Recently in Lebanon Category

Hizballah resuming its jihad? "Rocket fired from Lebanon towards Israel: residents," from Reuters, May 26:

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A rocket was fired from south Lebanon towards Israel on Sunday, Lebanese security sources said, and residents of a northern Israeli town reported hearing a blast.

"An explosion was heard. Soldiers are searching the area. The cause is still being investigated," an Israeli military spokeswoman said. A second Israeli military source said the explosion was probably caused by a mortar.

The incident came amid heightened tensions in the region over Syria's civil war. Damascus has said it will respond to Israeli air strikes earlier this month against suspected Iranian missiles in Syria destined for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The rocket launch could be heard from the Lebanese town of Marjayoun, about 10 km (six miles) from the Israeli border, residents in the Lebanese town said....

Antisemitic conspiracy paranoia is all too common on the airwaves in the Middle East. "Lebanese Lecturer Hassan Jouni: Rich Jews Sent Poor Jews to the 'So-Called Holocaust,'" from MEMRI, February 17:

Following are excerpts from statements made in a TV show by Hassan Jouni, an international law lecturer at the Lebanese University. The show aired on Al-Manar TV on February 17, 2013.

Hassan Jouni: The Zionists made an agreement with Hitler. Of course, they helped him rise to power, and according to the agreement, the wealthy, educated Jews gathered [to leave Germany], and in return, the poor Jews, the leftists, the Communists, and so on, were executed.

It was the poor among the Jews, who entered the so-called "Holocaust," and especially the leftists and the Communists, who rejected Nazi ideology.

Britain's new export: jihad. "Bakri Says Training UK Islamists for 'Jihad' in Syria at Lebanon Camp," from Naharnet, November 25:

Four British Islamist extremists are being trained to fight in Syria at a camp run by radical Islamist preacher Omar Bakri in northern Lebanon, Britain's The Sun newspaper reported on Sunday.

Bakri boasted of his “military-style courses for Islamic fanatics on the lawless border with Lebanon,” The Sun said.

In an interview with the newspaper, Bakri revealed one recruit was a computer programmer in his 20s from London, while another was a Midlands-based IT worker.

And he claimed: “Others like them will follow.”

“Of the four, two of them have Syrian connections. But they are all born in UK and have professional backgrounds,” Bakri added.

“After their training they will do their duty of jihad (holy war) in Syria and maybe Palestine.”

Bakri, 52, came to Britain in 1986 and stayed until 2005, during which time he praised the 9/11 attacks....

Conspiracy paranoia inspired by the Qur'an's demonization of the Jews as the worst enemies of the Muslims (5:82). It is not a far jump from this lunacy to Alex Kane and Nathan Lean. "Grand Mufti of Lebanon Mohammed Rashid Qabbani: The Jews Orchestrated 9/11 and Were Behind Anti-Islam Film," from MEMRI, September 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Following are excerpts from a TV program with the Grand Mufti of Lebanon, Mohammed Rashid Qabbani, which aired on Al-Manar TV on September 22, 2012.

Mohammed Rashid Qabbani: Even though we call the Jews "People of the Book," they still deny the religion of Islam – even in the modern era. Why did secularism emerge in Europe in the days of Napoleon Bonaparte? History shows us that the Jews were behind secularism, because they opposed the authority of the church, against Christianity.

The Jews are behind all of this. What is scandalous is that this film was funded by 100 Jews, who paid five million dollars.

[...]

It is said that the Jews orchestrated the bombing of the Twin Towers, because they wanted to justify the persecution of Muslims worldwide.

Al-Asmar was no reformer. He was killed after he said to the Muslims who were fighting each other: "What you are doing is wrong. Who do you want to kill? Don’t you know that it is impermissible for a Muslim to shed another Muslim’s blood?” And it is -- it says so in Qur'an 4:92. He doesn't seem to have cared about Muslims killing Infidels: he was an energetic proponent of the jihad against Israel. Still, this demonstrates that Islamic jihadists will physically intimidate -- and even kill -- Muslims who oppose them, which is not a good sign for those who have placed all their hopes in the prospects of large-scale reform in Islam.

