LEBANON 'S DUELING MEMORIALS: HARIRI VERSUS MOUGHNIYAH

Nothing could display the disparate contrasts and deep divisions within Lebanon more than the upcoming memorials for two of Lebanon's most well-known sons - one good and one evil: HARIRI VERSUS MOUGHNIYAH.

BOTH WILL BE COMMEMORATED ON THURSDAYS, (coincidentally Valentine's Day).

TVNZ: Hezbollah to hold mass funeral - [FOR THE EVIL MOUGHNIYAH]

Feb 14, 2008 12:23 PM

Lebanon's Hezbollah holds a mass funeral for its assassinated commander Imad Moughniyah, one of the United States' most wanted men, in Beirut to calls of revenge against its sworn enemy Israel.

Big crowds are expected in Beirut's Shi'ite Muslim southern suburb to bid farewell to Moughniyah, a guerrilla seen as a legend by Hezbollah but on the US most wanted list accused of killing hundreds in attacks on Israeli and Western targets.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, accused Israel of killing Moughniyah on Tuesday by planting a bomb in his car in Damascus. Israel denied any links to the attack while Washington welcomed his death.

Reflecting deep divisions in Lebanon, Moughniyah's funeral will take place a few hours after a rally by the anti-Syrian ruling coalition to mark the third anniversary of the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in Beirut.

OMAN OBSERVER: Lebanese set to mark Hariri killing

BEIRUT — The streets of Beirut a day before a scheduled mass rally to mark the February 14, 2005 assassinaton of then-premier Rafik Hariri, were tense on Tuesday and anger could be heard in peoples’ comments about the political speeches they hear daily from the country’s leading rival parties.

“We want to be governed by the state and not by religious warlords, sheikhs, or priests,” shouted Ahmed Mortada, a moderate Lebanese Shiite in one of Beirut’s streets. “Both the opposition (led) by Hizbullah and the majority are now threatening each other with war ... as if we (people) are their war toys and they can play with us as they like,” said Souad Hamdan, a Muslim who does not belong to any rival party.

“The political life in this country has gone below zero. The leaders are using radio and television to lash at each other, and the streets are boiling (over) with their followers,” she added. Souad was referring to fiery speeches by the head of the ruling majority, Saad Hariri, and his ally Walid Jumblatt, who threatened the opposition “if you want war...we are ready for it.”

The tough rhetoric has ignited tensions between the followers of both parties in a country already tense over a long-standing political deadlock. Clashes between followers of the late Hariri and those loyal to Hizbullah have erupted here and there. At least two people were wounded on Sunday in a gunfight between Druze supporters loyal to Jumblatt and a pro-Syrian Druze group in Aley, east of the capital.

The streets also witnessed clashes between Hariri supporters and followers who support parliament speaker Nabih Berri. Christian opposition leader General Michel Aoun has accused the ruling majority of having created “a climate of fear” which can trigger clashes at any moment and push the situation out of control.

BAHRAIN TRIBUNE/AFP:

Lebanon braced yesterday for a mass rally by supporters of the Western-backed government to commemorate the third anniversary of ex-premier Rafik Hariri’s murder amid mounting street clashes with the opposition.

Pro-government leaders have called on hundreds of thousands of supporters to converge today on Martyr’s Square in central Beirut, near the beachfront site of the car bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others on February 14, 2005.

The rally was to be held on the same day that the Lebanese resistance group Hizbollah, an important member of the opposition, was to bury one of its top commanders killed on Tuesday in Syria, in a car bombing blamed on Israel.
The Hariri anniversary protest comes amid high tension in Lebanon which has been without a president since November, in its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Street clashes between the government and the opposition camps and mudslinging among rival politicians have raised fears of civil strife...

STRIFE OR WAR.

• THERE'S ONLY ONE GOOD WAY TO END THESE STARK DIVISIONS WITHIN LEBANON: DESTROY HIZBALLAH - (WHICH IS AFTER MERELY ALL A BUNCH OF GENOCIDAL JIHADO-STOOGES FOR ASSAD AND IRAN).
• THESE TWO MEMORIALS MAY VERY END IN VIOLENCE AND RE-IGNITE LEBANON'S CIVIL WAR.
• HOPEFULLY, THIS TIME IT WILL END WITH HIZBALLAH BEING UTTERLY DEFEATED.