Terrorism

ISIS Wannabes Emboldened with Lebanese Government’s Savage “Anti-Blasphemy” Campaigns from the Dark…


The entire nation was shaken to its core after the news broke of savage ambush, murder and desecration of the corpse of a man whose “crime” was saying “leave my god alone”.

A disgusting pig sheikh and his two siblings were out shopping, and overheard the man saying “7ello 3an rabbeh”. It’s a common expression of frustration in Lebanese slang, where you tell someone to “leave me alone” by saying “leave my god alone”.

Apparently, the extremist murderer sheikh thought this was a curse against the god he believes in, and decided to go all ISIS on the man, with some reports indicating the victim’s heart was taken out of his rib cage in classic ISIS-style punishment for “blasphemy”.

What Else Did You Expect?

In a country that likes to think of itself as more secular and liberal than most of its Arab counterparts, Lebanon’s government, judiciary and security forces have been mimicking Saudi’s now toothless moral police.

Banning movies, books, songs and every type of art and culture the old men in black robes are scared of. That’s just the start of it though. In recent weeks, religious vigilante groups from all sects have demonstrated the hate, violence and repulsiveness of these fanatics, harbored and supported by the institutions your taxes pay for.

From the vicious lynch mob that attacked Charbel over a joke their fragile egos couldn’t take, to the closures of popular Beirut clubs at the behest of a small minority of angry extremists that also get easily offended and manipulated, the government is sending a strong signal that religious extremism and violence is fine, while speaking up against the government and its policies will land you in jail or under investigation in a heart beat.

Dozens of threats of rape and murder, even doxxing the address of one of the victims of the lynch mob, wasn’t enough for the infamous “Cybercrimes” Bureau and the district attorneys that order it around to take any action. But a lame joke about an infertile couple praying to a local saint, made the entire government go into overdrive to suddenly become a moral police, with a judge blessing this barbaric and backwards practice by “sentencing” the victims of the lynch mob to one month off Facebook.

A doctored video, released weeks after an incident at a club, made the Lebanese government shut down a Lebanese nightlife titan for weeks, over false claims, even when a judge ruled to only give them a verbal warning after their apology.

In both cases, the violent savages on religion’s side were never approached, investigated or summoned by the authorities. Only the defenseless taxpayers that happened to fall into the hateful hands of the religious extreme.

What else do you expect? When religious hateful people roam free, unchecked for their crimes and threats, how can you be surprised when they behead, and rip hearts out over a term most of us use every other day stuck in traffic?

Get Your Shit Together.

The violent ISIS-wannabes need to rot in jail for the rest of their lives. Anything less will mean that our government and security forces are siding with religious extremists over law-abiding citizens.

For a government that prides itself on defeating ISIS, they need to stop coddling and fostering religious extremism, and bring the purveyors of hate, ignorance and violence to justice, and protect and defend law-abiding citizens.

At a time when places like Saudi Arabia are pseudo-trying to become less barbaric and savage, Lebanon, the supposed beacon of tolerance and enlightenment, can’t slip into an ISIS-style vibe.

And for those that cast doubt on the ability of the government to crack down on hate speech and violent extremism, just look at what they do when you criticize one of our ministers or his father-in-law. They have the ability to, they just only abuse it against upstanding citizens, but when an extremist group threatens an LGBT event, the current minister of interior “can’t guarantee their safety”.

Disgusting.

#حلو_عن_ربنا

A Bittersweet Victory Over ISIS in Lebanon



ISIS surrendered. Lebanon’s Army secured a swift and decisive victory. Lebanese soil is free from the terror group, and for good. More than 50 of the terrorist fighters were killed in the battle, and six of our soldiers were martyred.

The bottom line is, Lebanon won, and the terrorists surrendered. However, the courage and decisiveness showed on the military side, were met with outright treason, spinelessness and cowardice on the political side.

ISIS murderers, the beheaders of our soldiers, the suicide vest makers that attacked our towns and cities, the hateful, barbaric terror group that occupied our land, now leave aboard air-conditioned buses, to serve a purpose that we as Lebanese can never comprehend. To make matters worse, our soldiers kidnapped by the terror group, have been dead since 2015, and were just a few kilometers from our fortified positions the whole time…

Terror Must Never Be Met With Impunity

No matter how powerful an army, when the justice system is weak and inept, peace and prosperity can never endure. If every time we get in a fight with terrorists, we end up releasing their most dangerous members from our jails, and allowing them safe passage with their weapons to another part of our region, we are losing.

