By Andrew L. Jaffee

“We want culture and education not arms and streets [barricaded with] tyres, for sure. We want to learn and reach our goals and lead a normal life like everyone else.”

Is this so much to ask? For those in Lebanon who want to live a normal life, it is much to ask, as their country is filled with Hezbollah terrorists. There are plenty of Lebanese who want a normal life, as evidenced by the tens of thousands who filled Beirut yesterday to peacefully commemorate the second anniversary of the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hezbollah intimidation has not silenced them.

Hezbollah thugs blew up a bus full of Christians. They murdered Christian leader Pierre Gemayel. They assassinated Hariri in 2005, an act which galvanized those in Lebanon who yearn for the simple life.

These Lebanese of good will created the Cedar Revolution, bringing one million peaceful Lebanese protesters — Muslim, Christian, and Druze Arabs — out in 2005 to swamp Beirut in a show of support for a country free of Syrian, Hezbollah, and Iranian terrorist control. This demonstration by far trumped the phony photo opportunities — “pro-Syria rallies” — orchestrated by Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran’s terror masters. The dictators could not marshal the numbers which Lebanon’s opposition produced spontaneously, using only cell phones, Internet connections, and word of mouth to organize. The Cedar Revolution forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon on April 27, 2005 — with the help of some good, old-fashioned international pressure, led by France and the U.S.

Despite the Cedar Revolution, Lebanon is by no means safe from foreign or internal threats. Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria have absolutely no interest in seeing a stable, democratic Lebanon as it would threaten the foundations of their own autocratic/theocratic regimes. And then there’s Israel…

The Jewish state is often blamed for Lebanon’s ills, but the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of Arabs, Muslims, and Iranians. So it is worth reminding ourselves of Lebanon’s long and painful history. The country achieved full independence in 1944. According to nationbynation.com:

Between 1944 and the early 1970s, Lebanon enjoyed a comfortable prosperity based on international banking and trade. This period came to a close as the Palestinians began to use Lebanese territory from which to stage attacks on Israel.

During this period of prosperity, built mainly by Lebanon’s Maronite Christians, Beirut was fondly known as the “Paris of the Middle East.” But the greatest terrorist of them all, Yasser Arafat, made sure Lebanon’s peace would come to an end. Starting in 1968, he and his fellow goons tried to take over Jordan. They failed and by 1971, moved into Lebanon. According to cedarland.org:

… Lebanon was to suffer more than any other country at the hands of the Palestinians whose actions and those of their allies resulted in [a] fifteen year war and the destruction of the Lebanese state.

Again, nationbynation.com:

In 1975, civil war broke out between Christians against Moslems and the Palestinians joining in against the Maronite Christians. Thousands died and much of the formerly cosmopolitan Beirut was left in ruins. In 1981, Christian militiamen fought Syrian troops and all the others combatants joined in. Israel placed itself in the position of supporting the Christian militiamen and in 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon to force the PLO out.

Even worse for Lebanon, the terrorist group Hezbollah was formed there in 1982, whose “political rhetoric has centred on calls for the destruction of the state of Israel” and has “dreamt of transforming Lebanon’s multi-confessional state into an Iranian-style Islamic state,” according to the BBC. Obviously, other Lebanese, like the Maronites, are not sanguine with Hezbollah’s intentions.

How will Lebanon find peace while Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran remain unchecked?

---

---

Related: Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Terrorist Groups, War Against Islamo-fascism

---