Humpty Lebanon Sat on a Wall, Humpty Lebanon had a Great Fall! All the Antichrist’s Horns, and all of his Men, could not put Lebanon together again!
November 20, 2006
http://www.tribulationperiod.com
Three Pro-Syrian Factions or offices in Lebanon are making an effort to pull off a bloodless coup in a change of government. They are: (1) The Office of President Emile Lahoud, (2) The Iranian controlled Hizbollah led by Nasrallah, and (3) The Pro-Syrian Shi ite
Amal Faction. Could it be that Lebanon is associated with one of the three horns of Daniel 7, which are to be plucked up by the Antichrist?
Begin First Article CNSNews
Iran, Hizballah Making Moves to Topple Lebanon, Expert Says
Julie Stahl
Jerusalem Bureau Chief
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com)
Hizballah, Iran and Syria have been waiting for an opportunity to topple the Lebanese government,
and they apparently believe the time has come, a Middle Eastern scholar says.
The recent Democratic takeover of the U.S. Congress emboldened Syria, Iran and Hizballah (Iran’s proxy) because they view it as the defeat of President Bush, said Walid Phares, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
Even before the U.S. elections, Hizballah’s political faction was demanding more power in the Lebanese government. Earlier this week, six pro-Syrian members of the 24-seat Lebanese cabinet, including all of the Shi’ite members, resigned.
Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday that the current Lebanese government would “go” and a new one would take its place. He did not say how that would happen, but his statement seemed to signal that Nasrallah will call for massive street protests — as he threatened to do last month.
According to Phares, the next few months are critical for Hizballah as it tries to consolidate its power in Lebanon.
With the U.S. government in transition and bogged down in Iraq, Hizballah may assume the U.S. won’t involve itself in the Middle East right now, Phares said.
But Hizballah won’t make any move without the express permission or backing of Iran and Syria, Phares told Cybercast News Service in a telephone interview. “It’s a troika,” he said.
Washington recently noted that Iran and Syria are working through Hizballah to try to topple the Lebanese government.
And Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Lebanon would be the arena of defeat for Israel and America.
“Today it is [America’s] policies in the world and the region that are bound to fail.
These opportunities must be exploited with determination and action,” Khamenei was quoted as saying in talks with Nabih Berri, leader of the pro-Syrian Shiite Amal faction, which is allied with Hizballah.
Phares said Iran, as a “pre-emptive strike,” will try to topple the Lebanese government before announcing that Iran has obtained nuclear capabilities.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indicated earlier this week that his country would celebrate the completion of its nuclear fuel cycle very shortly – apparently by March.
The Lebanese government can withstand Hizballah-inspired street demonstrations, Phares said, but if Hizballah is successful in paralyzing the country through boycotts and strikes, Lebanon will need significant support from the international community.
Phares believes Hizballah will go well beyond street protests – possibly shutting down services such electricity and water and major government ministries.
If Iran, through Hizballah, succeeds in seizing power in Lebanon, Tehran would be able to deploy its missiles much closer to Europe and Egypt, Phares warned.
To prevent Iran from succeeding in Lebanon, the international community must immediately re-deploy United Nations forces along the Syrian-Lebanese border to cut off the flow of weapons from Iran to Hizballah, Phares added.
According to the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Israeli-Hizballah war this summer, Hizballah was supposed to be disarmed. But it never happened, and Iran and Syria are now taking advantage of the calm to re-arm the terrorist organization.
Phares said Lebanon is a key element in plans to spread democracy in the Middle East.
On Monday, the remaining Lebanese cabinet members voted for a tribunal to try those accused of killing former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri, along with 22 others, was killed in a truck bombing last year.
The United Nations called the decision an “important step” in fulfilling a U.N. Security Council resolution.
A U.N. investigation into the murder implicated senior Syrian and pro-Syrian Lebanese security personnel in the murder. Hariri, a favorite of the West and a strong force for democracy in his country, was
an outspoken critic of Syrian control over his country.
End First Article from CBSNews
Begin Second Article from Jerusalem Post
Nasrallah calls for Mass Demonstrations
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST
November 19, 2006
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah urged his followers in a speech aired Sunday to be “psychologically” ready to take to the streets in mass demonstrations to support the guerrilla group’s demand for a national unity government.
But Nasrallah, who did not set a date for the demonstrations, warned that the protests should be peaceful and avoid riots.
“We must psychologically be ready to take to the streets. It is one of means for the required movement,” Nasrallah said.
“We do not want riots … We respect private and public properties.
We will not allow any clash, even if they [anti-Syrian groups] staged a counter street demonstration,” he said in the speech, which he made Saturday but was aired Sunday on Hizbullah’s TV station, Al-Manar.
Nasrallah also said in the speech that the Lebanese government lacked credibility, but denied his group was trying to block the formation of an international tribunal.
“The authority team today is in a state of weakness and feel a huge defeat as the result of the last Israeli war in Lebanon,” he said.
Nasrallah’s speech comes amid mounting political and sectarian tensions in Lebanon in the wake of Hizbullah’s 34-day war with Israel last summer.
The organization has demanded that Lebanon form a national unity government that would give it veto power over major decisions. But negotiations among groups broke down recently, and six Cabinet ministers, including two from Hizbullah, resigned.
Another source of tension is a draft agreement between the UN and the Lebanese government to establish an international tribunal to prosecute the suspected killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The UN Security Council is expected to discuss the draft on Monday.
The Lebanese government last week approved the draft agreement. But it was met with opposition from the country’s pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, who said the government lacks legitimacy after the ministers resigned.
Hariri was killed with 22 others in a suicide truck bombing in February 2005. The assassination sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable.
End Second Article from Jerusalem Post
Begin Third Article from Haaretz
Lebanese Druze leader warns of possible ‘coup’ in country
Haaretz
By News Agencies
November 19, 2006
BEIRUT – Druze leader Walid Jumblatt warned Sunday that Lebanon is on the verge of a “coup” by pro-Syrian opposition groups, a day after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah blamed the country’s government of lack
of credibility.
“The (pro-Syrian) opposition groups are on the verge of announcing a coup in the country and we (the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority) should take the brave decision to confront all options,” said Jumblatt in an address to the politburo members of his group, the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).
Jumblatt said, however, that there was still the possibility of a peaceful solution to the country’s political divisions, in order to avert “a new civil war” that would recreate the 1975-1990 internal conflict.
End Third Haaretz Article
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