Monday, April 16, 2012


















ASSASSINS IN LEBANON.. A FOLLOW UP REVIEW.



A very good friend and I have been reading and talking about this botched
assassination attempt and how it could impact the region.

The big picture issue continues to be the destabilization of Lebanon at a
time when the region cannot afford one more ounce of trouble.

Simply put, the Syrian fingerprints on this attempt are there.

Iranian fingerprints are right next to the Syrian prints.

The real concern over this attempt is the theory that Iran is more and more
worried the Sunni faction in Lebanon may take advantage of the Syrian crisis
to regain power in Lebanon... As if the STL /UN / court case was not
worrying them enough..

Showing the Christians, who lean natural to pro Shia  / Hezbollah / that
they are in danger is a ploy to place them back in the Sunni camp thus
weakening the current, pro- Iranian  / Syrian / government.

Short answer; the March 14th movement making a bid to get the Christians
back on their side.

Attempting to assassinate someone like Geagea is a bold and desperate move.

As a reminder; Iran, as they face a potential conflict with Israel, cannot
accept a loss of Hezbollah operations in Lebanon.

Iran cannot accept the fall of Assad in Syria for the same reason.

Anyone who believes Iran's paranoia is based solely on its nuclear program
doesn't understand what is taking place in the region.





Geagea Warns March 14 in Eye of the Storm

 
12 April 2012
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea told March 14 opposition officials that
Christians in Lebanon would have suffered from the consequences of his
assassination if snipers succeeded in killing him.

Al-Liwaa daily on Thursday quoted Geagea as saying in his address to the
officials during their large-scale meeting at his residence in Maarab that
"March 14 is in the eye of the storm." "We should all be aware of that and
act in this regard," he said. The LF chief also put his assassination
attempt within the framework of the "big confrontation taking place in the
region."

Had the snipers shot him, the incident "would have had dangerous
repercussions on the Christian presence in Lebanon." "The battle that the
Syrian regime and its allies are fighting is a final battle of either
killing or be killed," the sources of the conferees quoted Geagea as saying.
The LF chief urged March 14 to find serious and thoughtful ways to confront
the battle that could last for a couple of months or a year or two, the
sources told al-Liwaa.

LF MP Antoine Zahra also told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that "the
government's different sides" have taken the decision to resume the attacks
on Lebanese opposition personalities. The March 14 coalition said following
its Maarab meeting on Wednesday that the government should repeal a decision
preventing the Internal Security Forces from accessing what is known as the
telecom data which it believes would help in the probe of Geagea's attempted
murder. According to al-Liwaa, the statement was drafted by a committee that
included MPs George Adwan and Ammar Houry, former lawmaker Elias Atallah and
Marwan Saqr from the Democratic Renewal Movement of ex-MP Nassib Lahoud, who
died in February.

The movement returned to its membership in the March 14 forces, al-Liwaa
said. The Phalange party was also present to throw his support behind Geagea
although it wasn't participating in the meetings of the March 14
general-secretariat. The party's leader Amin Gemayel and his son MP Sami
Gemayel did not attend the gathering but lawmaker Elie Marouni was present.

Meanwhile, informed sources said that investigators have found new evidence
in their probe into Geagea's assassination attempt. They are carrying out
tests on pieces of cloths and an empty bottle found in the vicinity of the
area where snipers shot at Geagea as he was walking in the garden of his
fortified residence. Investigators are also probing the movement of suspects
from and to the area where the snipers were located, the sources told
al-Liwaa

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