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Fury over Beirut blast fuels protests, clashes with police

11 Comments
By SARAH EL DEEB and BASSEM MROUE

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11 Comments
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I was surprised and a bit shocked how the president of Lebanon came out and said that since he came into power in 2016 and that the chemicals were stored there in 2013, he was not responsible. Wow! That’s some major passing of the buck!

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Too much anger.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Time to oust Hezbollah.

The Lebanese people appear to be galvanizing resolve.

Apparently the combination of looting the nation, civil war and Hezbollah terrorism has brought to the nation "good trouble."

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Trump let slip that it was not an accident.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Let the revolution spread to every corner of the globe. The people are their countries, not the so-called leaders.

Trump let slip that it was not an accident.

Meh. What does he know, though? Where's he getting his info?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

You know there is a social explosion coming when nearly 60,000 Lebanese have signed a petition calling for their country to be placed under a French mandate for the next 10 years: 

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200807-tens-of-thousands-sign-petition-to-place-lebanon-under-french-mandate/

If I were the fat cat politicians who have sucked that nation dry for decades, I would book on the first flight out of the country to anywhere lest they end up facing the same fate as the President of the former Socialist Republic of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena Ceaușescu.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

""Activists who called for the protest set up symbolic nooses at Beirut's Martyrs' Square to hang politicians whose corruption and negligence they blame for the explosion.""

Yes, and that is exactly what it will take to bring about a change in Lebanon.

For so long the people demonstrated and nothing has changed, it's time to prep the NOOSES.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

""He called on all political parties to put aside their disagreements and said he was prepared to stay in the post for two months to allow time for politicians to work on structural reforms.""

This IDIOT doesn't get it, That's NOT what the people want, THEY WANT ALL CURRENT POLITICIANS OUT. then the new ones will handle the structural reforms.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Polish up that Ak47 and clean up the institutions.

A fresh start is always the best.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The demonstrators make a sympathetic case. But keep in mind their protests earlier this year were shut down by Hamas. Hamas wants no part of a democratic Lebanon. They rule southern Lebanon pretty much as an independent state while sucking as many resources as possible from the national government. Hamas operates its own system of educational and social institutions outside of and parallel to the Lebanese government institutions and these serve Shiites exclusively. Hamas schools indoctrinate kids into their terrorist ideology while their police and clergy enforce strict Islamic rules on Shiites under their control in a notionally secular country. Hamas has 57 of the 128 seats in the Lebanese Parliament and the President is a Hamas ally. They have veto power over cabinet appointments. The UN has tasked the Lebanese Army with disarming Hezbollah however it has been unable and unwilling to do so. Hezbollah has received huge arms shipments from Iran and is undoubtedly a more powerful fighting force than the Lebanese Army. Hezbollah has engaged in a series of political assassinations of its opponents over the years and even engages in retaliation against Sunni and Christian Lebanese when Sunni forces attack Shiite institutions or forces in Lebanon or Syria. Since Hezbollah effectively has complete control over the Shiite population of Lebanon any push for reform by Sunni and Christian citizens will be seen as an attack on Hamas and require armed reprisal. Hezbollah claims Iran's supreme leader as theirs and have no allegiance to the Lebanese government. As such they represent an immutable impediment to improving the lives of the Lebanese.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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