(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - This war is being led by Saudi Arabia and especially by the Saudi intelligence service´s chief, Bandar bin Sultan, through terrorist Wahabi groups under his control, including some having links with al-Qaeda.The goal of Saudi Arabia is to overthrow or destroy all the governments and movements which are allies or friends to Iran, including Bashar al-Assad´s government in Syria, the Nouri al-Maliki´s government in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon. In this sense, Hezbollah has become a main obstacle for the Saudi plans to dominate the Middle East. To the dismay of the Saudi regime, Hezbollah´s success in withstanding the Israeli attack on Lebanon in 2006 increased its popularity in the whole Islamic word. Its participation in the Syria war was important in order to abort Saudi and Takfiri plans to overthrow the Assad government and to set up a Taliban-style government in Syria under Saudi control. Hezbollah fighters helped the Syrian army to achieve a strategic victory in Al Qussair and have played an important role in protecting Syria and Lebanon from terrorist gangs.In order to force the party to leave Syria, or even destroy it, Saudi Arabia has launched a four-way strategy.Baseless accusations against HezbollahFirstly, Saudi allies have been trying to blame Hezbollah, and its participation in the Syrian conflict, for all the problems of Lebanon. Saad Hariri, a billionaire leader of the Saudi-supported Future Movement, has even tried to link Hezbollah with some attacks in Lebanon, like the one that killed Mohammed Shatah, one of his associates. He has also used these claims to press for a new Lebanese government more aligned with Riyadh, Paris and Washington. After the attack, Hariri, speaking from his self-imposed exile in Paris, immediately pointed the finger of blame at Hezbollah. “Those who assassinated Mohamad Shatah are the ones who assassinated Rafik Hariri (Saad’s father),” he asserted.” This was a reference to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that was instigated by the Bush administration and whose goal was to give it a pretext to punish Washington´s opponents in the Middle East. However, according to Lebanese media, the beneficiary of the attack and the most likely author of these attacks was Israel or another ally of the Western powers.Due to the claims of his former chief investigator, anti-Syrian and anti-Hezbollah Detlev Mehlis, the tribunal first blamed four generals allied with Syria -who were imprisoned for four years before being released without charge- and then alleged that some Hezbollah members could be responsible. The tribunal is to reopen in The Hague in January.Hezbollah rejected the accusation that it was behind Shatah’s murder, calling the bombing a “heinous crime, which came in the context of a series of crimes and explosions aimed at sabotaging the country.” Syria also denied any involvement in the attack.Saudi-supported takfiris against HezbollahNext, Saudi Arabia has launched a proxy war against Hezbollah by using different Takfiri terrorist groups against the party. The strategy is to open a war front against Hezbollah in Lebanon in order to force it to bring its troops from Syria. This strategy uses provocations such as the three bomb attacks in Dahiyeh (the Southern Suburb of Beirut, which is considered as the main stronghold of the Resistance Party).On July 9, 2013, 53 people were wounded after a bomb exploded in a busy shopping street of Dahiyeh on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan. A faction of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) claimed responsability.On August 15, 2013, a month after the first bomb, another car bomb blast hit the Suburb. At least, 21 people were killed and 200 wounded in the massive explosion; the majority of whom were children. An unknown group linked to the Syrian opposition claimed responsibility for the attack.On November, 2013, two…bombers struck the Iranian Embassy in southern Beirut in an attack claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades.On January 4, 2014, another attack took place in Haret Hreik, also in the Suburb, killing 6 people and injuring several dozens. Significantly, Takfiri groups struck at almost the exact same place that the Israeli air force targeted in the 2006 July War. The street is home to several buildings that were restored after the Israeli war. Hezbollah used to hold its main Ashura events right here too. In short, it is one of the most famous streets in Dahiyeh.According to the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, residentes “seemed to all agree on the identity of the perpetrators: Salafi takfiris. Overheard often among the crowds was the name Bandar bin Sultan, the infamous Saudi intelligence chief. Some people were shouting “Death to the House of Saud,” as many people believe Prince Bandar is the preeminent sponsor of the extremist groups they accuse of carrying out the attack. This is the way, they say, in which the House of Saud is showing its gratitude to the people of Dahiyeh, which defeated Israel and brought about the first indisputable Muslim victory against the nation’s enemy.”Al-Akhbar added: “It is clear that the popular mood, after the attack in Dahiyeh, was convinced now more than ever of the need to confront extremist groups in Syria and Lebanon. Perhaps the perpetrators thought that by striking at innocent civilians, they would drive them to renounce Hezbollah, or put pressure on the Resistance Party to withdraw from Hezbollah. However, the opposite happens after each attack.”The Dahiyeh bombing took place as the same time as Saudi citizen Majid Al-Majid, head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, tied to al-Qaeda, was arrested. He is the man who allegedly ordered the attack against