IRAN'S PROXY WAR SPREADING TO LEBANON

The Lebanese army has deployed on the streets of Beirut and Tripoli in a bid to calm deadly tensions. Several people were killed in gunfights between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in Tripoli on Monday after the death of a senior security official on Friday. 

...  On Monday, the army urged "all political leaders to be cautious when expressing their stances and opinions" and in attempting to mobilise public action "because the fate of the nation is at stake". 

The army is a widely respected institution in Lebanon that has often been required to stand between the country's diverse political and religious factions. The violence comes after the funeral of Gen Hassan - a Sunni and the head of the intelligence branch of the Internal Security Forces (ISF). 

He was an outspoken critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - who is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam - and was killed in a car bomb on Friday, along with his bodyguard and at least one other person. Opposition figures blamed the attack on the Syrian government. 

...  Gen Hassan led an investigation into the assassination in 2005 of Mr Hariri's father, Rafik, which implicated Damascus. He also organised the recent arrest of Michel Samaha, a former minister accused of planning a Syrian-sponsored bombing campaign in Lebanon. Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon in the wake of Rafik Hariri's murder, ending a 29-year military presence.  

RUSSIA AND CHINA GAIN - AND THE USA AND EUROPE LOSE - AS IRAN STRENGTHENS AND SPREADS VIOLENCE AND CHAOS.

AN WITHOUT RUSSIA AND CHINA, IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUKE PROGRAM, DEFEND ITSELF FROM A PREEMPTIVE ATTACK, OR SPREAD ITS LETHAL ISLAMISM.

THE ROAD TO PEACE IN JERUSALEM AND BEIRUT AND DAMASCUS GOES THROUGH TEHRAN.

AND THE ROAD TO TEHRAN GOES THOUGH MOSCOW.