Progressive Socialist Party, into a clash.
Hezbollah militiamen and their allies from the Shia Amal Movement and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) now patrol the streets of West Beirut. One Hamra resident, observes, “Militia guys are all over the place, every couple a meters. The SSNP is putting up their flag everywhere, and I saw a couple new posters of [Syrian President] Assad.”
Bullet casing line the sidewalks of West Beirut. However, damage to buildings and other infrastructure appears to be minimal. It appears that a good portion of the weapons fired were intended only to intimidate. West Beirut resident Faisal claims, “They hit some things, but I think it was accidental. I had a full view of the snipers and the RPGs on the roofs. They fired a lot, but primarily into the air.”
An American teacher living in the central Beirut neighborhood of Koreitem, where parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri’s compound is located, asks, “You would think that they would have put up barricades on the streets to try to stop Hezbollah from entering? But it didn’t look like they did. Some guys on one side kept firing in the air, and some guys on the other side did the same thing. Then, there was a big burst of gunfire from one side, and then everything was Hezbollah’s. It was really weird. Hariri didn’t even put up a fight.”
Christian suburbs north of Beirut were unaffected by the violence in Beirut. The thousands of Christians who work in the capital are unable to go to work, but for Christians who live and work in the affluent north Beirut suburbs, it is business as usual. Karin writes from her office in the city of Jounieh saying that she worked for 21 of the 34 days of the 2006 war, only finding her commute difficult after Israel bombed the bridge next to the Casino du Liban. She notes, “From my location, I have a view of Beirut and can see plumes of smoke and activity below. My region is fairly quiet however the local market last night looked pretty ransacked to me of basic staples such as bread. Stockpiling has started.”
While suburban Christians try to figure out what exactly happened in Beirut over the last three days, Beirut residents are left pondering the status of the nation. Ziad asks succinctly, “Was this a coup? Hezbollah took land, but does not control the state. What happens, now? Does this mean anything, like getting rid of the VAT [value added tax on consumable products], or do we just have a different police force in our streets?”
Charles Chuman is a media and political analyst currently in Beirut.
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21 Comments
1. John Samford:Lebanon is about to pay the price for not fighting in ‘06. Back then they had the IDF on their side if they wanted it. They choose to not help the IDF, which meant they did help Hezbo.
May 9, 2008 - 11:32 am 2. winston:4th generation warfare does not allow neutrals. If you don’t fight the terrs, your help them.
Lebanon is about to find out what happens when you depend on the UN for protection.
In ‘06, the blood price would have been 10 to 20 thousand. Now it will be 10X that. The real price will be your freedom.
The Mullahs are getting the snot beat out of them in Iraq. Quds force and JAM are dying like flies. The rest of the Mullah’s proxies won’t do any better. So the Mullahs HAVE to find some way to take the pressure off.
I don’t think turning their minions loose on Lebanon will do it, but the Mullahs don’t have a lot of choice. Anything else they do will hurt them even more and if thy do nothing, they are toast.
Notice that this started pretty much after the Iraqi government read them the riot act. Co-ink-see-dink? I think not.
On a positive note, one of the things that was giving the pols weak knees about doing Iran was the possibility of the Mullahs turning their rabid dogs loose on other parts of the ME. Now that they have already done that, there is no reason to not bomb Iran back to the stone age then bounce the rubble for a while.
Once the Mad Dog Mullahs are dead terrorism will decline by 90% or more.
please stay safe!
May 9, 2008 - 1:32 pm 3. yochanan:Lebanon enjoy your new overlord. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.
May 9, 2008 - 1:58 pm 4. Tazzerman:John, I tend to agree with your analysis at least from the heart. My head tells me differently but hey, I very RARELY listen to that
-tm
May 9, 2008 - 2:40 pm 5. Shef Rogers:How about some accountability for failed pundits? On April 13 PM published an article called “The Arab Spring Is Happening Now” by Abe Greenwald. Lebanon was Greenwald’s prime example of how nicely it’s all going in the Middle East. Could we have an update from Mr. Greenwald now, or would it be simpler just to fire him?
