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