the Iranian embassy in Beirut. However, he died in prison of “kidney failure” some days after. Riyadh did its best to persuade the Lebanese autorities to extradite him to Saudi Arabia… Al-Majid was arrested on his return from Syria, where he had forged a cooperation pact with Abu Muhammad Al-Jolani, head of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front, which fights Bashar al-Assad´s government. This agreement would have provided the Syrian takfiris with a logistical base in South Lebanon. Another al-Qaeda-linked group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham…, has also threatened Hezbollah and promised to strike the party´s strongholds in Lebanon.A government without HezbollahThirdly, Saudi Arabia and its allies in Lebanon want to isolate Hezbollah by creating a government excluding this party. While Hezbollah and the other parties of the 8 March coalition have been proposing a national unity government, the 14 March forces, led by Saad Hariri, reject this. Hariri was present in a recent meeting between King Abdullah and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman in Riyahd and also met French President François Hollande in the same city. It shows his complete coordination with his Saudi sponsors in the design of a strategy against Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon.Hariri and Saudis have pressed Suleiman to set up a so-called “neutral” government (actually formed by pro-14 March figures) even though they know that it will not have the parliamentary support. This is seen as an open attack on Hezbollah and the 8-March forces, which have promised, for their part, a “surprise reaction” if Suleiman goes ahead with that plan.However, the last terrorist attack in Dahiyeh seems to have led Suleiman to have second thoughts. According to the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, 14 March forces see now him as “weak because he has not formed the government he has promised many times.” They say that “every time President Suleiman vows to form a neutral government and is about to take the plunge, a blast goes off here or an assassination takes place there, putting his plans on hold.”“Suleiman’s advisers partially admit that the government he had intended to form was directed against Hezbollah and the Amal movement. Therefore, it is impossible after the Dahiyeh bombing to shove a provocative government down the throat of Hezbollah and Amal supporters. They know the parliamentary majority would not allow them to form a March 14 government, as MP (Druze leader) Walid Jumblatt and his bloc insist on his decision not to give a vote of confidence to such a government”, Al Akhbar said. Moreover, influential Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, has also showed his opposition to a such government of “accomplished facts” and has called for dialogue and forming a government in which all parties participate.French arms paid by Saudi Arabia against HezbollahThe fourth front opened by Saudi Arabia against Hezbollah is maybe the most dangerous. During the recent meeting between King Abdullah and his new friend and ally, French President François Hollande, both reached an agreement to send a 3 billion-worth French weapon shipment to the Lebanese army. The weapons will be entirely paid by Saudi Arabia. Media reported that it is the biggest ever military export to Lebanon. Hollande made it clear that the weapons would not be used “where they should not” (against the Israeli army), so the only logic conclusion is that they are intended to be used against Hezbollah if a 14-March-controlled Presidency or government decide so.In order to show his personal gratitude to Saudi rulers, Suleiman ended a speech in which he talked about this issue by saying “Long live Saudi Arabia”, an expression which was both condemned and mocked by Lebanese journalists and commentators.Ibrahim al-Amin, a leading Lebanese commentator, accused Suleiman of being willing to become the spokesman of the Saudi king and his friend, Zionist Hollande, in order to seek their support to continue in his post, as his term ends in May 2014.“During the last visit to Riyadh, the author of this generosity (the Saudi king) said it was the duty of the Lebanese army fight Hezbollah, disarm it and prevent it from entering Syria”, Amin wrote. He added that the clear goal of the agreement was to strengthen the Saudi allies in Lebanon and wondered why Iranian and Russian offers to send weapons to the Lebanese army had been rejected. Moreover, he said, the French-Saudi initiative should be approved by the Lebanese government and the Parliament and not to be accepted just by the Presidency.US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the murder, saying, “The Obama Administration supports Lebanon as its leaders work to bring those responsible for this heinous and cowardly attack to justice under the rule of law.”The UN Security Council condemned “any attempt to destabilize Lebanon through political assassinations and demanded an immediate end to the use of intimidation and violence against political figures.”On Saturday, President François Hollande of France, the former colonial power, called on Lebanon not to let the assassination disrupt the presidential elections due in May. Hollande is currently in Saudi Arabia for talks with King Abdullah. He is expected to discuss “the need to preserve stability in Lebanon,” the Syrian conflict, and Iran’
source : Press TV
Thursday
9 January 2014
8:30:00 PM
494862
Recently, the British newspaper The Independent published an article by a leading Irish journalist, Patrick Cockburn, which described the “ferocious war waged by assassination, massacre, imprisonment and persecution that has killed tens of thousands” of Shiites in the world, including in the Muslim countries where they form a vulnerable minority.