Isolating Lebanon... Iran's persistent target

  Releasing the Syrian and Turkish hostages in Lebanon is a move that can deceive nobody. They were released only after achieving the target hidden behind their abduction, which is isolating Lebanon out of its Arab surrounding and sticking it to the Iran-Syria alliance, which is currently standing on the verge of collapse, at least on the Syrian side. Achieving this target wouldn't be possible unless the plotters succeed first in impoverishing Lebanon and the Lebanese by all possible means, and of course on top of these means is preventing the Arabs from coming to Lebanon or investing their money in it, plus giving a blow to all the economic sectors in the country, particularly the banking sector. What we see now in Lebanon is unprecedented since the Lebanese state was found or even further back to the Othman Caliphate era. There is a decision taken to prevent the Arabs coming to Lebanon. This decision is now implemented under the supervision of the government set by Hezbollah, who placed a Sunni figure PM Najib Mikati, who came on top of it only to cover the efforts of deepening the rift between Lebanon and the Arabs. Mikati is acting very compliantly to the role assigned to him by Hezbollah instead of making a patriotic move by exposing this plot and stopping it. Creating a rift between Lebanon and the Arabs is meant particularly to impoverish the small country and pushing the Lebanese towards despair, and towards considering emigration, after the Iranians failed in taming them in the same way they tamed a part of the Shiite community in Lebanon through Hezbollah. Every Arab national now fears for his safety in Lebanon, as the so-called military wing of the al-Meqdad clan is ready to kidnap any Saudi, Qatari, Gulf or Turkish national who dares to come to Lebanon.  It is expected that a new military wing for another clan will rise soon to make more abductions in order to spread misery and chaos in Lebanon after the mission of al-Meqdad's wing was done, as the Syria-Iran alliance still believes that the Syrian regime might be saved through exporting its own crises to Lebanon. Not to forget that this infamous military wing of the al-Meqdad clan represents only a very tiny minority of this honourable clan, as the vast majority of the al-Meqdads reject any sort of violation of the law. What is new in the Syrian regime's plots in Lebanon is that they have been very open recently as the Syrians are failing to find Lebanese politicians who can make cover to these plots, unlike what was happening in the past. Mr Michel Samaha will be no more able to accuse any of the Lebanese of being unpatriotic, as his true role in the country has been exposed. Even Hezbollah's government in Lebanon fails in concealing the Syrian regime's plots. All what this government can do is to admit its inability to restore normal relations between Lebanon and the Arabs. They can fabricate the movie like scenes of freeing the poor Syrian workers who aimed to find a job in Lebanon. The two Turkish nationals, one of whom was a guest of a Shiite family in Beirut. Yet this government, which was formed only to humiliate the Sunnis and Christians in Lebanon, will never be able to restore the relations between Lebanon and the Arabs. This will be the main problem facing Lebanon in the coming few years, as long as Hezbollah's arms are actually owned by Iran, at least that is what we can understand from Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's reiterated words in which he stresses his loyalty to his religious leaders in Tehran. Plus the strange comments of the Christian MP Michel Aoun. Aoun said recently that Hezbollah has the right to use their weapons in order to defend Iran even if this will put Lebanon under threat. Yes, there is a Lebanese citizen who served as an army commander in the past, and yet he is not embarrassed to declare that he sees no problem in sacrificing his own people for the sake of the Iranian regime. The relations between Lebanon and the Arabs will not be restored as long as the Iranians insist to send a message to both of what they call the 'big devil' (the United States) and the 'small devil' (Israel) that Syria's return to the Arab region after the fall of the current regime will not mean that Lebanon will come out of the Iranian control. Iran insists that Beirut will always be an Iranian city on the shores of the Mediterranean, and the people of South Lebanon will always remain as captives at the hands of the Iranian regime until a deal is to be agreed between Washington and Tehran. That means Lebanon will remain a theatre for the Syrian regime's plays until the regime eventually falls. And we will see more actors doing the character of Abul Meesh. Actors of the same league as Michel Samaha, Michel Aoun, or General Jamil al-Sayyed who try to imitate the role of the Bureau II officers at the era of the late President Fouad Chehab. All the scenes we are watching of these plays are not important, although they might be interesting on the other hand, including the scenes of freeing the poor Syrian workers or the Turkish nationals who thought they were visiting a safe country. What is important is that Lebanon's problems will remain as long as the Iranian arms remain in the country, and as long as the Lebanese government is protecting the existence of these arms. However, those who protect the Iranian arms in Lebanon have remembered that the Lebanese people have previously defeated the Syrian regime in Lebanon and drove its troops out of the Lebanese territories, and that is why the current President in Lebanon dared to say what he said after the arrest of Michel Samaha.       --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.