"Tripoli Sheikh Shot Down Inciting Peace," by Abdel Kafi al-Samad for Al-Akhbar, October 23 (thanks to 538):

A Tripoli sheikh is murdered by gunmen after attempting to quell the street violence that followed Wissam al-Hassan’s assassination.

It had been his wish to be martyred in Palestine say acquaintances of Sheikh Abdul-Razzaq al-Asmar. With that aspiration, he took part in a number of resistance actions against Israeli forces occupying South Lebanon before their 2000 withdrawal, including an operation in Sajd.

The highly-charged political and sectarian climate deafens people to all voices of reason.
But Sheikh Asmar’s wish was not to be fulfilled. He was hit by a bullet as he attempted to quieten sectarian-motivated conflict in the Abu Samra district of Tripoli on Friday evening, during one of the alleyway wars he constantly used to warn against.

It was just before sunset. The area was extremely tense following news of the assassination in Beirut of Wissam al-Hassan, head of the Internal Security Forces’ information branch. Around 80 gunmen, supporters of the Future Movement or allied Islamist groups, gathered about 500 meters away from the headquarters of the Islamic Tawheed Movement. The gunmen prepared to attack the headquarters, as is common when the security and political situation in Lebanon and Tripoli reaches boiling point.

Sheikh Asmar approached the scene unaccompanied. He spoke to the men calmly, maintaining a demeanor familiar to anyone who had attended his Friday sermons or religious classes. “What you are doing is wrong,” he was heard telling them. “Who do you want to kill? Don’t you know that it is impermissible for a Muslim to shed another Muslim’s blood?”

The men did not reply, instead, they encircled him. It’s likely that Sheikh Asmar didn’t expect a response, given that the highly-charged political and sectarian climate deafens people to all voices of reason. He repeated his appeal, but was cut short by one of the gunmen who fired a bullet into his head, killing him instantly.

Shortly beforehand, the neighborhood’s electricity had been cut, and the privately-owned generators had not yet been switched on. Asmar’s body lay on the ground for three hours as attempts were made in vain to search for him. He was finally found on the corner of the street where he was slain.

The young cleric’s acquaintances were deeply saddened. He had a reputation for modesty, courtesy and kindness, qualities that marked his behavior until the last day of his life. At the age of 40, he was father to seven children and held masters’ degrees in both education and Islamic studies.

Tawheed officials had been advised not to hold the funeral in the daytime to avoid provoking trouble and to bury him at night instead....

Asmar’s sermons also featured unremitting criticism of Israel, which made him popular in the Palestinian refugee camps in North Lebanon, where he was often invited to speak, invariably stressing the need to prioritize the causes of Palestine, Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque....

Of course! They probably used the Zionist squirrels and Zionist pigeons for this job.

"Iran points finger at Israel for Beirut bombing," from Reuters, October 20 (thanks to Jay):

DUBAI - Iran on Saturday condemned a car bomb attack in Beirut that killed a prominent Lebanese intelligence official on Friday and suggested that Israel was to blame.

A senior Israeli official dismissed the suggestion as "beyond pathetic".

The slain Lebanese official, Brigadier-General Wissam al-Hassan, was close to several Lebanese politicians who back the uprising in Syria and led several investigations into Syrian meddling in Lebanese affairs, including one that implicated Damascus and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005.

"This action was taken with the aim of sowing dissension among different currents and segments of the Lebanese people and was conducted by an element who has never had in mind the interests of the Lebanese people and government and who only strives for its own impure interests and goals," said a statement posted on the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website.

"Without a doubt the main enemy of the people of Lebanon and the region is the Zionist regime (Israel), which benefits from insecurity and instability in the region," ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to the statement.

It offered no evidence for the suggestion of Israeli involvement.

Asked about Mehmanparast's remarks, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "After the Iranian regime accused Israel of even the bad weather conditions prevailing in Iran, is there anything at all that they would not automatically blame on Israel? This is beyond pathetic. It's pathological."....

Yep.

Take a look at America, 2020 AD, if the Left and the Islamic supremacists get their way. A Christian dhimmi MP in Lebanon piles on: "Harb says willing to join suit against anti-Islam filmmakers," from The Daily Star, September 18 (thanks to Twostellas):

BEIRUT: March 14 coalition MP Butros Harb said Tuesday that he would be willing to join with other lawyers to file a lawsuit against the makers of a film that insults Islam’s Prophet Mohammad, describing the film’s content as harmful to coexistence.

