We have a new president!

May he be better than the last one...

Sahar al Khatib, a brave soul from Lebanon!

"WE WILL NOT BOW DOWN TO FEAR"

"Your violence, your weapons, your murders will not deters us! no matter what how many atrocities Hezbollah commits, we will uphold the values of democracy, freedom and moderation.

Hezbollah now has a problem with ALL of Lebanon and not only with the government! Hezbollah wants to impose its own views and values on all the Lebanese, without any discussion. And every person who oppose Hezbollah is to be brandished a traitor and criminal. But no matter how many Hezbollah kills, how many streets they invade, and houses they destroy or how many TV station they close down and burn, WE WILL REFUSE TO BOW DOWN!!! and we will stand fast.

What is Hezbollah doing in Beirut, wasn't its weapons only to be used against Israel and NEVER internally? Has Down Town became part of Israel? What is Hezbollah doing in Beirut, killing civilians, burning TV station and educational foundations?

We will not accept Hezbollah to continue like that, it is a militia now, and its weapons should be the subject of a serious dialog between the Lebanese.

The solution is simple: the army takes control of the streets and arbitrate on the two problematic decision the government took, then we elect a President and he heads the dialog between all parties. Then we will form a national unity government in which the majority will not have the power to unilaterally take decisions and in which the opposition will not be able to unilaterally impeded any decision making."

Thus our brave Prime Minster, Fouad Sinioura spoke, while surrounded by Hezbollah militia.

The lines are set, Hezbollah can either stop their military uprising or they can further dig a bottomless pit from which they will never come out...

Tomorrow we will all stand in the streets holding our heads high, and our Lebanese flags higher still... Tomorrow at noone we will heed the call of our Prime Minster...

WAR!!!

“Our weapons will never be used on the inside. Our weapons are only to fight Israel!” Nassrallah said repeatedly. Then today he changed his mind “our weapons shall be used to defend our weapons, on the outside or even ON THE INSIDE!!” The divine leader works in mysterious ways, and no one can question him...

Finally, Nassrallah described what Hezbollah truly is: just another power hungry milita, which cares only for its power and weapons. Forget Israel, forget the so called occupied Lebanese land in the Shebaa area (with an area less than 30 km2 ) forget all that, the battle is in Beirut. In our beautiful capital, in its streets and houses...

A bloody street war, with all the horrors that it evokes: Militiamen checkpoints, asking for ones sect, religion and political affiliations. Civilian casualties, innocent bystanders mowed down by stray bullets. Whole buildings with their windows broken…

Two days of street fighting, ten death so far... may they be the last... but somehow I doubt it... Once more my country is plunged in civil war... into a black abyss of hate, death and destruction...

Another brave man falls...

MP Antoine Ghanem was just killed.

Of course he is one of 14 March, part of Amine Gemayel’s bloc, who are at the opposit side of Aoun.

Antoine Ghanem was recently called a “kitty” by the glorious General Aoun. I wonder now who is the “kitty”? The brave men and women of the independence movement, threatened by death and assassination on every corner or those who are in league with the assassins, peacefully hiding...

Results!!!!!

In order to better follow the results of the election in the Metn either try 14 March site (Lebanese Forces) or the Aounist one.

20.52: Till now they are both listing Gemayel as a winner.

21.11: Aoun announced his victory and called for his supporters to head to the central district where all the votes are being counted. HOWEVER both websites are indicating that Amine Gemayel won (with 2/3 of the votes counted thus far)

21.35: Gemayel's announced his victory! So both candidates have won!!!! Typical Lebanese elections. Additionally, Tayyar.org have stooped publishing results...

23.25: no official results yet, but it seems Aoun won by a very slim margin. A few minutes ago tayyar.org announced that Aoun candidate won by 4000 and received a phone call by the Minster of Interior who announced this victory. Yet they just removed this info... Aoun denied it and he just announced that his candidate won but the difference was small...

In conclusion:

It seems that Aoun won, no official words yet but all indication shows that he won, by a several hundred votes.

Mid day briefing

The good news: no major scuffles on the streets, just the usual tensions and provocations.

Meanwhile, participation seems a bit less than 2005, but this drop would not translate into any gain for either candidate, as it will be all over the board.

Therefore, I will stick with my previous predictions: a very close battle with a slight advantage to Aoun.

Finally!!!

All those of you who kept defending and covering Syria’s constant meddling and murderous actions in Lebanon I think it is time to offer a public apology!

Seven Syrians, from the Fateh aL Islam group that follows the order of Syria and are part of the Syrians military intelligence, have been caught and confessed that they committed the terrorist attacks that targeted Ain Aleq in Mount Lebanon a few weeks ago. The suspects also had with them a list of 36 personalities which they planned to assassinate, in addition to future plans to attack the UNIFIL, in addition to an important cash of explosives and ammunitions.

The truth will come out, slowly maybe but it will come out eventually!

A country boiling!

I fear the day when Nassrallah will go on TV and say that “if I knew that this will happen, I would not have acted this way!” just like what he said after the summer Israeli war.

A small scuffle in the Arab University of Beirut has exploded into a full fledged riot, which is spreading to several neighboring roads. Black smoke is once again filling Beirut sky. Phones are down, roads are closed and people are panicking…

Wish us luck and let’s hope that this is not the start of our worst nightmare.

I will keep you posted!

Update 1:

Silly blame game! You started it no it is you … It is not the fourth grade anymore… there are two killed already… STOP IT… go home… solve political issues in the proper institutions, the parliament, the government, through dialogue… They are shooting at each others… It is a war zone… JUST LEAVE THE STREETS…

Update 2:

The army ordered a Curefew from 8:30 to 6:00 in the morning in Beirut. I slipped from Beirut just before its start. What a sad day, If I am not wrong, this is the first curfew in Lebanon from many many years…

Beirut burning

Dark clouds above Beirut

No, this is not smok from Isreal's bombing...

War zone!

A day from Hell

Update 1:

A dark cloud hangs over most cities, fights are breaking sporadically and most roads are closed. On the TV I hear the army is firing in the air to break up opposing factions, while NOT opening roads.

Anyways, I’m off to work, from Saida to Beirut. I am not going to let some burning tires stop from going to work, for it has become, as everything else in this country, a political statement!

Wish me luck!


Update 2:

Finally I arrived at Beirut!

two quick notes:

Nassrallah should learn the same lesson that Olmert did in the war. No bombs, no destruction, no protestors, no burning tires, no concrete blocks and sand mounds will close ALL the roads. We will always, always find a way out to go out, to go to work, to study, TO LIVE!!!

And today I realized that Nassrallah is just like Olmert, filling Beirut sky line with black smoke, destroying properties, terrorizing people, cutting roads…

I am so sad! What have they done to our country...
What a shame.

Update 3:

I am back in Saida. It was a very draining, both physically and emotionally, journey…

I have some picture from my phone; I will try to post them too, with a report of my daily commute that was not as routine as it used to be.

The news are bad at least two dead both from March 14, and countless injured, wiht no end in sight...

Peace