Iran Plays The Lebanese Card
Ahmed Hany
May 20, 2008
What is happening in Lebanon is a phase in the Iranian plans to spread more influence. Since the Islamic Shiite revolution in Iran and its trials to spread revolutionary ideas based on Shiite thinking and superiority of Persian race have not stopped. These trials were the cause of the first Gulf War, which could be seen as an Arab-Persian war, or worse a Sunni-Shiite war.
National security means existence, continuity and stability of countries and integrity of their lands to achieve welfare for their people. Egypt and Iran are present since thousands of years in stable borders. Turkey is present since hundreds of years. Other countries are recent historically. Geopolitically, the Middle East is stable by three regional powers, Egypt, Turkey and Iran. The Arab Peninsula is a large region of vacuum that is affected by what is happening in these three powers. The Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Historical Palestine and Jordan) and Iraq serve as communicating zone during peace and the front lines during wartime. This region especially the Levant Mediterranean coast and in particular Lebanon, may be seen as the metropolitan area of the Middle East where different races and faiths mix and live together.
When sons of Sherif Hussein ruled Jordan and Iraq while Abd el-Aziz Saud ruled the Peninsula they followed the historical geopolitical lines that separated the Ommayad and Abbasid families from the desert. Later on Pan-Arabism failed to unit Arab-Phones politically and economically partly because of the creation of Israel and partly because of the differences between habits, but mostly because of the different geopolitical functions.
What kept peace and stability between the main three regional forces and the new Saudi Kingdom was the respect of function of Sham and Iraq as connecting zones. After creation of Israel, Egypt was engaged in the Zionist-Arab conflict while both Iran and Turkey kept themselves distant from wars. The Zionist project threatened the national security of Arab-Phones mainly. This gave a boost for union trials of Arab-Phones. In fact, the Arabs themselves were divided according to their alliances with the superpowers. Whether they were republicans or royals was another story.
The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, the revolution of Iran and Israeli limiting demographic facts were the factors that changed the nature of relations between Iran and Arabs and in particular Saudi Arabia. While both Arabs and Israel are forced to live together due to many factors, the Saudis became threatened by the new Shiite Republic that wanted to spread its influence and faith in the peninsula, Iraq and Sham.
Iranian knew the rules. From day one, they called America the greatest devil but they had secret contacts to get spare arts for their fighters in what was called Iran Gate scandal. They declared Israel number one enemy and severed relation with Egypt because the peace treaty. However, there were reports that Iran received Israeli arms during the Iraqi-Iranian war. The Lebanese civil war 1982 – 1995 gave Iran an opportunity to form Hezbo-Allah with the help of the Syrian Allawite regime that was the only Arab regime that supported Iran against Iraq.
After the first Gulf War, the Iranian regime put the picture of Imam Khomeini with his heart bleeds on walls to remember that he accepted ceasefire with Iraq while his heart bled. The regime failed to solve poverty problem in the oil rich country. It needed external crisis to continue and to practice dictatorship and atrocities against opponents and reformists. It refreshed its aspirations and trials to spread influence based on Shiite faith. Here the Iranian regime met the Americans plans to occupy Iraq. The American failure in Iran encouraged the regime to stir troubles in other areas. Lebanon witnessed a war between Hezbo-Allah and Israel that did serve neither the Palestinian nor the Lebanese cause. Despite the Israeli failure, the Lebanese infrastructure was destroyed while Iran and Syria cared only about supplying Hezbo-Allah with arms but not defending the tiny state.
The result was that Hezbo-Allah invested on the war and tries now to impose its view and acts like a state within the state. It refuses to disarm or to put its forces under the army commandship. Its communication net and monitoring cameras threaten the sovereignty of the country. It wants to have a veto to block the governmental decisions especially after the government called for international investigations about the assassination of Rafik el-Hariri, majority MPs and journalists. The Saudis finds it difficult to lose in Lebanon while Shiite rebels fight in Yemen against the government. The Arab League Secretary failed several times to resolve the Lebanese crisis and it is unlikely that one sees a Lebanese president in the near future.
Is there a connection between raids against Shiite militias in Iraq that made Iran stop its security talks with the Americans and what is happening in Lebanon? Iran still refuses Western incentives to stop its suspicious nuclear enrichment. Putin signed a presidential decree to participate in sanctions against Iran. Most important a British court ruled that Mojahidi Khalq militia is not a terrorist group. This means that the West may take steps towards containing Iran with rebels after it refused incentives. Even the Arabs who object to bombing Iran would be forced to confront Iran because threatening Saudi Arabia means declaring war on all Arabs and most Moslems around the world due to the presence of the most sacred and wholly sites. More frankly, Iran plays a game in Gulf, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq that weakens Arabs and makes Israel the only beneficiary. Does this what Islamic regime in Iran want? Did Russia know something that made it not trusting Iran anymore? Are what we witness in Yemen and Lebanon a part of the Iranian-US deal about Iraq and Afghanistan? Is the Iranian role is forcing Arabs to be seek more alliance with the West and to give concessions about Palestine? Iran rulers should think more about stability of the region if they want welfare for their people
National security means existence, continuity and stability of countries and integrity of their lands to achieve welfare for their people. Egypt and Iran are present since thousands of years in stable borders. Turkey is present since hundreds of years. Other countries are recent historically. Geopolitically, the Middle East is stable by three regional powers, Egypt, Turkey and Iran. The Arab Peninsula is a large region of vacuum that is affected by what is happening in these three powers. The Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Historical Palestine and Jordan) and Iraq serve as communicating zone during peace and the front lines during wartime. This region especially the Levant Mediterranean coast and in particular Lebanon, may be seen as the metropolitan area of the Middle East where different races and faiths mix and live together.
