Lebanon: Do Not Let the Palestinians Destroy Our Country
Dec 29, 2021 13:47:14 GMT -5
Post by schwartzie on Dec 29, 2021 13:47:14 GMT -5
Lebanon: Do Not Let the Palestinians Destroy Our Country
by Khaled Abu Toameh
December 29, 2021 at 5:00 am
A growing number of people in Lebanon fear that... Hamas could drag Lebanon into another war with Israel -- as Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorist militia, backed by Iran, has done for the past three decades.
The fears of the Lebanese are well-grounded in reality.
Since 2007, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip, triggering military confrontations that have wreaked havoc on the lives of Palestinians living there.
The Lebanese are making it clear that they do not want Hamas -- or any other Palestinian group -- to drag them into another war with Israel. They are saying that they are done with decades-long Palestinian efforts to transform Lebanon into a war zone.
With all this clarity on the part of the Lebanese, it remains to be seen whether international bodies will themselves speak out to prevent another catastrophe in Lebanon carried out by a Palestinian terrorist group.
A growing number of people in Lebanon are concerned that Hamas could drag Lebanon into another war with Israel. The fears of the Lebanese are well-grounded in reality. On December 10, a Hamas warehouse filled with munitions exploded in the Burj Shemali Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Pictured: The shattered windows and blackened walls of a mosque damaged by the explosion in the Burj Shemali camp. (Photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images)
It appears that the Palestinians are determined to continue their fight against Israel until the last Arab. For decades, the Palestinians have used Israel's neighboring countries, especially Jordan and Lebanon, as launching pads for various types of attacks against Israel.
In the 1960s, '70s and '80s several Palestinian groups, including Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), set up military training bases in Jordan and Lebanon to launch attacks on Israel.
The Jordanians and Lebanese ended up paying a heavy price for hosting these groups and allowing them to use their territory to plan and carry out attacks against Israel.
In 1970, the Jordanians, after severe clashes, expelled the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from the kingdom. The violent confrontations, referred to as Black September, came after the PLO set up military bases and actually created a state within state in the kingdom.
When the PFLP then hijacked three civilian aircraft in September of 1970, and forced them to land in the Jordanian town of Zarqa, where they took foreign nationals as hostages and later blew up the planes in front of the international press, the late King Hussein of Jordan ordered his army to expel the PLO from the kingdom.
They then moved to Beirut, where the PLO leaders and their armed forces also brought disaster to the Lebanese people, especially during the Lebanon Civil War.
In 1982, when the Israeli army invaded southern Lebanon to destroy the PLO's military infrastructure and stop terrorist attacks against Israel, the PLO was also forced out of Lebanon.
"Large areas of the once beautiful and prosperous city [Beirut] have been reduced to rubble by seven years of unrest and civil war sparked by Mr. Arafat's presence," a BBC dispatch reported.
A growing number of people in Lebanon fear that history is about to repeat itself. They are concerned that Hamas could drag Lebanon into another war with Israel -- as the Hezbollah terrorist militia, backed by Iran, has done for the past three decades.
Their fear comes against a backdrop of reports that the Iranian-backed Palestinian Hamas group has set up a new military unit in Lebanon for launching attacks against Israel. According to the reports, the unit launched its first rocket attack on Israel during the Israel-Hamas war in May 2021.
Hamas's secret build-up of forces in Lebanon has grown over the years to have hundreds of operatives working for its "Construction Bureau," responsible for building and developing military capabilities on Israel's northern border, according to a report by the ALMA Research Center, dedicated to researching the security challenges on Israel's northern border.
The "Construction Bureau," the report reveals, operates several departments: the manufacturing department, military intelligence, instruction and training, communications, finance, planning, logistics, security, and foreign relations. The "Construction Bureau" also has two units with hundreds of operatives in Lebanon. The units engage in recruiting operatives, conducting training, and special courses (snipers, anti-tanks, attack drones, etc.). The units also develop and manufacture weapons (rockets, attack drones, miniature submarines), establish operation squads, and prepare operational programs.
