There has been talk recently of the Middle East witnessing an expansion of radicalism in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.
Lebanon, for decades, has been an open arena to all regimes surrounding it, and even to international currents and ideologies. The country has witnessed countless radical movements on its territories.
During the 1970s, Syria and the PLO made Lebanon’s Bekaa valley their playground, creating organizations like the PKK, the Japanese Red army, Baader – meinhof, and many others. Members of such organizations were trained on Lebanese soil, which made Lebanon an exporter of international terrorism.
The worst case is, of course, Hezbollah: a large faction of Lebanon’s shiite community gave its allegiance to foreign countries, namely Iran and Syria.
It is an established fact that the Syrian regime gave Shiites support, while Iran gave them money, weapons and military training, trying to make them a military force to replace the Lebanese Armed Forces- and it worked.
The Christian Change and Reform leader Michel Aoun blatantly stated that he supports the Syrian regime and that it will prevail after putting an end to “the international community’s” conspiracy against Assad.
Sunni factions like Fath al-Islam and others are also a product of foreign powers.. They kindled a war in one of the Palestinian camp of Nahr al Bared. Fath al Islam leader, Shaker al Absi, is rumored to be a Syrian agent whose mission was to cause instability in the region.
Today, Hezbollah holds the Lebanese territories by the neck, not allowing Lebanon to prosper after Syria’s army left Lebanese territories.
Even worse, Hezbollah claims to want to defend all Lebanese territories against any Israeli ambiyions and vows to erase Israel from the face of the Earth, all while supporting the Palestinians in their cause- which is basically a rightful one.
Radicalism in Lebanon is not only present in the Shiite community, but rather in all its communities. Any faction of any community which supports dictatorship should be included among radicals, one way or another.
What is the solution for radicalism in Lebanon?
Radicalism in Lebanon has been created by foreign regimes for political purposes to say the least.
Some of the former radicals in Lebanon who, arguably, had a just cause during the 1970s have given one of the solutions.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, whose party was considered an extreme right wing party, gave up its weapons, apologized for past mistakes, and changed the internal laws of the party, transforming the Lebanese Forces Party into a democratic, liberal, and peaceful political party submitting to the Lebanese law.
Our wish is for Hezbollah to do the same after the fall of the Syrian regime…
This would not necessarily free Lebanon from all radicals. Lebanon is still considered an international playground where many regimes feel that they have the right to manipulate and export terror from its territories. But the sufferings of the last thirty years have made the majority of Lebanese, muslims as well as christians, immune to the appeal of radicalism and extremism.
aline.karim@googlemail.com
Beirut