When sons of Sherif Hussein ruled Jordan and Iraq while Abd el-Aziz Saud ruled the Peninsula they followed the historical geopolitical lines that separated the Ommayad and Abbasid families from the desert. Later on Pan-Arabism failed to unit Arab-Phones politically and economically partly because of the creation of Israel and partly because of the differences between habits, but mostly because of the different geopolitical functions.
What kept peace and stability between the main three regional forces and the new Saudi Kingdom was the respect of function of Sham and Iraq as connecting zones. After creation of Israel, Egypt was engaged in the Zionist-Arab conflict while both Iran and Turkey kept themselves distant from wars. The Zionist project threatened the national security of Arab-Phones mainly. This gave a boost for union trials of Arab-Phones. In fact, the Arabs themselves were divided according to their alliances with the superpowers. Whether they were republicans or royals was another story.
The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, the revolution of Iran and Israeli limiting demographic facts were the factors that changed the nature of relations between Iran and Arabs and in particular Saudi Arabia. While both Arabs and Israel are forced to live together due to many factors, the Saudis became threatened by the new Shiite Republic that wanted to spread its influence and faith in the peninsula, Iraq and Sham.
Iranian knew the rules. From day one, they called America the greatest devil but they had secret contacts to get spare arts for their fighters in what was called Iran Gate scandal. They declared Israel number one enemy and severed relation with Egypt because the peace treaty. However, there were reports that Iran received Israeli arms during the Iraqi-Iranian war. The Lebanese civil war 1982 – 1995 gave Iran an opportunity to form Hezbo-Allah with the help of the Syrian Allawite regime that was the only Arab regime that supported Iran against Iraq.
After the first Gulf War, the Iranian regime put the picture of Imam Khomeini with his heart bleeds on walls to remember that he accepted ceasefire with Iraq while his heart bled. The regime failed to solve poverty problem in the oil rich country. It needed external crisis to continue and to practice dictatorship and atrocities against opponents and reformists. It refreshed its aspirations and trials to spread influence based on Shiite faith. Here the Iranian regime met the Americans plans to occupy Iraq. The American failure in Iran encouraged the regime to stir troubles in other areas. Lebanon witnessed a war between Hezbo-Allah and Israel that did serve neither the Palestinian nor the Lebanese cause. Despite the Israeli failure, the Lebanese infrastructure was destroyed while Iran and Syria cared only about supplying Hezbo-Allah with arms but not defending the tiny state.
The result was that Hezbo-Allah invested on the war and tries now to impose its view and acts like a state within the state. It refuses to disarm or to put its forces under the army commandship. Its communication net and monitoring cameras threaten the sovereignty of the country. It wants to have a veto to block the governmental decisions especially after the government called for international investigations about the assassination of Rafik el-Hariri, majority MPs and journalists. The Saudis finds it difficult to lose in Lebanon while Shiite rebels fight in Yemen against the government. The Arab League Secretary failed several times to resolve the Lebanese crisis and it is unlikely that one sees a Lebanese president in the near future.
Is there a connection between raids against Shiite militias in Iraq that made Iran stop its security talks with the Americans and what is happening in Lebanon? Iran still refuses Western incentives to stop its suspicious nuclear enrichment. Putin signed a presidential decree to participate in sanctions against Iran. Most important a British court ruled that Mojahidi Khalq militia is not a terrorist group. This means that the West may take steps towards containing Iran with rebels after it refused incentives. Even the Arabs who object to bombing Iran would be forced to confront Iran because threatening Saudi Arabia means declaring war on all Arabs and most Moslems around the world due to the presence of the most sacred and wholly sites. More frankly, Iran plays a game in Gulf, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq that weakens Arabs and makes Israel the only beneficiary. Does this what Islamic regime in Iran want? Did Russia know something that made it not trusting Iran anymore? Are what we witness in Yemen and Lebanon a part of the Iranian-US deal about Iraq and Afghanistan? Is the Iranian role is forcing Arabs to be seek more alliance with the West and to give concessions about Palestine? Iran rulers should think more about stability of the region if they want welfare for their people
Print
Email