May 9, 2008 - 5:38 pm 6. Ron J:The pro-Syria and Iranian militias may have won the day but they will lose in the end. Anyone who rules by the gun will eventually be overthrown. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they will fall…
May 9, 2008 - 5:41 pm 7. John Samford:Tazzerman. The terrorist’s most potent weapon in the war on terror is the US Media and the Democratic party. Right now both are pretty busy. So there is a window there that the Bush administration can take advantage of to strike a blow against the terrs.
May 9, 2008 - 6:03 pm 8. Carol Herman:Within 2 days there can be 4 CVBG’s off the shore of Iran, with another 2 more arriving within a week. Add to that the Air Force units ( I think about 180 warplanes) already there are the AirForce’s ability to bump that number by about 400 in a couple of days and you have almost 1,000 warplanes able to target the Mullahs. The real problem will be finding targets for them after the 4th day.
I didn’t count the UACV’s flying around waiting to catch a Mullahs between bunkers.
No, the military side is easy, it’s the domestic political side that causes problems. From now until the convention, the Mullah’s best weapons will be engaged. There is another opportunity starting about 6 weeks before the general election.
Going now would create a Battle Royal amongst the Demonrats. The hard core terrorist supporters would go ballistic and start raving about impeachment, protest marches, etc. The useful fools (those that think they can sit out this war) would not want to waste the time and energy. This would be another blow to Democratic unity, which is already starting to look a little rough around the edges.
If Bush waits until September to pull the trigger, He will be forcing the Demonrats to vote for America by declaring War on Iran, or vote for Iran by refusing to allow military action against Iran. ALl of this a few weeks before the general election.
Which would Karl Rove do? Screw them now or screw them later?
John Stamford, I LOVE your posts, here!
And, what surprises me, is that as Beirut erupts, we have lots of ships at sea. Including crap that’s there from the UN. So why is everything so quiet?
Was this a test to see how far Nasrallah would go? He’s hiding out in Tehren.
More surprising, was the surrounding of Harriri’s and Jumblatt’s houses! And, the takeover of Christian and Druze neighborhoods. Also, for some reason, the head military guy in Lebanon refused Siniora’s orders to protect Beirut. He actually gave the response that “he’d tell the troops to return to their barracks.”
Do diplomats cower by nature? Is that what Nasrallah expects?
I’m sure before Lebanon became this Mullah enriched “target,” it would have been Gaza. But the eygptians will now kill residents of gaza as soon as they break through a fence. And, Israel’s got solid controls on her side. “In spite of leaving,” which left the whole right wing in Israel bent out of shape.
Oh, and President Peres says this one isn’t Israel’s problem.
Yup. You noticed. In the summer of 2006, the Lebanese really had a stronger choice; but opted, instead, for the usual arab blather.
Riyadh, I hear, is also up in arms. Since the sunnis lose in this Hezbollah “surprise.”
Oh, don’t worry about the democrapic party. What you see is similar to what goes on in academia. Sure. Academia was supposed to crack, first. The feminists and the blacks, are on their last legs, there.
Here? Let me share with you, that as soon as Ronald Reagan appeared on the scene (1972), to run for president. He discovered an untapped resource. The foot soldiers of the republican party. Prior to Reagan? Country Club.
Today, what has given Obama such high numbers; while republican voters fell off the map, was the CROSS-OVERS. In other words? The “foot soldiers” signed up “for the other party.” And, yes. They do vote in primary elections. This has skewed the numbers. Giving Obama a chance to race; instead of the candidate that would have pulled votes. Could Hillary have won? At one point, I thought so. This is no longer true.
But then, again, back in 1948, the republicans made their last big mistake, by NOT running General Douglas MacArthur. Choosing, instead, at the Country Club level, to run Thomas Dewey AGAIN! Two times a loser.
By 1952? The republicans asked the non-affiliated Eisenhower to head their ticket. While over on the democrapic side, you get LBJ, Hubert Humphry, McGovern, Carter, and Dukakis. Then Gore. And, Kerry. WIth those people, there’s not one winnah in sight.
By the way, Dukakis pulled in 10 states. But the democraps are fractured. They can’t “halp” themselves.
