Hizballah ticket sweeps South Lebanon

Middle East democracy update. Right after 9/11, they might have put it this way: if you hold a vote, the terrorists win. Good thing the Syrians are gone and Lebanon is free, eh? "Hezbollah ticket sweeps S Lebanon," from the BBC, with thanks to Andrew Bostom:

Hezbollah and its allies have won all the parliament seats for South Lebanon, where elections were held on Sunday.

Interior Minister Hassan Sabei said the alliance - which included Amal, another armed Shia Muslim movement - won by a wide margin all 17 contested seats.

Hezbollah's victory sends a message of defiance to the US and Israel, which view it as a terrorist group.

That's the BBC for you: they view it as a terrorist group, but of course we know better.

Here is a thumbnail sketch of Hizballah activities:

Known or suspected to have been involved in numerous anti-US and anti-Israeli terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombings of the US Embassy and US Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the US Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984. Three members of Hizballah—‘Imad Mughniyah, Hasan Izz-al-Din, and Ali Atwa—are on the FBI’s list of 22 Most-Wanted Terrorists for the hijacking in 1985 of TWA Flight 847 during which a US Navy diver was murdered. Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and detention of US and other Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s. Hizballah also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and the Israeli cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1994. In fall 2000, Hizballah operatives captured three Israeli soldiers in the Shab’a Farms and kidnapped an Israeli noncombatant whom may have been lured to Lebanon under false pretenses.

They "view it as a terrorist group." How else should they view it?

Posted by Robert at June 9, 2005 6:45 AM
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