BEIRUT -- Lebanon is truly a strange -- yet tasty -- place. Two hours ago, I had Lebanese soldiers pointing guns at me over a traffic snafu (my driving or theirs, I'm not sure which and I'll bet neither do they) and now I'm at Julia's enjoying a righteous grilled chicken salad with a subtle basil vinaigrette.
But I wonder if my predictions of a looming showdown were premature. It's true that hundreds of Lebanese troops are ringing the Palestinian camp of Nahr el-Bared, where "hundreds" of Fatah al-Islam fighters are holed up -- along with about 18,000 Palestinian civilians. And also it's true that the U.S. and other Arab countries have sped up the delivery of military aid to Lebanon: more ammo, night vision goggles and the like. And it's true that Defense Minister Elias Murr has said that death or surrender are the only options for the fighters. Furthermore, the chief of the Internal Security Forces, Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi told me not 30 minutes ago that he thought the army would have to go in.
But that rascally sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has thrown a spanner in the works, it seems. Yesterday was Liberation Day, a national holiday commemorating the retreat of the Israelis from southern Lebanon in 2000. Nasrallah took the opportunity to warn against going into the camps, saying an assault by the army was "a red line" and that the opposition wanted no part of it.
"The Nahr al-Bared camp and Palestinian civilians are a red line," Nasrallah said, according to Al-Nahar. "We will not accept or provide cover or be partners in this."
"Does it concern us that we start a conflict with Al Qaeda in Lebanon and consequently attract members and fighters of Al Qaeda from all over the world to Lebanon to conduct their battle with the Lebanese army and the rest of the Lebanese?" he added.
Fair enough, I guess. But more to the point, his address and his opposition to a military solution will reverberate throughout the army, about half of which is Shi'a. A sharp producer I know up north painted an alternate scenario than the al-Götterdämmerung scenario presently being awaited.
Nasrallah's address stopped the state in its tracks, said the producer, because of his influence among Shi'a. Going into the camp now, with half the army Shi'a, risks splitting the army while at the same time risking a general uprising among the 350,000 to 400,000 Palestinians in Lebanon. Without a unified army, there can be no unified Lebanon. The remnants of the military would collapse into militias. And that's the end of the ball game. Civil War 2.0. Talk about an ’80s revival! (Only without the music, hair or Molly Ringwald.)
What's more likely, he said, is that in the coming days or, more likely, weeks, a number of Fatah al-Islam members will be "caught" trying to "escape" the camp. The Army will announce it has caught the "criminals" who started this whole thing with their attack on army positions last weekend. Shaker al-Abssi, the leader of Fatah al-Islam, will evade capture.
And the rest? Well, it will turn out that Fatah al-Islam wasn't quite as big an organization as people thought it was.
The army would look like it accomplished something, massive bloodshed would be avoided (a good thing) and, like most issues in Lebanon, this whole ugly episode would be suspended but not resolved.
Does it solve the problem? No, but looking the other way and seeing what they want to is a Lebanese tradition.
Time will tell if the producer or the doomsayers are right.
By the way, the donations are working again, and covering this place ain't cheap. Fixers, rented cars, hotel rooms, etc. all cost money and freelancing for newspapers only covers part of it. If you'd like me to keep blogging the developments in Lebanon's latest crisis, please consider dropping some coin in the donate link below and to the right. Thanks.
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