“I am willing to participate in filing a lawsuit against the filmmakers,” Harb, a lawyer, said in a news conference at his office in Hazmieh, southeast of Beirut.

He added that the film, which was produced in the U.S., harms not only Islam but also “all celestial religions, the Arab Spring and the formula of coexistence.”

How fragile they must be!

“Resorting to protests is justified, but the optimal solution is via a legal framework,” he said, referring to the series of demonstrations organized by Hezbollah this week against the movie.

In other words, laws that criminalize criticism of Islam.

Clearly they expect to be the next embassy stormed by the enraged devout. "U.S. diplomats in Beirut burning classified material," from the Associated Press, September 17 (thanks to all who sent this in):

WASHINGTON (AP) — Diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut have started to destroy classified material as a security precaution amid anti-American protests in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa.

A State Department status report obtained Monday by The Associated Press said the Beirut embassy had "reviewed its emergency procedures and is beginning to destroy classified holdings." It also said that local Lebanese employees were sent home early due to protests by the militant Shiite group Hezbollah over an anti-Muslim film produced in the U.S.

In Washington, a State Department official said there was no imminent threat to the heavily fortified Beirut embassy, which is about an hour away from where the nearest demonstration is planned.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss security procedures, said the decision to "reduce classified holdings" was routine and made by embassy staff....

Yeah, sure.

This will mean more jihad terror attacks against U.S. targets, and more attempts by stateside dhimmis to restrict the freedom of speech, thereby proving once again that terrorism works. "Nasrallah calls for nationwide protests in Lebanon," from Reuters, September 16 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

BEIRUT - The head of Lebanon's Shi'ite terrorist group Hezbollah on Sunday called for nationwide protests against a film mocking the Prophet Mohammad, saying the United States must be held accountable for the Internet video. Western embassies across the Muslim world remained on high alert and the United States urged vigilance after days of anti-American violence.

"We call for protests tomorrow in the southern suburbs (of Beirut) at 5 o'clock," Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech.

"Muslims and Christians must remain vigilant in order to refrain from sliding towards strife. Those responsible for the film, starting with the US, must be held accountable.

"All these developments are being orchestrated by US intelligence," he said, adding that the US government was using the excuse of freedom of speech in order to justify the continued broadcast of the film.

Nasrallah also called for demonstrations around Lebanon, including the southern coastal town of Tyre on Wednesday and the northern town of Hermel on Sunday....

Islamic piety in action

But don't be concerned. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly says this is a "tiny minority." And we will see the Vast Majority of Peaceful Muslims rising up en masse to rein in their violent coreligionists any second now...any time now...it's coming...wait for it...yes, it has been eleven years, but they're still getting dressed. Have some patience.

"1 killed in violent Lebanon protest over anti-Islam film," from The Daily Star, September 14 (thanks to Twostellas):

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Stick-wielding and stone-throwing demonstrators protesting an anti-Islam film clashed with Lebanese security in the northern city of Tripoli Friday; one protester was killed and 15 policemen were injured.

The fatality was identified as Mohammad Ayyoushi.

Some 1,000 demonstrators marched from Tripoli’s Al-Mansouri Mosque to nearby Nour Square following Friday prayers, shouting slogans against the U.S. and Pope Benedict XVI, who began a three-day visit to Lebanon.

They tore down posters and banners welcoming the pope that had been put in place by Saad Hariri’s Future Movement.

The protesters also headed some 500 meters down the road to the KFC/Hardee's Tripoli branch, setting the establishment on fire. Four delivery mopeds were also set ablaze by the protesters.

KFC/Hardee's staff are safe, having evacuated the premises during the commotion.

The demonstrators also destroyed a police jeep and a still camera belonging to The Daily Star's Tripoli correspondent, Antoine Amrieh. They also confiscated the still camera of another photographer.

After being dispersed by police, the protesters regrouped and targeted the Tripoli Serail. Police fired shots in the air to dissuade them from advancing.