Oh, and the day this Bush “does something?” His popularity will shoot through the roof! (No. I don’t know what’s holding him back.) But IF aggressive moves mean you can win, then hitler would have won. He really believed in lots of aggression to be used very quickly. And, he “mired down to hell.” As they say. Took years.
May 9, 2008 - 6:36 pm 9. Carol Herman:A special question for John Samford.
Is it possible, with Bush’s daughter’s wedding this weekend, that you have one reason Bush is holding back? Given the fire power. And, the increased fire power “over there” … And, Petraus selected to sit on top. At least the military knows.
So we have to wait a week? Next week Bush travels to Israel. Perhaps, we have to wait till summer?
I really believe AMericans are patriotic. Obama gets left in the dust. No matter what. But why this “festers?”
Perhaps, Bush wants the time to enjoy his daughter’s wedding? Without the melodrama of sending our navy and air force flying over Beirut?
Gee, I sure hope Hizbollah runs out of energy. That they’ve shot their wad. And, in the silence? Lots of diplomats and press-ti-tutes running around like scared rabits.
May 9, 2008 - 6:44 pm 10. John Samford:Carol;
“The Hezbollah fighter wakes up in the morning, drinks
his coffee, takes a rocket out of his closet, goes to his
neighbor’s yard, sticks a clock timer on it, goes back
home and then watches CNN to see where it lands.
LTC Ishai Efroni
Deputy Commander, Baram Brigade”
Battles are dynamic. Both sides want to win and there are no real rules. Humans have tried making rules for military conflicts and the enemy uses those rules to advance their cause, so the laws of war are honored more in the breach, so to speak.
Here is a MOST excellent article from the U.S. Army Combined Studies Center;
http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/csi/RandP/CSIpubs.asp#LongWar
Go to study 26 by Matt Matthews. He goes thru the Hizbollah/Israeli series of battles from the inception of Hisbollah to the 2006 round.
May 9, 2008 - 9:43 pm 11. Nash:The point I’m dancing around is that war is the ultimate unknown and you never know what will happen. All one can do is follow the axioms and hope for the best. Remembering always that timing is a critical part of warfare. What is the right thing to do now could be a disaster in 15 minutes. Things change and the enemy devotes a lot of time and effort to changing things to their benefit. That is why having the initiative is so important. That gives you a chance to force the enemy to operate at the pace you want. It’s called ‘operating inside their cycle’ in reference to the Boyd Cycle or OODA loop.
No room here for getting into Boyd cycles or OODA loops. Everyone does it. You do it when you get the kids ready for school or persuade your SO into going someplace with you that they really would rather not go.
From the Military POV, the time to liberate Iran was as soon as our war stocks had been built back up and the forward air base in Iraq up and running. There was a window there that would have let us force a conventional war on the Mullahs.
It was botched at 1st Fallujah. The Mullahs knew they were vulnerable then, which is why they stopped their nuclear weapons program.
After 1st Fallujah, the Mullahs took the opportunity that was handed them to turn Iraq into a guerrilla campaign.
Right now we have the upper hand in Iraq or rather the Iraqi’s have the upper hand, since they are doing the heavy lifting while the US is doing the EBO ( Effects Based Operations, milspeak for blowing sh1t up).
Keep in mind that in the written history of warfare, going back 5,500 years, No guerrilla has ever lost when they had outside support. The G needs a place to rest up from operations, which are rougher on the G then on the occupation troops. Winning Hearts and Minds isn’t enough on it’s own, you have to remove the support from the guerrillas also.
The US has been trying to do that diplomatically, which is always the best way to go. The Mullahs gave Iraq the run around when they approached them a couple of weeks ago. So we will soon see if Diplomacy has run it’s course. When diplomacy fails, trial by battle is all that’s left.
I believed President Bush when he said that when he leaves office, there will be no Iranian nuclear weapons program running. I could be wrong, but we are running out of time and will know by the end of the year.
Isreal made the mistake of going into Lebanon in ‘06. What they should have done is dropped a bomb on Damascus everytime Hizbollah fired a rocket into Israel. That would have been the indirect approach that so often leads to victory at a lower cost. Instead they walked into the trap Hizbollah had laid for them. Hizbollah was operating inside the IDF’s cycle.
