The head of the unconstitutional government and his ruling decided in the longest cabinet session yet in Lebanese history, to label “illegal and unconstitutional” the Resistance communications network. Saniora and his team also decided to remove airport security Chief Brigadier General Wafiq Shqeir to rejoin the army command.
The US-backed ruling bloc decisions came one day ahead of a general strike to be held across Lebanon to protest the deteriorating economic and social situation due to Saniora’s policies.
The decision by the unconstitutional government will prompt the opposition, mainly the Amal Movement and Hezbollah to take certain steps to preserve the sanctity of the resistance that liberated Lebanon from Israeli occupation in 2000 and defeated the most aggressive army in the Middle East in August 2006.
The governmental statement considers the Resistance a legitimate act to liberate the remainder of occupied lands and therefore its arms are also legitimate. In the wake of the 2006 war against Lebanon, Israel admitted that Hezbollah’s communication network had played a significant role in defeating Israel. Hezbollah stressed targeting the communications network is like targeting the arms of the Resistance, which is a red line.
Hezbollah’s deputy Secretary General Sheik Naim Kassem warned Monday against “playing with fire” and vowed “tough resistance” against anybody who stands in its way: “Hezbollah will deal with those who interfere with the network as if they were Israeli spies,” he said. Sheikh Kassem also stressed that the network was “identical” to Hezbollah arms and “part of its security.” “The Israelis, with all their might, couldn’t nail the resistance,” Sheikh Kassem said.
The decision to remove B.G. Shqeir will also prompt Muslim Shiite powers in the opposition to act so that immunity of Muslim Shiite official posts remains intact.
Hours earlier, the vice president of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Abdul AmirKabalan said he conveyed a message to Saniora that removing Shqeir would be viewed as an unprecedented violation that will lead to undesired repercussions.
For his part, the head of the Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun defended Hezbollah’s communications network, stressing “there are other private communications networks than Hezbollah’s.” “Finding a camera on airport road is not a security penetration,” Aoun said. “The road to Bekfaya is full of cameras and they monitor us all the time,” he added.
Aoun also defended Hezbollah’s activity in Kesrwan and Jbeil provinces, noting that the “Lebanese Forces exist in Rmeish and Qleiaa (south Lebanon) and they move freely. Why Hezbollah shouldn’t move in Kesrwan and Byblos?”
He launched a vehement attack on Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat. “Who is Walid Jumblat to speak about Kesrwan and Jbeil? Jumblat is factional and bloody.” He addressed Jumblatt saying that if he’s so concerned about Christians, then let him bring back the Christians to their homes in his Chouf region.
Aoun called for demonstrations on Wednesday to topple Saniora’s government, however, he stressed: “Rioting is banned. Security forces are responsible for banning riots, not preventing demonstrations.”
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Commentary: what is currently happening in Lebanon is nothing short of a battlefield preparation by the Israelis and their allies in Lebanon. If Siniora succeeded in taking down the Hezbollah communication network he would essentially execute the kind of counter C3I strike which the Israelis failed to achieve during their 2006 war. This is a most worrisome development.
http://youtube.com/
watch?v=0cE1fzfOogo&search=Bela%20Lugosi
Israel- now atomic supermen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDy7vn7-LX4
What tools does mankind have to fight this new kind of tyranny- like bin Laden – stateless, yet with the a powerful state in its pocket. Here in Chicago. Tribune, Sun Times, all Sam Zell, Clear Channel radio. all Zell, all the time. We are indeed helpless. And the future, if the future is the internet, is really perilous, because if Google and other centralized mass but private news power brokers decide to choke off some like of editorial opinion, who is to say they cant- private enterprise you know. We, as a community of free people, are living in a transitional age where the a clique of individuals, like Roger Kaplan
http://www.amconmag.com/blog/
think that “we” can act to size what we wish for the benefit of all of mankind, in which they of course are empowered to act on behalf of.
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/
2008/04/zell_raids_clear_channel.php
http://www.spectator.org
/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13161
More on the mind stunning arrogance of Mr. Kaplan, empowered to act to seize whatever they choose. Stunning. And to be sure, they would do it in the name of world capitalism/western civilization and the good of the planet. By the time the PR spin was finished, the greatest monster the world has ever known would seize, as a government might under eminent domain- because they “needed it”. So then, who exactly benefits? The US gets to bleed, but – maybe Royal Dutch Shell, or what oil companies get the pump the stuff. People like this are over-looked, but not because they are considered crack pots. ON the contrary, their case is solid mainstream, and the flag is gone up to see who salutes.
Lefties would grouse a little, but if you put it in terms of liberating the oil for the benefit of the people of the world, well hell then, who could object to that? I do.
I don’t think the Lebanese army will ever physically remove the telephone links. I doubt the Phalangists will be bold enough to try either.
So unless Sanyurah wants to done gloves and yank out the cables himself, then my guess is that they are safe.