The Lebanese Army intervened later in the afternoon, dispatching five Armored Personnel Carriers to the Tripoli Serail.

Meanwhile, in south Lebanon's Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, thousands of Palestinian Islamists rallied in protest against the U.S.-made film, shouting slogans against the U.S. and President Barack Obama.

"Listen, listen Obama, we are all Osama," shouted the protesters, in reference to Osama Bin Laden. They waved flags bearing Islamic slogans and burned an effigy of the U.S. president.

Speaking to reporters Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly said her country “had nothing to do with the disgusting movie that offends people of all faiths,” adding that governments everywhere should protect U.S. diplomatic missions.

“America has a history of religious tolerance and respect for religious beliefs that goes back to the founding of our nation,” Connelly said following her meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail.

She added that the U.S. is home to millions of Muslims and that the country rejected the denigration of religion.

First Amendment Death Watch Alert.

“We also believe, however, that there is no justification for responding to this movie with violence. Islam respects the fundamental dignity of human beings and it violates that dignity to attack innocents,” she said.

The film depicts the Prophet Mohammad as a charlatan and a philanderer who authorized sexual abuse of children, among other nefarious acts. The film has caused outrage in several predominantly Muslim countries.

In Libya, angry demonstrators stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi earlier this week in an attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and four other American officials.

During her talk with reporters, Connelly decried attacks against diplomatic missions, adding that “governments everywhere have a responsibility to protect diplomatic missions.”

“We must not allow a tiny minority of people to provoke conflict among religions, countries, and cultures. All leaders must take a firm stand against violence, as Prime Minister Mikati and Foreign Minister Mansour have done today and as President Sleiman did yesterday,” she said.

Islamic Jew-hatred, sanctioned by the IOC. "Lebanese Olympic Team Demands Barrier Separation From Israel Squad," from Algemeiner, July 27 (thanks to David):

The Lebanese judo team forced International Olympic Committee officials to erect a barrier between themselves and the Israeli judo squad, Friday afternoon in London, just hours before the Games’ opening ceremony, reports Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot.

Both teams were scheduled to train inside London’s ExCeL center but Lebanon’s team did not want to be seen by the Israeli one, and IOC officials heeded to the Lebanese’s demand after the team’s coach demanded separation.

This is not the first time Middle Eastern judo teams have caused a political stir. In February, Egypt’s Ramadan Dawris defeated Arik Zeevi of Israel, but afterwards, Dawris refused to shake the hand of his competitor....

He has been released, but the kidnapping is "part of an escalating pattern of violence against local Catholics" in Baalbek, the stronghold of Hizballah.

More information on this story. "Lebanese priest who baptized Muslim is abducted, then released," from CWN, May 10 (thanks to Twostellas):

A Lebanese priest who baptized a Muslim woman has been kidnapped and released.

The daughter of a Shiite cleric “said she was physically and psychologically tortured by her father for converting to Christianity three years ago, although she is a 24-year-old adult,” said Maronite Catholic Bishop Simon Atallah of Baalbek. “I have received an unconfirmed report that she had recently fled to an unknown destination after her father forced her to marry someone.”

The kidnappers thought that Father Walid Gharious knew the woman’s whereabouts and later released him. The nation’s president condemned the kidnapping.

According to the prelate, the kidnapped is part of an escalating pattern of violence against local Catholics.

“Last Wednesday, unknown assailants fired gunshots at the house of a priest from the Kairouz family in the town of Nabha, and a similar incident occurred on Sunday before the start of the municipal elections, when shots were fired at the Our Lady Church in Nabha,” he said.

Serving alcohol: haram. Bombing people in a restaurant that serves alcohol: halal.

"Bomb in south Lebanon restaurant injures five," from Reuters, April 23 (thanks to Kenneth):

TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Five people were injured and a building was damaged when a bomb exploded in a restaurant in the south Lebanon coastal town of Tyre early on Monday, a Lebanese security source said.

There has been a spate of bombings in majority-Muslim Tyre in the last few months of clubs, shops and restaurants that sell alcohol, whose consumption is forbidden by Islam, and several restaurants have stopped serving alcohol as a result.

