US President George W Bush has arrived in the Middle East and has vowed to bolster up the Lebanese army and to tackle Hezbollah, the movement that bars the way to the US domination of the Lebanon.
What has angered the US president is that the moves of the Lebanese government to undermine the Hezbollah strategic telecommunications network in southern Lebanon and to sack the manager of the Beirut airport as a Hezbollah supporter both failed.
The Hezbollah leader, Nasrallah called the hostile moves a ‘declaration of war’ and the masses of the workers and the poor took to the streets in protest.
The right-wing was unable to stand against this mass movement and the Lebanese army was forced to intervene and to restore the status quo, and to prevent further clashes, a role that Hezbollah was quite happy to cede to the Lebanese military.
This was very clearly the first round to Hezbollah by a knockdown.
Bush is very angry at these developments and is in the region to organise the ruling classes of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf with their enormous wealth, alongside Israel, to strengthen the Lebanese right-wing, in order for it to move against Hezbollah.
Hezbollah is the movement that ended the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in the year 2000, and then in the summer of 2006 ended the myth of Israeli military invincibility, by defeating their invasion of southern Lebanon and driving their ground, air and naval forces back into their Israeli bases.
This defeat combined with the US defeat in Iraq was a huge blow at Zionism and imperialism.
The US reply to it was to launch a campaign through the Lebanese right-wing for all Syrian troops and Syrian influence to be forced out of the Lebanon.
This was partly successful.
Then with US warships off the Lebanese coast, the Lebanese government launched its latest attack.
Before he left Washington, Bush blamed and warned Syria and Iran for its failure.
He denounced Hezbollah and warned Syria and Iran that they would be held ‘accountable’ for backing it.
The United States is aiming to force the UN Security Council to ‘take action’ next week on the issue of ‘unrest in Lebanon’, the White House said Tuesday.
Senior US national security officials also said that Washington plans to ‘intensify its pressure on Syria and Iran’ over their alleged support for Hezbollah’s ‘uprising’ against the Lebanese government.
An Arab League delegation headed by the Qatari PM is expected to meet with rival Lebanese leaders to try and impose a settlement that pushes Hezbollah back.
This was greeted as the ‘Last chance for compromise or chaos,’ by the Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to Hezbollah.
Bush, who arrived in Israel on Wednesday, warned Iran and Syria and vowed to shore up the Lebanese military.
Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, also warned on Tuesday, that Iran’s relations with the Arab world would be affected if Tehran was supporting what he described as a ‘coup’ in Lebanon.
‘Iran’s relations with all Arab countries – if not all Islamic countries – would be affected if Iran was supporting the coup that took place in Lebanon,’ Faisal told reporters. Bush and the prince are seeking to isolate Hezbollah.
Utilising a combination of Gulf State money and Israel military strength, Bush aims to strengthen the Lebanese government and army and then to encourage it to seek a showdown with Hezbollah.
The ‘perfect’ scenario is said to be one where the US and Israel are asked by the Lebanese democratic parties and army to intervene to save Lebanese democracy from Hezbollah, Syria and Iran.
Workers in the west must support Hezbollah, a genuine national liberation movement, fighting for the freedom of all the Lebanese people from the threats of Imperialism and Zionism.
