IS SYRIA GUILTY IN EVENTS OF LEBANON?
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.05.2007 GMT+04:00
Collisions in the North of Lebanon show that "Al-Qaida" managed to
penetrate event this part of Mediterranean region, which up to this
moment was known for its moderate Islam and religions tolerance.
Again Lebanon is on the eve of a new war. This time Syria is supposed
to be the disturber of peace, which cannot get along with the fact that
having controlled Lebanon for 29 years has remained without nothing
after withdrawing its troops from the territory of that country in
2005. Western media openly accuses Syria of escalating violence,
which threatens to result in a new war.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ No serious causes were always necessary in order to
begin a war in Lebanon: last year Israeli soldier Shalit’s abduction
served as a cause for a war, this year – disorders in the Nahr el-Bared
Palestinian refugee camp. Principally nothing new, Lebanese people got
used to wars, if it is only possible to get used to such a disaster
at all.
Nevertheless, as the time goes on, the situation of people in Lebanon
becomes harder, especially the situation with the Christian community,
one of which is the Armenian rather large community. And though still
there is no serious threat to the Armenian community of Lebanon,
it is not excluded the possibility of immigration of Armenians. More
than 100 000 Armenians today reside only in Beirut, which tries not
to participate in military operations as much as possible. "However,
we are citizens of Lebanon and this imposes certain obligations
on us. We live together with citizens of Lebanon and we cannot sit
and watch how the country again turns into a arena of bloody war,"
editor-in-chief of "Azdak" Armenian newspaper Shahan Kadakharyan said.
The conflict began when early in the morning of May 22 the Lebanese
Army tried to attack an apartment in Tripoli, working out a version
that connects the recent robbery of a bank with a group of radical
Islamists known as "Fath al-Silam". The group responded with an attack
on army positions around the refugee camp. Despite the fact that the
organization has some 200 members, "Fath al-Islam" is involved at
least in a series of blasts, which took place in Christian districts
of Lebanon during recent years.
The leader of extremists Shaker Absi assures that he is loyal to Usama
bin Laden. In other words, collisions in the north of Lebanon show
that "Al-Qaida" managed to penetrate even this part of Mediterranean
region, which up to this moment was known for its moderate Islam and
religions tolerance.
Indeed, a lot of cabinet members of Lebanon are sure that militants
of "Fath Islam" are only marionettes of Syria. They say "Fath Islam"
has close ties with Syrian special services, the group up to this
moment considered Syria as its patrimony, despite the fact that Syria
withdrew its troops from that country two years ago.
The Times in one of its columns writes that the situation is dangerous
and tangled for Lebanese soldiers placed around the Palestinian
refugee camp.
"Their enemies want exactly it, the newspaper added.
Syria wants the international community to stop its efforts to clear
if Damascus is involved in the murder of Rafik Hariri. In other words,
the matter is about state blackmail. And it is necessary not to allow
those who blackmail to succeed," Times indicates.
Experts think Syria’s goal is to destroy the hope of Lebanese
government to establish an international tribunal for the suspects
who allegedly are involved in the series of political assassinations,
which started in 2005 with Rafik Hariri’s murder. And though Syria
rejects its participation in the above-mentioned assassinations or
the recent violence acts, there exist obvious evidences for those
crimes. A day before his assassination Hariri was busy with mobilizing
political forces, in order to challenge the Syrian State. Mass
protests after the death of Hariri made Syria to withdraw his troops
from Lebanon. However still there are a lot of forces in Lebanon,
which share the Syrian viewpoint on Lebanon as a stronghold in the
struggle against western influence.