The latest bomb detonated shortly after midnight in the Nocean, a restaurant serving alcohol, on the third storey of a commercial complex in the east of the city, shattering the windows of nearby cars.

"Five employees were injured, but only lightly," the source said, adding that four of them were discharged from hospital on Monday morning.

Two bombs detonated in a nightclub and a liquor shop in Tyre in November, and a restaurant selling alcohol was targeted in December. The majority of Tyre residents are Shi'ite Muslims but members of Lebanon's Christian and Sunni Muslim communities also live in the city.

Hizballah is not a resistance group. It is a long recognized jihad terrorist organization that was responsible, one might recall, for the 1983 massacre of 241 members of the U.S. Armed Forces. It styles itself as a resistance group against Israel, but Hizballah is ultimately self-serving. It is a parasitic pseudo-state within a state in Lebanon, more heavily armed than the Lebanese army, and the only armed group from the Lebanese Civil War that failed to disarm, in defiance of U.N. Resolution 1559 and recently ignored another call from the U.N. Secretary General to disarm.

Four Hizballah members have been indicted and are wanted by Interpol for the assassination of Rafik Hariri. How did that crime help "resist" something?

In any case, Hizballah is a proxy of Iran and Syria. The loss of a Shi'ite-controlled regime (albeit a heterodox one) would be the loss of a friendly neighbor and benefactor. Even if a Sunni regime continued to make common cause with them against Israel, the relationship would be different. "Why is the resistance group Hezbollah standing beside Syria's dictator?" by Ayman Mohyeldin for NBC News via MSNBC, March 17:

BEIRUT, Lebanon – On a freshly paved road that runs from Baalbak to Ersal in northern Lebanon stands a towering billboard.
On one half of the billboard is Syrian President Bashar Assad, in military uniform. On the other half is a portrait of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese political and paramilitary organization that has been labeled a terrorist group by Washington.

The conflict in neighboring Syria has put Hezbollah, the staunch regional resistance movement, in a tough spot. Despite praising the Arab Spring democracy movement in many other countries, Hezbollah and its leader Nasrallah are standing by the Assad regime, even as it kills thousands of its own people to preserve power.

While Hezbollah supports Assad’s regime, the broader Lebanese population is divided and hesitant to take sides. Nonetheless, there is growing concern that this distance will be increasingly difficult to maintain as the conflict spirals on.

In fact, both pro- and anti-Assad groups have traded accusations that the other is receiving material support from inside Lebanon

Rivals or bedfellows?

On the surface, Assad and Nasrallah appear to be opposites.

Assad is the president of a country that is increasingly isolated in the international community and is widely unpopular on the Arab street. His government is embattled and his grip on power challenged.

Nasrallah, on the other hands, is the head of a popular Lebanese resistance movement and a domestic political force. He enjoys widespread support on the Arab street, particularly for his staunch resistance to Israel and Western imperialism in the region.....

Would someone please hand this correspondent a style manual or something like it?

Hizballah intends to ensure they serve their sentences in absentia as well, and there appears to be no political will in Lebanon to demand otherwise. One of those indicted has boasted that authorities know where he lives, but cannot arrest him. The track record so far calls into question whether "all reasonable steps" were really taken to bring them into custody.

"Hariri assassination suspects to be tried in absentia," from CNN, February 2:

(CNN) -- The special court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri announced Wednesday it will try the four accused killers in absentia.

The trial chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, headquartered in the Netherlands near The Hague, said it concluded that "all reasonable steps have been taken to secure the appearance of the accused and to notify them of the charges against them."

The efforts included multiple attempts by Lebanese authorities to find the four men at homes and workplaces, the chamber said. It also noted that the identities of the four men and their indictments received "massive publicity" in Lebanon, making it clear the men were being sought.

The chamber did not announce a date for the trial, but it will be at least four months away.

The United Nations-backed tribunal indicted the four men in June 2011 and made their identities public in July.

Hariri was killed in February 2005 when a bomb struck his motorcade in Beirut. The blast ripped apart his armored car and destroyed the motorcade, killing 21 other people and wounding 231.

All four suspects are charged with conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act.