How many terrorists have we seen granted immunity, released and driven in politicians’ cars so they can restart their career of murder of terror again? How many of those released, will come back to murder our fellow citizens? What excuse can there be for not serving justice on those that have attacked our very way of life, and everything we stand for and believe in? Those that threaten the values we hold dear, such as freedom, equality and tolerance?

The catastrophe started when the counter-offensive in 2014 was abruptly stopped, leaving the soldiers kidnapped by Nusra and ISIS at the mercy of their captors, just a few minutes’ drive from our forward operating bases. The political decision to stop that counter-offensive aimed at rescuing our soldiers, will forever haunt those that stood by, popping bottles of champagne in celebration, as our soldiers were being executed and tortured, with the rest of our forces ordered to stand down instead of finish their mission and end the occupation by terror groups long ago.

Lebanon must never negotiate with terrorists. By letting them kidnap our people, then succumbing to their demands to release their own, is the wrong message to send. What would stop these terrorists from doing it again, to release whatever’s left of their prisoners in Lebanese custody?

How can the people in command in this country look at the faces of the martyred sodliers’ families and loved ones, fellow soldiers and citizens, and explain to them after everything that could’ve been done, we settled for white caskets draped in Lebanese flags, in return for the freedom of the terrorists who put them in those caskets? All that, years after they had been executed, and we still had hope, despite all odds and the spineless handling of Lebanese authorities of this national catastrophe.

Adding Insult to Injury


Most people feel that the authorities knew about the soldiers’ fate, and yet did nothing about it till it was too late. Purposely misleading us, till the time was right for their political calculations, using the offensive as a cloak for more sinister plans they had prepared that will damage Lebanon and the Lebanese just as much if not more than ISIS and its likes.

We got a day of mourning for a Saudi monarch, but 9 of our soldiers, abandoned by our leaders, left to die a horrible death at the hands of terrorists, didn’t even get a second glance from our politicians. I guess those martyred soldiers don’t fill the politicians’ bottomless pockets the same way old Saudi monarchs do (who cut aid they promised to our military for petty reasons, yet still get a day of mourning for some reason)…

Can the politicians in this country sink any lower? Forcing irrational taxes down our throat, using an illegitimate parliament, during the daze of battle, wasn’t enough for them it seems. They also had to insult the memory of our fallen soldiers, and insult the intelligence of their families, and us, the taxpayers who pay those politicians’ salaries.

Why Hezbollah is OK with this

What I still don’t get, is how Hezbollah is ok with this. After making the battle of Ras Baalbek and El Qaa harder for our army, they were the orchestrators of this second withdrawal of the terrorists into Northeastern Syria. The terrorists fled over the border, to where HA is operating alongside the Syrian Army, and they OK-ed their withdrawal, humiliating as it was, to go and fight another day, instead of being killed in battle, or brought to justice in court.

Does HA still have use for them for another time? To utilize the excuse of fighting them for different ambitions later down the road? Who knows, and most of that is just speculation, but I still can’t wrap my head around why HA would be ok with this, and create a status quo on the ground that would make Lebanese authorities also go along with this horrific slap in the face, of letting our occupiers, killers of our citizens and soldiers, go free, and even get them buses to safely escort them to safety… They should see their day in court, and serve the sentences handed down to them and spend the rest of their days in jail, not go on to fight another day, risking all of our safeties and futures.

We’re Sorry

To the families of the soldiers, we’re sorry this happened to you. I cannot imagine how worse your pain must be, losing your sons because of the treasonous behavior of our illegitimated leaders, who know let their killers walk free.

The elections are coming, and each and every one who helped create this situation, will be sent home for this. Let them dare extend a fourth time. The rage is now almost uncontrollable, and with their savage tax hike, pretty soon, most of us will have nothing left to lose and the proverbial camel’s back will finally crack, and all hell will break loose…

To the martyrs of this battle, and our kidnapped martyrs, you will always be in our country’s memory, and we are all forever indebted for your sacrifice. The least we can do, is make sure it was worth it, and everyone who conspired or let you down for their own personal politics, needs to pay, sooner or later.


