http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/01/lebanon.protest/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Quote :

"A huge crowd of at least 200,000 people packed the streets of Beirut Friday, responding with cheers and applause as Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun called for Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to step down. The rally -- which included Hezbollah and other groups opposed to Siniora's government -- stretched for blocks. Security sources said at least 200,000 people were involved, but video suggested the number was even higher. The Associated Press cited police estimates of 800,000 protesters."

Quote :

"Assassination sparked rally The latest battle for political power was sparked by last week's assassination of an anti-Syrian leader, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel. Numerous anti-Syrian figures have been assasinated in Lebanon over the past year. Demascus has denied any involvement. Syria pulled its troops out of Lebanon two years ago when anti-Syrian rallies -- comprising the so-called "Cedar Revolution" -- swept through the country. That revolution followed the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who had called for Syria's ouster."

Other than the free handouts, propoganda, etc.. why are the people of Lebanon who are calling for the ouster of the current (as I understand it) puppet Syrian government supporting Hezbollah as well? What piece of the puzzle haven't I seen? Or are the Lebanese under the belief that Hezbollah isn't supported mainly by Syria?

[Edited on December 1, 2006 at 12:40 PM. Reason : .]

12/1/2006 12:32:59 PM

Hezbollah is a political party in Lebanon which has nothing to do with Syria

12/1/2006 12:50:30 PM

Really?

I always thought that they were heavily financially supported by Syria..

[Edited on December 1, 2006 at 1:01 PM. Reason : (Time to do some research I guess)]

12/1/2006 1:00:18 PM

lol

no they are

[Edited on December 1, 2006 at 1:01 PM. Reason : k]

12/1/2006 1:01:20 PM

Hezbollah accepts financing from Syria, but they want Syria out of their country just as much as the other anti-Syria factions.

12/1/2006 1:06:07 PM

That makes plenty of sense...

12/1/2006 1:06:51 PM

Here comes bgmims with his far superior understanding of the world to tell people how they are wrong without every stating anything to the contrary

12/1/2006 1:09:16 PM

nutsmacker...didn't you just do the same thing?

12/1/2006 1:17:52 PM

Because me stating facts is the same as you typing "that makes plenty of sense... "

12/1/2006 1:19:26 PM

nutsmackr - Any suggestions for a good reference for a 'quick' (much more detailed than wikipedia, but not full length novel sort of thing) history of Hezbollah/Lebanon?

12/1/2006 1:19:54 PM

sorry, I need to resist the urge to troll

[Edited on December 1, 2006 at 1:29 PM. Reason : .]

12/1/2006 1:21:15 PM

http://www.jewishtoronto.com/content_display.html?ArticleID=188361

The fact remains that hezbollah is an islamist organization that represents the Shiites. Syria being Sunni views Shiites as heretics and Shiites view Sunnis as heretics. It's an issue of an enemy of an enemy is a friend.


^Another tactic, when you are shown facts you just say you are trolling.

[Edited on December 1, 2006 at 1:33 PM. Reason : .]

12/1/2006 1:28:08 PM

nutsmacker, I didn't edit an attack on your facts. I edited me bemoaning your assertion that they were facts even without a source.

12/1/2006 1:37:12 PM

When you write a paper, do you provide a source to say that George Washington was the first president of the United States?

12/1/2006 1:44:15 PM

^ Thanks,

That article doesn't get into the Syrian-Hezbollah relation much though outside a few comments. I think I'll research this some this weekend :o

12/1/2006 2:14:03 PM

Well, there is a difference between what is known as common knowledge, i.e. the first president of the United States and

Quote :

"Hezbollah accepts financing from Syria, but they want Syria out of their country just as much as the other anti-Syria factions."

Some English major might be able to tell us the difference.

12/1/2006 2:17:48 PM

Quote :

"Other than the free handouts, propoganda, etc.. why are the people of Lebanon who are calling for the ouster of the current (as I understand it) puppet Syrian government supporting Hezbollah as well?"

You have some key facts wrong:

The current PM is anti-Syrian.

The rally was called by pro-Syrian groups, which include Hezbolla and various other parties, groups, and politicians.

12/1/2006 2:30:48 PM

OEP, so the groups want Syrian involvement in Lebanon?

[Edited on December 1, 2006 at 2:32 PM. Reason : .]