On December 10, the fears of the Lebanese proved justified when a Hamas warehouse filled with munitions exploded in the Burj Shemali Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
Continued at link
by Khaled Abu Toameh
December 29, 2021 at 5:00 am
A growing number of people in Lebanon fear that... Hamas could drag Lebanon into another war with Israel -- as Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorist militia, backed by Iran, has done for the past three decades.
The fears of the Lebanese are well-grounded in reality.
Since 2007, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip, triggering military confrontations that have wreaked havoc on the lives of Palestinians living there.
The Lebanese are making it clear that they do not want Hamas -- or any other Palestinian group -- to drag them into another war with Israel. They are saying that they are done with decades-long Palestinian efforts to transform Lebanon into a war zone.
With all this clarity on the part of the Lebanese, it remains to be seen whether international bodies will themselves speak out to prevent another catastrophe in Lebanon carried out by a Palestinian terrorist group.
A growing number of people in Lebanon are concerned that Hamas could drag Lebanon into another war with Israel. The fears of the Lebanese are well-grounded in reality. On December 10, a Hamas warehouse filled with munitions exploded in the Burj Shemali Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. Pictured: The shattered windows and blackened walls of a mosque damaged by the explosion in the Burj Shemali camp. (Photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/AFP via Getty Images)
It appears that the Palestinians are determined to continue their fight against Israel until the last Arab. For decades, the Palestinians have used Israel's neighboring countries, especially Jordan and Lebanon, as launching pads for various types of attacks against Israel.
In the 1960s, '70s and '80s several Palestinian groups, including Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), set up military training bases in Jordan and Lebanon to launch attacks on Israel.
The Jordanians and Lebanese ended up paying a heavy price for hosting these groups and allowing them to use their territory to plan and carry out attacks against Israel.
In 1970, the Jordanians, after severe clashes, expelled the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from the kingdom. The violent confrontations, referred to as Black September, came after the PLO set up military bases and actually created a state within state in the kingdom.
When the PFLP then hijacked three civilian aircraft in September of 1970, and forced them to land in the Jordanian town of Zarqa, where they took foreign nationals as hostages and later blew up the planes in front of the international press, the late King Hussein of Jordan ordered his army to expel the PLO from the kingdom.
They then moved to Beirut, where the PLO leaders and their armed forces also brought disaster to the Lebanese people, especially during the Lebanon Civil War.
In 1982, when the Israeli army invaded southern Lebanon to destroy the PLO's military infrastructure and stop terrorist attacks against Israel, the PLO was also forced out of Lebanon.
"Large areas of the once beautiful and prosperous city [Beirut] have been reduced to rubble by seven years of unrest and civil war sparked by Mr. Arafat's presence," a BBC dispatch reported.
A growing number of people in Lebanon fear that history is about to repeat itself. They are concerned that Hamas could drag Lebanon into another war with Israel -- as the Hezbollah terrorist militia, backed by Iran, has done for the past three decades.
Their fear comes against a backdrop of reports that the Iranian-backed Palestinian Hamas group has set up a new military unit in Lebanon for launching attacks against Israel. According to the reports, the unit launched its first rocket attack on Israel during the Israel-Hamas war in May 2021.
Hamas's secret build-up of forces in Lebanon has grown over the years to have hundreds of operatives working for its "Construction Bureau," responsible for building and developing military capabilities on Israel's northern border, according to a report by the ALMA Research Center, dedicated to researching the security challenges on Israel's northern border.
The "Construction Bureau," the report reveals, operates several departments: the manufacturing department, military intelligence, instruction and training, communications, finance, planning, logistics, security, and foreign relations. The "Construction Bureau" also has two units with hundreds of operatives in Lebanon. The units engage in recruiting operatives, conducting training, and special courses (snipers, anti-tanks, attack drones, etc.). The units also develop and manufacture weapons (rockets, attack drones, miniature submarines), establish operation squads, and prepare operational programs.
On December 10, the fears of the Lebanese proved justified when a Hamas warehouse filled with munitions exploded in the Burj Shemali Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
Continued at link
