Adonis Diaries

In Context: Lebanon civil war didn’t end yet

Note: Re-edit of  2012 article “Civil war didn’t End yet? This time around…Part 2”

You have this desolate second largest city in north Lebanon: Tripoli means the Three Cities where three separate quarters were governed by the kings of Byblos (Jubeil), Saida (Sidon) and Tyr (sour) in antiquity.

Tripoli is currently ignored by the government, and has been for many decades.

The inhabitants of Tripoli are practically living in the Mamluk period, when the Near-East was ruled from Egypt, 7 centuries ago, and they wear the white “Arabic” jelabiyya, as if they were part of the “Arab” Gulf Emirates, or an extension of Saudi kingdom, without the these headgears (3igal), just carrying long beards and stuff…

You may read details on Tripoli and how it fared during the 17-year civil war, https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/testimonials-of-a-civil-war-in-lebanon-continue-6/

The adjacent province is the Akkar on the borders with Syria.

Akkar is another part of Lebanon totally ignored by the successive governments of this pseudo-State. Most of the soldiers and lower files and ranks are from Akkar, an agricultural area and lacking all kinds of facilities.

The US, Saudi kingdom, and Qatar are pouring in war money and weapons into the northern districts by Syria borders in order to support the armed Syrian insurgents against the Assad regime.  The weapons are shipped to the port of Tripoli and sent from Libya…

And the UN German ships controlling the arrival of ships loaded with weapons, a task assigned by the UN resolution to tighten the embargo on Gaza, has failed in its mission…The latest demonstration of force showed the emergence of heavy weapons in the streets of Tripoli…

The Lebanese  army is doing its best to counter this volatile situation and to control the influx of armed Syrian infiltrators into Lebanon and the exit of armed people from Lebanon into Syria.

Mind you the government has been queasy of extending a forceful and a resolute order to the army to do its jobs.

While fighting was raging in Tripoli, a couple hundred of social platforms connected people gathered in silence on Martyr Square in Downtown Beirut

It looks as a rerun of the conditions of 1968, which resulted in the civil war of 1975.

After Israel occupied all of the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem in the preemptive war of 1967, thousands of Palestinians experienced another wave of refugees into Lebanon.

In 1968, Lebanon allowed the military wing of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to set bases in the Arcoub region (south-east of Lebanon) and as a self-autonomous area where the Lebanese army would Not venture to enter and control.

In 1970, late King Hussein of Jordan crushed the PLO and the armed Palestinians flocked to the Arcoub Safe Zone, and gradually controlled most of South Lebanon.

A year later, the Capital Beirut became the main headquarter for all Palestinian factions. Lebanon was politically reduced to a de-facto Palestinian dictate.

In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon and entered Beirut and forced the military wings of the PLO to vacate Lebanon.…

And you have the same elements who sided with the armed Palestinians supporting the armed Syrian insurgents…

And you have the same kind of confused and perturbed weak government proclaiming that its policy is Not to intervene in troubled Syria or to strictly control the influx of armed Syrian insurgents…

Interchange armed Palestinian movements with Syrian armed insurgents, and north Lebanon will become another “Arcoub” of Safe Zone for launching military attacks on Syria instead of Israel…and another civil war will befall Lebanon…