Syro-Iranian
massacre of Lebanese Politicians
By: Walid
Phares
June 15/07
With the
assassination of Lebanese MP Jebran Tueni in December 2006, months after
the murder of political leaders George Hawi and Samir Qassir during the
summer, the Syro-Iranian terror war room had opened a bloody hunt
against the democratically elected Lebanese Parliament. After the
withdrawal of regular Syrian forces from Lebanon in April 2005, Bashar
Assad and his allies in Tehran designed a counter offensive (which we
described then and later) aiming at crumbling the Cedars Revolution. One
of the main components of this strategy was (and remain) to use all
intelligence and security assets of Syria and Iran in Lebanon in order
to “reduce” the number of deputies who form the anti-Syrian majority in
the Parliament. As simple as that: assassinate as many members as needed
to flip the quantitative majority in the Legislative Assembly. And when
that is done, the Seniora Government collapses and a Hezbollah-led
cabinet forms. In addition, if the Terror war kills about 8 legislators,
the remnant of the Parliament can elect a new President of the Republic
who will move the country under the tutelage of the Assad regime.
As incredibly barbaric as it seems in the West, the genocide of the
legislators in Lebanon at the hands of the Syrian regime and its allies
is very “normal” by Baathist (and certainly by Jihadist) political
culture. During the 1980s, Saddam Hussein executed a large segment of
his own Party’s national assembly to maintain his regime intact. In the
same decade, Hafez Assad eliminated systematically his political
adversaries both inside Syria and across Syrian occupied Lebanon to
secure his control over the two “sister” countries. So for Bashar to
order the assassination of his opponents in Lebanon as of the fall of
2004 to perpetuate his domination of the little Baathist “empire” is not
a stunning development: it is the standing procedure in Damascus since
1970.
And to “achieve” these goals, the junta in Syria has a plethora of tools
and assets left in Lebanon. First, the vast Syrian intelligence networks
still deeply rooted in the small country; second, the powerful
Iranian-financed Hezbollah with its lethal security apparatus; third,
the Syrian-controlled groups within the Palestinian camps from various
ideological backgrounds including Baathists, Marxists, or even Islamist
such as Fatah al Islam; fourth the pro-Syrian and Hezbollah sympathizers
“inside” the Lebanese Army as well as the units and security services
still under the control of General Emile Lahoud; fifth, the client
militias and organizations remote-controlled by Syrian intelligence such
as the Syrian National-Social Party; and sixth, operatives inserted
within political groups gravitating around Damascus such as those of
Sleiman Frangieh, Michel Aoun and Talal Arslan. In short, the
Syro-Iranian axis has a wide array of security and intelligence assets
from which it can select the most appropriate perpetrators for each
“take down.” The Assad regime has its “own” Sunni operatives to kill
Sunnis, Christians to murder Christians and Druze to eliminate Druze and
has the full resources of Hezbollah terror to obstruct the Government of
Lebanon and ultimately crumble it.
The “reduction” –both physical and political- of the Lebanese
Parliamentary majority began as soon as the assembly was elected in the
spring of 2005. The Lebanese opposition to Assad and Hezbollah got
originally 72 seats out of the 128 members, a comfortable majority to
resume the “liberation” of the country from occupation and Terrorism. In
December of 2006 a car bomb kills MP Jebran Tueni bringing the majority
to 71. Though he is quickly replaced by his father Ghassan, the latter’s
old age and unwillingness to pursue the same anti-Terrorist activism is
a negative in the big battle. In January 2006 a majority-MP Edmond Naim,
dies of old age. The anti-Cedars revolution pressure brings in Pierre
Daccache, “neutral” in principle, but essentially close to now Hezbollah
ally Michel Aoun. Since, the majority has 71 seats. In December of 2006,
majority-MP Pierre Gemayel is assassinated by Syrian operatives. The
number of dedicated MPs falls to 70. Few weeks ago, Syrian threats
compel the Alawi MP from the north to quit the majority, bringing the
number to 69. Today’s assassination of Sunni Walid Eido, a fierce
opponent to the Syrian regime brings the number of MPs to 68. Four more
assassinations and the Parliamentary majority in Lebanon would collapse,
bringing back Ahmedinijad and Assad’s Terror power to the shores of the
Eastern Mediterranean.
What can be
done to stop the legislators’ massacre in Lebanon and its dramatic
consequences?
The UN Security Council, under resolutions 1559 and 1701 should
intervene massively by ordering and overseeing the following steps:
a) Put all
remaining 68 MPs under direct international protection. A special
international security force should be dispatched to Lebanon, gather the
endangered legislators in one or several protected locations and escort
them later to perform their constitutional duties.
b) Ask the
Lebanese Government of Mr Seniora to organize the appropriate
legislative elections in the districts of Matn and Beirut to replace the
assassinated MPs Gemayel and Eido. Dispatch UN observers to oversee
these elections.
c) Ask the
Lebanese Parliament to elect a new President during the constitutional
period beginning in August and escort the 68 endangered MPs (plus the
two newly elected ones) to the location of the Presidential elections
and provide security during the voting process.
By doing so, the UNSC would be implementing its own resolutions,
fulfilling the democratic process in Lebanon and fighting back against
Terrorism with the power of the people of Lebanon. For when a new
democratically elected President is elected in Lebanon, the road –still
very difficult and dangerous- to democracy will be paved.
**Dr Walid
Phares is the Director of Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for
the Defense of Democracies in Washington, a visiting scholar at the
European Foundation for Democracy and the author of the War of Ideas. Dr
Phares was one of the architects of UNSCR 1559. |