Everything You Should Know About the Upcoming LAF Battle Against ISIS


One thing that has always bothered me about the coverage of the war against ISIS, is how little Lebanon’s role in fighting the extremist group has been covered.

The First Army to Beat ISIS in a Battle (2014)

The Lebanese Army is the first ever organized army to beat ISIS in a battle. Our men did what most other armies in the region could not: they beat back ISIS in 2014, from a massive assault in the hinterlands of Aarsal. Our LAF did what the Syrian, Iraqi and Turkish army couldn’t at first. They bounced back two huge ISIS offensives, albeit at a heavy cost, with 9 of our soldiers still in custody of the extremist group more than 3 years later…

As the battle for Mosul wrapped up, and everyone is closing in on Raqqa, Ras Baalbek and El Qaa are another large, significant swath of land still controlled by ISIS in the region. Unfortunately, very little coverage is being allocated to this instrumental battle, and in this humble blog post, I will try to set the scene and explain why this is such a crucial battle, and why our army will win it.

The Situation in Ras Baalbek and El Qaa Right Now, After the Aarsal Battle

The quick and decisive end of the Aarsal battle meant a lot of things for this upcoming one. First, it showed that the militants who have spent years digging in, can be ejected out, and that negotiations for their retreat deeper into Syria is on the table.

Even though most of the glory went to Hezbollah fighters, the LAF’s role was a much tougher, trickier and bigger operation. As Hezbollah fighters assailed the Nusra bases, the LAF was tasked with the difficult duty of guarding Lebanon against a counter-offensive, as well as protecting the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in informal, tented settlements. That’s securing a major Lebanese town, many kilometers of the Lebanese border, as well as tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in two major camps outside the jurisdiction of the UNHCR and other INGOs.

On one hand, this sent a message to extremist militants: that we are coming for you, and that Lebanon is not like Syria and Iraq, and will resist and repel any attempts to breach our borders and sovereignty. However, it was also a wake-up call to ISIS, who after seeing how quickly their fellow extremists were ejected, humiliated and sent packing, are undoubtedly fortifying their positions, in the exponentially large area they currently occupy.

In other words, Hezbollah fighters had the advantage of a semi-surprise attack. Our soldiers do not have that advantage this time around, and given ISIS’s history, a negotiation that would see them leave Lebanese territory is unlikely.

Right now, the LAF has more than 10,000 troops stationed in the Ras Baalbek and El Qaa area, with more reinforcements coming in every day. The towns in the area have installed sirens, that alert residents of incoming missiles or shells, so they can seek shelter quickly. In other words, while you go about your daily lives unbothered by the prospect of a vicious battle, our fellow citizens and soldiers in the Northern and Eastern Bekaa are in full battle mode, getting ready to eradicate what’s left of ISIS on our borders, and the probably cowardly revenge attacks the extremist group will launch in retaliation.

How The Battle Will Be Won


Since 2013, a series of 30 towers and forward operating bases have been erected from Akkar’s Wadi Khaled, all the way down to Aarsal, with more next to Jabal El Sheikh (Mount Hermon) in the South. It was one of these forward operating bases and towers that repelled the second wave in the 2014 Aarsal attack, the one headed towards the Bekaa, with plans to get to Beirut. Another tower and FOB along the Northern border led the shelling from the Syrian side to stop. In short, the LAF tactic of spreading towers and bases along the border, was already having helpful results and proved invaluable in battles with militants from the Syrian side.


This is just an example of the military aid and training that has been provided to the LAF by countries like the UK and the US. In writing this post, I used images and numbers from the British Embassy in Beirut’s twitter account. And chose to give the towers and FOB example to illustrate how the military strategy and readiness of the LAF has been amazing and extremely effective.

We now have very well-guarded northern and eastern borders, extremely well-trained soldiers, immense popular support and an unshakable resolve to defeat and eject every last extremist fighter from Lebanese soil.

What’s So Important About This Battle

LAF Soldiers in El Qaa

This is an historic battle. This battle will be remembered for decades and centuries ahead. This battle is all of Lebanon, with all its factions, sects and agendas, against a common enemy that threatens the way we live and what we live for. This is all of Lebanon, not just factions, coming together for once, in a show of force and solidarity that will make our country safer, and every centimeter of its 10452 square kilometers back under Lebanese control.

