Hezbollah's Third Botched Coup Attempt

_By Tony Badran (cross-posted at “Across the Bay”:http://beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/2008/05/hezbollahs-third-botched-coup-attempt.html)_
In three years, since the murder of former PM Rafik Hariri, Hezbollah has attempted three coups — and failed.
On March 8, 2005, Hezbollah thought that by rallying supporters they would nip the independence movement in the bud, maintain the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, and move on as though nothing happened.
One week later, March 14 happened, in large part as a reaction to Hezbollah’s rally. It secured the expulsion of the murderous Assad regime’s occupying force.
Then in 2006, with the July war and its aftermath, especially the movement in December 06-January 07.
In their first attempt in January 23-25, Hezbollah tried its coup and relied on Aounist elements. That proved a disaster as the Aounist riffraff were done away with in a matter of hours, ending any prospect of relying on Christian proxies to do Hezbollah’s bidding. The Lebanese Forces’ Samir Geagea, whose supporters were instrumental in dispersing the Aounists, was the central figure during that coup.
Then came this last attempt, which Nasrallah deliberately placed in parallel to the aftermath of the Hariri assassination: i.e., this was intended to be the official reversal of the independence movement.
After Hezbollah took west Beirut, attacking civilians in their homes, ransacking and terrorizing neighborhoods and “media outlets”:http://beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/2008/05/terrorists-and-free-media.html, following a conscious decision by Hariri not to put up a fight, the “Iranian militia”:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3543230,00.html foolishly thought that it can just as easily overrun Jumblat on his own turf in the Shouf.
Hezbollah had another thing coming. For three days of intensive fighting in the Shouf, and contrary to the lying info ops and disinformation of Hezbollah water carriers like this clueless Hezbollah willful tool (on whose propaganda for Hezbollah I’ve written in the past and will soon be ripping to shreds once again), not a single village in the Shouf fell to Hezbollah. Not Niha, like that Hezbollah watercarrier MacLeod wrote, not anything.
Quite the contrary. “According”:http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/05/jumblatts-men-s.php to the PSP and other local sources, more than three dozen Hezbollah fighters were killed and a number of their vehicles were destroyed. The fact that they had to introduce artillery and vehicles (mounted with heavy machine guns, like so, and recoilless rifles, like so) only showed that they could not make advances into the villages.
Not just that, but Hezbollah’s attack has led Talal Arslan’s fighters to switch and fight alongside the PSP against Hezbollah, “undermining”:http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2008/05/jumblatts-men-s.php Hezbollah’s tiny Druze ally — which is precisely why Jumblat put him in the forefront from the get go (it was not, as shrill commentators and dishonest flacks read it, a sign of “weakness.” It was a shrewed move by a master tactician.).
At the end of the day, the PSP maintained control of the strategic hills of the Barouk to the east and Ras al-Jabal west of Aley, overlooking the Dahiyeh.
And so, Jumblat and the Shouf played a historical role these last few days (and I will have a lengthy post on Jumblat’s role in this crisis asap) and have essentially botched Hezbollah’s coup.
All the idiotic commentators, from Paul Salem onwards, who talked about a different “political balance” as a result of the fighting, don’t and never did know what they’re talking about. This is political suicide for Hezbollah, who has already made contacts with Hariri through a third party informing him that they’re looking for an exit. They know they’re in a jam.
Not just that, now the government is in a position to leverage rescinding its decisions — which it could never implement to begin with! — and we’re already seeing M14 and government sources expressing that.
For one, all M14 officials — including Hariri who made a powerful, uncompromising speech yesterday — are now unanimous about placing the fate of Hezbollah’s weapons as the first item on any “dialogue” agenda. Gone are the days of the “sanctity” of the weapons of the “resistance.” Minister Joe Sarkis has added that any rescinding of the decisions has to be met by not just a withdrawal of armed men from the streets and the reopening of all roads, but also the evacuation of the tent city in downtown Beirut.
The mere fact that M14 and the government are bartering the rescinding of a decision that was never going to be implemented (and if the government was illegitimate, according to Hezbollah, then why even bother focusing on its decisions and thereby affirm its legitimacy?) suggests, regardless of outcome, that they know that there’s no “new balance” advantageous to Hezbollah that forces them to capitulate.
Army Commander Suleiman is now under tons of pressure. Hariri himself criticized the Army’s performance, and we “know”:http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/Lebanon/AFE78ECA5EFE83E2C2257449002F44DB?OpenDocument that 40 senior officers submitted their resignation (which would’ve split the Army) in protest of Suleiman’s handling of the situation (and we also know that criminal pro-Aounist officers were particularly egregious during the crisis). Saudi outlets have even criticized the Army’s performance, putting more pressure on Suleiman to get his act together if he wants to become president (especially now that any gambit about Hezbollah tilting the balance has failed). The US, which also has leverage through its aid to the Army might also do the same. These kinds of pressures, domestic, regional and international, and Suleiman’s susceptibility to them, is why Syria won’t take a chance with him. Anyone who doesn’t fall and lick Bashar’s boots without hesitation at a moment’s notice cannot be trusted as far as the murderer of Damascus is concerned, and it’s why Syria knows that it must return militarily to Lebanon in order to rule it. Even doing it by proxy, through Hezbollah, hasn’t worked.
This is far from over. In fact, this has only just begun.