*Somebody better tell Nasrallah that Israel has been in Syria and a friend of the regime for over 40 some years and Hezbollah has been sending body bags home to Lebanon for months.* * * *Iran also has about 200 some Quds Force troops along with Shiite groupings from Iraq supporting the Syrian regime plus Russian advisors and arms for over 4 decades worth billions of dollars. Where are those anti anti imperialists?* *----------------------------------------------------------------* * *
*Nasrallah: Should Syria fall, the resistance will be confined and Israel will enter Lebanon* ** In a televised speech on Saturday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned that "Israel is ready for war" against Lebanon and Syria. Israel has threatened Lebanon every day since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Nasrallah claimed, adding that the Jewish State has been mobilizing its troops on the border with Lebanon for months. The Hezbollah leader claimed that Lebanon's army can fight against Israel like the "Resistance", but only if given proper arms. Nasrallah went on to argue that the Resistance "has done a lot in Lebanon to face Israel ", and said that the Resistance is not only Hezbollah but all those who exerted efforts against Israel. He added that should Hezbollah agree to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state, those "weapons will lose their significance." Nasrallah accused Israel of building settlements on its borders with Jordan, Syria and Lebanon and is "recruiting Jews from all over the world as part of its military plan for the region." Meanwhile, Nasrallah accused the international community of failing to act while Israel completed its "project in Palestine". Nasrallah criticized attempts by the international community to designate Hezbollah as a terror group, dismissing the moves as " ink on paper." Regarding events in Syria, Nasrallah said that the ongoing crisis is "crucial" for Lebanon, but echoed Iran by saying that a solution could only be reached through "political dialogue." Nasrallah blamed the Syrian crisis on "an axis" led by the USA and Israel, and said that al-Qaeda and "Takfiri" organizations are receiving money to join the fight against Assad. The US was waging a "political and economic world war" on Syria, Nasrallah said, noting that while "thousands of fighters" were sent to Syria from all over the world, they were "were concerned about the involvement of few Hezbollah members." Moving to the clashes in the Lebanese town of Tripoli, Nasrallah said the "absurd battle" should stop and said Tripoli should "stay away from the Syrian conflict." *Fighting Intensifies in Qusair As Regime, Hezbollah Push For Gains* ** Sources on both sides of the conflict in the Syrian border town of Qusair have reported<http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/25/us-syria-crisis-qusair-idUSBRE94O05320130525> intensified fighting, as regime troops bolstered by Hezbollah fighters push for gains. Qusair is strategically important to both the insurgency and to Assad's forces, because it lies on the route between Damascus and the Alawite stronghold on the Mediterranean coast. If regime forces succeed in taking the city, they will effectively have divided insurgent supply lines. An activist based in Qusair, who spoke to Reuters on Saturday morning, said that the shelling was "violent and heavy" and that he had "never seen a day like this since the battle started". Reuters also quoted a Hezbollah fighter, who said that: *"We are in the second phase of our plan of attack but the advance has been quite slow and difficult. The rebels have mined everything, the streets, the houses. Even the refrigerators are mined."* The Syrian regime claims to control about two thirds of Qusair. State news agency SANA reported <http://sana.sy/ara/336/2013/05/25/483998.htm> on Saturday afternoon that regime forces had destroyed "terrorist nests" in the area, killing large numbers<http://sana.sy/eng/337/2013/05/25/484016.htm>, and that more insurgents had surrendered in the north and central neighborhoods of the city while "terrorists' gatherings" were destroyed in the western and southwestern sections. Regime forces were destroying barricades, tunnels, mines and improvised explosives that insurgents had planted along public roads and in houses. The agency also claimed that the armed forces "tightened their grip "on both sides of Homs-Baalbek road through the middle of the city. The extent of Hezbollah's role in the battle is unclear and impossible to verify. This video, posted on Saturday, boasts that regular regime troops have withdrawn from Qusair and that only Hezbollah fighters survive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oavw3aNncxc This video, published Saturday, claims to show an air bombardment by regime forces, to allow Hezbollah to advance in the city. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FGed0ZKj_gA *Tripoli Residents Complain About "Hellish" Fighting* ** The Lebanese Daily Star's Misbah al-Ali reports<http://m.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2013/May-25/218278-miserable-residents-in-hellish-tripoli-want-their-lives-back.ashx> from the Tripoli in northern Lebanon, where at least 29 people have been killed and 100 more injured since clashes broke out last Sunday. The clashes erupted at the same time as Hezbollah helped Syrian regime forces attack Qusair in Syria. The Star says residents claim that hundreds of mortars and rocket-propelled grenades are launched every night, with "endless rounds of machine gun fire". According to The Star, around 130,000 residents of the poverty-stricken Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood have been without electricity since Tuesday. The Star spoke to one resident of the neighborhood, Zakaria Masri, who said the situation was "tragic" and that "morale is low". Securing our daily needs is a priority now, especially with the vegetable and flour markets closed. Residents are still managing to buy their groceries from small shops, but the shopkeepers dont know how they will remain open, if the battles and clashes continue, Masri told The Star. *Casualties* The Violations Documentation Center <https://www.vdc-sy.info/index.php/en> reports that 61,458 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since March 2011, an increase of 86 from Friday. Of the deaths, 47,863 were civilians, a rise of 44 from yesterday. http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/2013/5/25/syria-today-a-plan-b-if-international-conference-fails.html Young Hezbollah critic banished from villageArson attack and death threats force south Lebanon girl into hiding [image: Marwa Olleik talking to NOW in her unofficial safe house in Ashrafieh.] - PREV - - - - - NEXT In the Ashrafieh apartment currently serving as her unofficial safe house, Marwa