Regime change in Iran means Hizbollah and Hamas Fatah and assorted other terrorist groups die a slow death as they are cut of from support while being tracked down and destroyed.
What you see in Lebanon is result of US and her allies policies in Lebanon and Middle East.
May 10, 2008 - 7:44 am 12. Michel de Noterdame:I am a Persian an pro western but I can see many strategic mistakes by US, European and Israel in
area.
for example when Hammas and Hezbollah started hostage policy in plestine and lebanon border they had no prevention plan and good reaction. when thier enemies is firing missiles to Israel major cities even Haifa they didn’t attack to Syria and when the Hezbollah ignored UN resolutions about disarming they sat in there home and didn’t show any reaction.
every day Iran and Syria had plan for their tomarrow but Israel and US and Europe just look at them without clear policies.
the state department in US is thinking diplomacy is travelling and talking by some official but Iran at the same time sending his top commanders in politics and secret army to area. of course second side will be winner because they have executive plan and another side have no any strategy and executive plans.
now what we can doing in future and how we can save the only democratic state in Middle East?
1- we have to use professional people in state department and fire traditional advisors and clarck.
2-we have to send our warship very fast to Lebanon coast and sending a message to Hezbollah that if they are trying to change Lebnaon to another Gaza we are ready.
3-we have to be ready to attack to syria and remove ASAD family from power very fast.
4-we have to get ready to sent our Marines and European marines to Lebanon to help to Lebanon army and government and clean up street from Hezbollah militant.
5-we have to send clear signal to Iran and put pressure on them from every side in UN, in Iraq, and in region.
6-we have to announce Hezbollah and Qods forces top brass as head of terrorism in area and as wanted persons for justic and their punishment.
The violence in Middle East is an endemic phenomenon. To represent the State of Israel as the main cause of bloodshed in this region, as Islamist and their “liberal” a-lickers want, is absolutely false and express exclusively their hate for a democratic State of the western type in the midst of the oriental despotic regimes and for democracy in general.
Peace in Middle East is an utopia. When the terrorists cannot murder others they fight between them. The only possible way is to limit terrorism eliminating as many fanatic thugs as possible. To uproot completely terrorism is not realizable as it is unrealistic to destroy all the garbage that human society produces.
The “peace agreements” have for Islamists and western “peace makers” the only value to obliterate the only democratic island the midst of Islamic swamp: Israel.
To the “political” reasons” should be added a visceral anti-Semitism in which Islamist and “liberals” are also completely united. Jewish people are traditionally democratic nation, not like Muslims who practice slavery up to now (see Slavery in modern Africa). For this reason the founders of totalitarian ideologies, like communism and Nazism, hated, persecuted and killed the Jews. And now their ideological heirs, Islamofascists, hope finally to realize the dream of their diabolic teachers (Muhammad, Marx, Lenin, Stalin etc.).
But what happens now in Lebanon? I think it is another insignificant episode of the endless fighting between the fiends. Nobody understands what happens as appears from the words of a Lebanese that Charles Chuman cites: “Was this a coup? Hezbollah took land, but does not control the state. What happens, now?” Iranians or Syrian intrigues? It is possible, but a terrorist organization, like a political Party, must do something to demonstrate it exists, even if its doing is completely absurd.
To John Samford: Do you remember Queen Catherine de’ Medici that invented the stiletto heels? I’m sure this grande Dame, differently of miserable modern politicians, would make order with her stiletto even in Lebanon.
May 10, 2008 - 1:20 pm 13. First Hand reports from Lebanon « Because No One Asked:[...] bloggers, Hezbollah, lebanon, middle east, msm | Ignore the newspapers and head over to Pajamas Media for the real news, especially first hand reports of what’s really happening in the streets [...]
May 10, 2008 - 1:56 pm 14. Patrick:Michel de Noterdame,
You spelled noterdame incorrectly, it is spelled notre, this aside you should look up Moses Hess and find out who inspired Marx and Engels in their ideas of Communism.