12/1/2006 2:32:04 PM

Hezbollah recieving funding and money from Syria because of their anti-Israeli activities (enemy of my enemy is my friend type of thing), but in the end, Hezbollah is its own group. This recent protests by Hezbollah seems to be targetting what is viewed by them as a pro-American (and thus pro-Israeli) government.

12/1/2006 2:34:44 PM

^ exactly

^^ i am not sure they want syrian involvement per se, but they definitely want an anti-western and pro-syrian government.

12/1/2006 2:43:46 PM

Gotcha.

12/1/2006 2:44:30 PM

^^I'd say more of a pro-iran government

12/1/2006 2:57:39 PM

OEP -

Damn you're right.. I was mislead by the article suggesting that these recent protests were sparked by the assassination of anti-Syrian leaders. Thus suggesting to me that the protesters would themselves be anti-syrian.

But, re-reading even this news article it does mention the pro-syrian nature of Hezbollah :o

12/1/2006 3:07:45 PM

^ To be fair, there was a massive anti-Syrian demonstration about a week ago. This demonstration was in response, a sort of counter demonstration similar to what we saw when Rafik Hariri was assassinated.

12/1/2006 3:29:28 PM

Right now Hezbollah is in a very precarious place. They showed that they are clearly a dominant military force, basically a standing army, with their fight against Israel recently. Although they couldn't knock down the champ, some of their haymakers did give him a bloody nose, which is more than can be said for several of the Arab countries in the past.

The problem though is that many of the Lebanese are pissed because they know that Hezbollah was the cause of all the destruction. After the incident in Gaza, Hezbollah kidnapping soldiers wasn't something the Israelis were gonna let happen, and the hell they rained down on the people of Lebanon was very unpleasant. On the other hand, Hezbollah are paying thousands of dollars cash to anyone who got their home damaged, and the race to aid right now is kind of a hearts and minds thing.

With most of their encampments in the south demolished and the UN force and Lebanese army there, the military arm of Hezbollah has lost much of their effective zone of operation. Also, one of the key pressures that the anti-Syrian government ministers, the West, and Israel are putting on Hezbollah involves the disarmament of the military wing to ensure a stable country. That may end up and lead to an overall weakening of the party, and so these rallies are designed to counter that movement and hopefully solidify the power base of Hezbollah in the wake of the assassinations. The optimism and power of the Cedar Revolution is fading, and these pro-Syrian demonstrations may help even more.

12/1/2006 4:13:47 PM

^ Thanks

Was Hezbollah always a politically active group or did they only turn toward official politics recently?

So currently they are trying to capitalize on what some previous supporters of the anti-Syrian Cedar Revolution group see as an inept, western learning Lebanese government? Ie, those people who previously wanted the Syrians out would rather side with Hezbollah for now just to get the pro-Western Govt. out of power?

^^ Yeah I read about that too, which is part of the reason this caught me alittle by surprise due to my lack of understanding of the players involved.

[Edited on December 1, 2006 at 5:10 PM. Reason : ^^]

12/1/2006 5:08:55 PM

I believe Hezbollah has been a political party for at least the past 15 years.

12/1/2006 8:32:34 PM

4th day of protests. tens of thousands have been camping outside government buildings.

even though the protest was called by hezbollah, the crowd contains anybody who doesn't like the PM, including large numbers of supporters of some christian politician.

basically, it is everybody who wants the PM out, for whatever reason.

12/4/2006 1:45:00 PM

what happened to the hundreds of thousands that rallied in the streets FOR the current admin not too long ago?

12/4/2006 2:23:07 PM

yeah, funny, isn't it?

they just had the cedar revolution when anti-syrian protesters demanded syrian troops to leave, and they did.

and now there is basically a pro-syrian rally going on, asking the PM to leave.

if it succeeds, i will call it the fungus revolution.

12/4/2006 3:31:25 PM

i really hope your not writing a paper... these questions are fine for personal info.. but i wouldnt go on the word of random people for anything important except for a general idea of things and links....

12/4/2006 4:43:16 PM

[Edited on December 4, 2006 at 7:21 PM. Reason : .]

12/4/2006 7:18:59 PM

Charles DeGaulle

California Baseball

12/5/2006 10:34:08 AM