Olleik talks with a mix of pain and defiance as she recalls the series of events that forced her to flee her lifelong home on Wednesday. With her nose piercing, tattooed forearm, and unveiled hair, the 20 year-old journalism student doesnt exactly fit the stereotype of the south Lebanese village girl. Yet it isnt her looks, but her opinions in particular, her support for the Syrian uprising and criticism of local hero Hezbollahs interventions against it that have brought the powerful wrath of her community upon her. From the very first day the Syrian revolution began, I was with it, she tells NOW. Im with any people that choose to revolt to demand their freedom. I didnt care about the politics, or the history, my thought was always: If the people want to change the regime, Im with them. If tomorrow they want to revolt against the Free Syrian Army, Ill be with them too. So for months Ive been writing messages like these, supporting the revolution, on Facebook. At first, Olleik says nobody in Yahmur, her village situated about 10km south of Nabatieh, minded her online commentary. But as Hezbollahs military assistance to the Assad regime grew more apparent, her criticism sharpened, and she began to receive intimidating messages from fake accounts. People would tell me I was shaming the honor of the village, and of the Shiites, and they would use terrible insults against me, calling me the whore of Sheikh [Adnan] al-Arour and Ahmad al-Assir, and much worse, she says. But the turning point came last Sunday, when Hezbollah began its widely-publicized attack<https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/reportsfeatures/qusayr-resisting-all-out-attack> on the Syrian town of Qusayr. When Hezbollah went into Qusayr, I immediately started posting comments and photos, asking what they were going there for, especially since in Nabatieh every day I would see two or three bodies returning. People told me I was insulting Sayyida Zeinab [the granddaughter of the Prophet, highly revered in Shiite Islam]. So on Monday I wrote a post saying that insulting Sayyida Zeinab a thousand times is more merciful than killing one Syrian child. It seems to have been that comment in particular that brought the local communitys anger to a boiling point. As the online abuse poured in, her father himself a more-or-less orthodox Hezbollah partisan allegedly began to receive phone calls from local party affiliates, urging him to make his daughter publicly retract her comments. For the sake of her fathers safety and reputation, Olleik says she did post an apology. However, by then the point of no return had already been crossed. En route to university in Beirut the following morning, Olleik received a phone call from her distressed mother, who had been staying at the familys second house in Nabatieh. She told me she found a sign stuck to the wall outside the house, saying Dont think of returning [to Yahmur]. Ignoring the warning, her mother had driven to their Yahmur home to find that the contents of the front porch had been set ablaze overnight. On Thursday morning, NOW paid a visit to Yahmur, a picturesque village in the fertile plains at the feet of the crusader-era Shqeef Castle, which also happens to be a mere 5km from the Israeli border. Like almost all villages in the south, the flags flying on its lampposts alternate between those of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement. A large billboard bearing the faces of Iranian Grand Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei greets visitors at the *Husseiniyah* [Shiite worship place] in the village center. The few women walking around either donned the *hijab* or the more conservative * chador*. The Olleik home a traditional single-story villa of off-white stone with a spacious garden was empty when NOW arrived, but the damage from Tuesdays arson attack was plainly visible. A tablecloth and accompanying chairs on the patio were damaged and charred black from what had clearly been a small fire. Local residents at the grocery store across the street had mixed views of the overall episode. Its nothing, its just a dispute between youths, insisted one, who did not give his name. The guys who started the fire are known troublemakers; they smoke *arguileh* and drink juice all day. In my personal opinion, Marwa should just come back. Another resident, who claimed to be a cousin of Olleiks, butted in to interrupt. No. She cant. Its forbidden. She insulted Sayyida Zeinab, theres no way we can allow this. A third man appeared to agree. Asked how many people lived in Yahmur, he replied, Five thousand. Actually, 4,999 now. The others snickered. Everything is over in any case, said the first man. A Hezbollah man met with her parents and resolved the issue. He did not elaborate. Olleik, however, had already described this encounter to NOW. The*rabit* [local Hezbollah official] came to our house and told my mother I cant go back and I have to immediately publish an apology, although I already had done so. He said that this time they burnt the porch, but next time theyd burn the whole house. And if one Hezbollah fighter is martyred from Yahmur, he said theyd kill me. When asked for comment, Hezbollah press spokesperson Ibrahim Mousawi told NOW he had not heard anything about the incident. A nagging question for Olleik is why the reaction to her comments became suddenly so hostile this week, when for months she had railed against the party with no repercussions. She speculates its due to the widespread condemnation the party has faced since launching its Qusayr offensive. Hezbollah is losing support even from Shiites because of Syria, so they want to silence criticism. For example, the other day a woman came to my mother, crying and cursing the party because her son had just been sent to fight in Syria. At the recent funerals for fighters, too, many of the mothers have been angry for what Hezbollah has done. There also remains the question of what Olleik will now do. Her family, she says, has no intention of taking legal action against the assailants, believing it to be a lost cause. Her cousin Rami, who accompanied her during NOWs interview (and who is himself an outspoken critic of Hezbollah, despite formerly being a party member a transformation he details in his recent book, The Bees Road <http://www.ramiollaik.com/>') said, The situation is still boiling for now, but she should go back - maybe even this weekend. Olleik, however, seems to have other ideas. Theres no going back to Nabatieh for me. My reputation is ruined, I would have no life. Maybe Ill live here in Beirut by myself, or my parents will move here. I dont know. But returning to Nabatieh is not an option. * * *Yara Chehayed contributed reporting.* [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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