The indictment says the alleged ringleader was Mustafa Amine Badreddine, while another man, Salim Jamil Ayyash, allegedly headed the "assassination team," responsible for physically carrying out the attack.

They are also charged with committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device; two counts of intentional homicide with premeditation by using explosives; and attempted intentional homicide with premeditation by using explosives.

Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra were responsible for preparing a false claim of responsibility, the indictment says. They are charged with being accomplices to the same four counts.

Investigators used mobile phone data to place Ayyash and other members of the assassination team near locations where Hariri was in the days prior to his death, the indictment says. Similar data placed the men near points along the route of Hariri's convoy on the day of the bombing...

As noted here, it will take more than asking once to make that happen. "Hezbollah rejects call by U.N.'s Ban to disarm," by Dominic Evans for Reuters, January 14:

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah dismissed on Saturday a United Nations call for his militant anti-Israel movement to disarm, saying it was determined to maintain a military capacity to defend Lebanon.

That's what state armies are for. Lebanon has one. Hizballah's forces are ultimately for the sake of Hizballah, to protect it not only from outside intervention, but from challenges from within Lebanon, including government forces.

"I affirm today, firmly, decisively and with the greatest conviction ... the choice of armed resistance," Nasrallah said. "These weapons, along with the Lebanese people and army, are the only guarantee of Lebanon's protection."

Mocking a demand by visiting U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Hezbollah lay down its weapons, Nasrallah said he was happy that Hezbollah's military prowess was a cause for concern.

"Your concern, Secretary-General, reassures us and pleases us. What matters to us is that you are worried, and that America ... and Israel are worried with you," he said in a televised speech marking a Shi'ite holy day.

Hezbollah, which fought a devastating month-long war with Israel in 2006, has rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution that demands that it lay down its military arsenal, as all other Lebanese armed groups did at the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

That's Resolution 1559. Not only did Hizballah defy the resolution, they are now better armed than the regular Lebanese army. What could go wrong?

Nasrallah, in hiding since 2006 for fear of assassination, says his movement has been re-arming since the 2006 conflict, when it fired hundreds of rockets across the border daily into northern Israel.

Ban, speaking in Beirut on Friday, said he was "deeply concerned about the military capacity of Hezbollah" and the lack of progress in disarmament. "All these arms outside of the authorized state authority, it's not acceptable," he declared....

Weird stuff happens on Friday the 13th, you know. Here, someone actually remembered U.N. Resolution 1559, after which Hizballah was the only group from the Lebanese civil war that failed to disarm. For that matter, it was the U.N. Secretary-General who remembered.

It will take more than asking once, however, to dismantle the army of Hizballah's pseudo-state within a state, which is better armed than the regular Lebanese army. "Disarm Hezbollah, U.N. chief tells Lebanon," by Alastair Lyon for Reuters, Friday the 13th (of January):

BEIRUT (Reuters) - United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon demanded Friday the disarmament of the anti-Israel Lebanese Hezbollah movement, which had said his visit to Lebanon was not welcome.

"I am deeply concerned about the military capacity of Hezbollah and ... the lack of progress in disarmament," he told a news conference after meeting Lebanese leaders.

"That is why we discussed this matter very seriously and I strongly encouraged President (Michel) Suleiman to initiate a convening of this national dialogue to address these issues...

"All these arms outside of the authorized state authority, it's not acceptable," Ban declared.

The secretary-general's trip made waves even before he arrived, with one Hezbollah leader saying he was not welcome, a stance criticized by Lebanese politicians opposed to the armed Shi'ite Islamist movement and its Syrian and Iranian patrons.

Hezbollah accepted an expansion of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south after its devastating 2006 war with Israel, but rejects a U.N. Security Council resolution that demands that it lay down its military arsenal, as all other Lebanese armed groups did after the 1975-90 civil war.

UNIFIL troops came under three attacks last year in which Italian and French soldiers were wounded. A rocket was launched into Israel in November and another rocket launching was attempted last month. No group claimed responsibility.

"There are no explicit fears that there is a new climate of hostility to the United Nations," a diplomatic source said. "But there is concern, which the secretary-general will emphasize, over the attacks (on UNIFIL) in May, July and December."