It is your kind of one sided, inflammatory rhetoric that only drags my country, the USA, deeper into a mess that we had little next to nothing in creating, costing me and my fellow taxpayers more than can be imagined!
Have you forgotten that it was European Jewry that established the state of Israel? Why did this happen? Could it be that the “Great Powers of Europe” failed to take care of their own and foisted their problem onto the Arabs? (Not that the European Jews can be blamed for wanting out of Europe given the history of pogroms, Dreyfus Affairs and the culminating event we refer to as the Holocaust. Hell,I’d leave too!)
Have you ever asked why the Jews are always the subject of abuse and what they may be doing to cause this if anything? I doubt it.
Finally, we here in the US seem to be more pre-disposed toward worrying about the safety and security of Israeli citizens. If and until we concern ourselves with the safety and security of ALL the inhabitants of that tortured land, we won’t get anywhere. Those mean ole Arabs (particularly the Palestinian ones) view this as though an intruder entered their house and they are fighting to throw them out, not a whole lot different attitude than any of us from US would have if we were in their shoes!
May 10, 2008 - 6:25 pm 15. Moses Hess:To Pattik:
Your ignorance is surprising, but surely I am not going to give you lessons.
May 11, 2008 - 2:04 am 16. Eliyahu:Charles, interesting report but you ought to tell the readers more about the background of the SSNP, Syrian Social Nationalist Party, which is also translated Syrian National Socialist Party. It was indeed modelled on the German Nazi party by its founder who was an instructor in German at the American Univ of Beirut. Now it’s a tool of the Assad gang in Syria.
May 11, 2008 - 3:49 am 17. dan:why don’t we have USA assassin-ninja squads to go in and eliminate – that is, kill – the people who run hezbollah? i move that we establish one of these – say, a brigade. then, we kill everyone in hezbollah. then, hamas. let’s just kill them all. we know who’s better – us – and who has proven they would rather have fantasy and violence than compromise and reality. good! we’re good at violence. we’ll f0cking destroy them. let’s destroy them. who thinks this tolerance of pissant thug militias is preferable to wiping them out? let them be purged from government. instead, let them test video games. or audition porno models? something pleasant, in any case. but they must be gone. the killing cannot begin too soon.
May 11, 2008 - 10:21 am 18. Pajamas Media » As Bullets Fly, Lebanese Ask, “What Happens Next?”:[...] such as myself, headed for safer ground. I wrote my previous dispatch crouched in a tub, avoiding sniper fire. I’m writing this piece from the Christian suburbs [...]
May 12, 2008 - 3:46 am 19. John Samford:“Patrick:
Michel de Noterdame,
You spelled noterdame incorrectly, it is spelled notre, this aside you should look up Moses Hess and find out who inspired Marx and Engels in their ideas of Communism.”
Patrick, you are assuming Michael meant Notre Dame. Michael might be a Resident Evil fan, in which case notordame is correct. Look it up.
You made a lot of other mistakes also.
I sort of agree with Moses Hess, only I have an advantage he lacks. I can assign my pet goldfish to giving you lessons.
Meanwhile; “Have you forgotten that it was European Jewry that established the state of Israel? ” This is so wrong as to lift the bar on ignorance. (Legal disclaimer, ignorance is used here as an opinion and a bit of hyperbole, not a testimony to Patrick’s professional abilities). Israel was establish by an act of the UN. On land donated by the UK.
http://www.mideastweb.org/us_supportforstate.htm
President Truman (worst president in US history, even worse then Carter) had more to actually creating Israel then any other man. It wasn’t his idea, but he is the one that pushed it thru.
I’ll turn this over to my goldfish now.
May 13, 2008 - 6:23 am 20. Javelin:Mr. Stamford, being the war mongering retard he is, has confused Lebanon with Iran. Guess what Mr. Stamford, they are two different countries, and as I last checked, we are not at war with either. By why let that get in the way of a warmongering rant. I pray if they ever strike back, your house burns first.
May 13, 2008 - 8:19 pm 21. Moses Hess:John: your goldfish has given an excellent lesson!
May 14, 2008 - 4:02 am