The Rulers of Lebanon and How They Got On Their Seat Of Power Fighting Israel

 Nadene Goldfoot                    Biblical Days

           Jezebel (d: 843 BCE) she was able to influence her husband, King Ahab of Israel into anything.  

.  There was a time when they were friends: The king Hiram of Tyre sent artisans and cedar wood to King Solomon of Israel to help build the Temple.  The 2 kings jointly exploited the commerce between Elath and Ophir via the Red Sea.  

The Tyrian princess Jezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon,  married King Ahab, son of King Omri of Israel,  who ruled from 876- 853 BCE and introduced Baal worship to the Israelites, and the religious and cultural influence of Tyre penetrated to Israel and even to Judah. The Jewish population in Lebanon was ancient.  There have been Jews living today in Beirut.  There had been Jewish communities in Tripoli, Tyre, and Sidon.  They were engaged in commerce;  trading.

     Alexander the Great in red and white in the Temple in Jerusalem 

 By Assyrian and Babylonian history, Tyre was denounced by Ezekiel (Ch. 27), and suffered a series of Sieges and in 332 BCE, was captured by Alexander the Great.                            

                                   Modern Days

The situation today is impossible.  Lebanon has no power over their country at all.  Hezbollah rules.. It hasn't always been like this.

Lebanon rules by 1. The High-Level Power Sharing ("The Troika")

By unwritten convention (originating from the 1943 National Pact), the three highest offices in the nation are strictly divided among the largest communities: 

• President: Always a Maronite Christian.
• Prime Minister: Always a Sunni Muslim.
• Speaker of Parliament: Always a Shia Muslim.

From 1947-1949, Israel's War of Independence, Lebanese forces invaded Israel along with their peers.  In 1944, the middle of WWII, there was the population of 6,261 Jews in Lebanon.  After 1948 this number grew by Jews entering from Syria, and the population by 1964 was from 5,000 to 7,000l.  After 67's Six Day War, the number lessened,                       

Hezbollah

Most of the 1,000 remaining Jews by 1975  left during the Civil War and by 1990 less than 100 remained.  Hezbollah was formed in 1982 by Lebanese Shiite clerics, heavily backed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.  Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982 (often referred to as the 1982 Lebanon War - Wikipedia or Operation Peace for Galilee) to stop cross-border attacks, destroy the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the region, and install a pro-Israel government in Lebanon. 

                    Bachir Gemayel -"General" Gemayel allied with Israel and his forces fought the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Syrian Army.

Two men served as President of Lebanon in 1982: Élias Sarkis and Amine Gemayel. A third president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, was assassinated before taking office.  He was elected president on 23 August 1982, but was assassinated before taking office on 14 September, via a bomb explosion by Habib Shartouni, a member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party.

 Championing the Shiite population—historically marginalized by the country's ruling Christian and Sunni elite—Hezbollah established itself as a premier resistance force fighting to expel Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, which Israel ultimately withdrew from in 2000. Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000 primarily because the 18-year occupation had become a severe military and political burden. The prolonged presence in the self-declared "security zone" proved unsustainable due to escalating guerrilla warfare from Hezbollah, mounting Israeli casualties, and a growing domestic protest movement demanding troops be brought home,

The Lebanese Parliament: Confessional Seats: or how they decide things, how they vote.   

The Lebanese Parliament is a unicameral body consisting of 128 directly elected Deputies. In accordance with the Constitution, all parliamentary seats are divided equally between Christians and Muslims.  

The seats are further sub-divided into eleven confessional branches (four within Islam and seven within Christianity). The distribution of the 128 seats among the eleven confessions listed here is formalized under the 2008 Election Law.

The single seat for Christian Minorities is intended to provide parliamentary representation for six recognized confessional groups. Lebanese citizens of any other religion, including two that are formally recognized by the State, are unable to be elected to Parliament.

Today:  The President of Lebanon is Joseph Aoun.  Again and yet again, Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire that went into effect at 4:00 p.m. local time today. However, the situation dramatically flared overnight when an intense exchange of fire broke out just as diplomats were attempting to announce the fresh truce.Impact: The fierce exchange of fire overnight and into today resulted in the deaths of at least 18 civilians and four Israeli soldiers.   For the most recent flare-up between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli officials stated they launched strikes in southern Lebanon in response to Hezbollah killing four Israeli soldiers in an attack on a tank.

 Diplomatic Fallout: Conflict Flared: The situation repeated itself as Israeli forces unleashed lethal salvos just as a ceasefire was being finalized, a recurring pattern in the conflict.  Let it be known that Hezbollah strikes first and then Israel follows up to beat the heck out of them;  teach them a lesson of STOP FIRING !!!!!

The sudden flare-up prompted Iran to suspend planned peace and de-escalation talks with the United States in Switzerland. [What a way for Iran to get out of it!].  Massive Missile Arsenal: Hezbollah possesses a vast, highly precise arsenal of tens of thousands of rockets capable of striking deep into Israeli population centers, critical infrastructure, and military bases within minutes. An initial strike would trigger this retaliation, resulting in significant civilian casualties and infrastructural damage.  Israel is on top of this.  They know of this danger. 

I can just see Iran laughing like crazy, having Israel by their bootstraps, caught if they attack Hezbollah and caught if they don't attack and defend themselves.   I believe Netanyahu just gave the order to not attack defensively for the present.  ???