UNIFIL, now about 12,000 strong, is the third biggest U.N. peacekeeping operation and one of the oldest, beginning after an Israeli invasion against Palestinian guerrillas in 1978.

The Lebanese army has taken on a bigger role in the south since 2006, but given the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, there is no sign of an exit strategy for the U.N. force there....

More civic-minded Muslims help people abstain from alcohol the Muslim way. "Lebanon: Shop selling alcohol bombed in Shiite-majority south," from ANSAmed, January 12 (thanks to Insubria):

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JANUARY 12 - A bomb was blown up by unidentified individuals last night at a alcoholic beverages shop in southern Lebanon, the latest in a series of this sort of attack - for which no one has claimed responsibility - in an area with a Shiite Muslim-majority population. Reports were from the Lebanese news agency NNA. The explosion - which occurred in Sarafand, about 50 kilometres south of Beirut - severely damaged the shop targeted and, to a lesser degree, surrounding ones as well. However, no one was hurt. In multi-confessional Lebanon, the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages is legal and tolerated in many areas, but not in some with a Muslim majority population. (ANSAmed).

Hallmark doesn't make a "Thanks for Understanding, We Were Aiming at the Infidels" card. It would have to have a tidy little pocket for diyya, or blood money allowed under Sharia. "One person wounded in south Lebanon by rocket," from Reuters, December 11:

BEIRUT (Reuters) - One person was injured in southern Lebanon Sunday when a rocket apparently fired toward Israel hit a Lebanese border village, security sources in Lebanon said.

They said the rocket was fired from the Wadi al-Qaisiyeh area, about 2 km (one mile) from the frontier and landed in the village of Houla inside Lebanon.

Two weeks ago Israel said several rockets were fired across the border from Lebanon, the first such incident since 2009. Lebanon's army said Israel launched four rockets in return.

The border region has been largely quiet in the five years since Israel and Lebanon's Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006. But there have been concerns that tensions over the nine-month uprising in Syria and tougher Western sanctions against Iran could trigger violence.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Sunday he believed pro-Syrian Hezbollah was behind Friday's bombing in southern Lebanon which wounded five French soldiers from the UNIFIL peacekeeping force.

There was no immediate response from Hezbollah. The group had condemned the bombing, saying it targeted Lebanon's security and stability.

The good news here is that for a moment, Lebanon has remembered its identity separate from being the host to Hizballah's parasitic pseudo-state, and has agreed to contribute its share of funding to the UN Special Tribunal investigating the Hariri assassination, for which four Hizballah members have been indicted.

Hizballah tried to create a diversion from the indictments by triggering the collapse of the government in February, but has apparently decided against throwing another tantrum for the moment. There is also the ongoing instability affecting one of Hizballah's sponsors, Syria, that may have led the group to choose its battles more deliberately for now: indeed, there have been rumors that Hizballah may try to take Beirut if Assad's regime collapses.

"Hezbollah seeks to reassure Lebanon over probe," by Bassem Mroue for the Associated Press, December 1:

BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Hezbollah sought to reassure Lebanon on Thursday that he has no interest in stirring up trouble over an international investigation that has targeted members of his Shiite militant group.

Lebanon is deeply divided over a U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former prime minister and billionaire statesman. There were concerns the country could be facing a political crisis after Lebanon agreed to fund the court this week, against the wishes of Hezbollah, the most powerful military and political force in Lebanon.

But on Thursday, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he will put the country's interests ahead of everything else.

Except for collapsing the government at will and staging the occasional "coup drill."

"Although we reject the legitimacy and funding and cooperation with this tribunal, we will not cause problems in the country and we will put national interests above any other consideration," Nasrallah said in a televised appearance.

Are you reassured yet?

The investigation into Hariri's death — and the degree to which the Lebanese authorities should cooperate with it — has become one of the most divisive issues in Lebanese politics in recent years.

Hezbollah strongly denies any link to the crime and says the court is a Western tool to strike at the anti-Israel group.

Hezbollah and its allies, which hold a majority in the Cabinet, were expected to block the funding for the court during a vote this week.

But on Wednesday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he already had secured Lebanon's $36 million share of funding. Mikati did not say how he secured the money and Nasrallah also said he did not know the details.