If there is one thing I would like to say, it’s that despite being grateful to countries that have helped fund, equip and train our LAF, I feel that Lebanon deserves even more support. The victories the LAF has accomplished against ISIS and other extremist groups, are victories that are getting the entire world closer to defeating ISIS. They’ve kept Lebanon safe, as well as more than a million Syrian refugees, since 2011. The support for the LAF fighting terrorism must continue, and expand. A capable army in Lebanon means a more unified Lebanon, one where single factions never decide the fate of everyone else, but all of Lebanon’s factions decide together.

I will leave you with this photo of the LAF shelling ISIS targets earlier today (August 9, 2017). Good luck to our Lebanese Army, our hearts and minds are with each and every one of you. Get back home safe ❤


Pictures used are from the accounts of the Lebanese Army, The UK Embassy and the US Embassy in Beirut.

Lebanon Makes WEF’s Top 20 Most Dangerous Countries


Lebanese people are usually ecstatic when the country makes it to a “Top Whatever” list. This time though, it’s a little less flattering. The World Economic Forum ranks 136 countries based on how safe they are for tourists. Lebanon was number 12 out of the top 20 most dangerous ones. The criteria are violence and terrorism, not petty crime.

Now, I know most of you will get furious and start coming up with conspiracies that this is to ruin the tourism season in Lebanon, but this list could be a nice wake up call to many of us suffering from the bubble syndrome of thinking skiing and swimming in the same day makes us the best country in the world.

Name One Road Rage Murderer in Jail

Just this week, a 24-year-old man called Roy Hammoush was gunned down because of a minor traffic incident. No leads so far. Remember that poor father who was stabbed, repeatedly, to death in Gemmayzeh and it was caught on camera? He’s still not sentenced… Does a week pass by without us hearing of someone being killed by a stray bullet or absurd traffic disputes or family feuds?

Sure, murders happen everywhere in the world, but the difference is, in other places, at least most or some of the murderers are sent to jail. Here, they roam free, while kids smoking pot are entrapped and jailed for absolutely no good reason when a non-violent, victimless “crime” is all they did.

Safety is for the Rich and Powerful

After a bombing, you see security step up in Lebanon. Usually, that means closing down or fortifying the street or neighborhood where a minister or public official lives. The rest of us just hope for the best and that the crazy cowards don’t choose the place we’re at to get their virgins from.

More resources are spent illegally breaking into phones and calling up everyone to come and pee in a cup, than following leads for possible terrorists plot in Lebanon.

Foreigners Get Arrested and Deported for a Joint

According to the Hobeich Precinct drug bureau, more than 60 foreigners are arrested for drug use every year, over 67% of which for hashish or pot. Foreigners means non-Arabs, since Arabs and Lebanese are grouped together in their stats. So, more than 50 tourists a year get arrested and have to go through our Dark Ages justice system and are often deported, for smoking a joint. That’s definitely not a country that’s safe for tourists.

Political Unrest and Fabricated Charges

When the people went to the streets to protest, the illegitimate government used forced urine tests to trump up charges to target activists. What does protesting have to do with drug enforcement? Why force protesters arrested, including minors, to pay for illegal pee tests cause you couldn’t charge them for sharing their frustrations peacefully in the street, while faced with a savage attack by security forces that included expired tear gas canisters and bombs, rubber bullets, live rounds in the air, water cannons, and that shameful wall they put up, then down, then up again.

In a country where the government fabricates charges against protesters, and still jails people for writing a status about a president, yet does nothing to guarantee the safety of its citizens from violence and terrorism, this country is not safe.

So

Sure, Lebanon might not be as bad as Yemen, Venezuela and El Salvador, but those countries are going through much more serious shit and catastrophes than we are. Bottom line is, if you’re going somewhere with friends, and a douchebag with tinted windows hits your car, there’s a very good chance you’ll end up in the morgue later, and a very little chance they will go to jail.

How many people have been shot while out on the night? On their balcony having a smoke? At an intersection in the capital? How many of those murderers were caught, and from the ones that were, how many are sentenced or behind bars? The answer is, not nearly enough.

If you think I’m exaggerating, imagine the worst happens to you, like an abusive husband beating his wife to death. Would you immediately call the cops? No, you’d consider your options, and think if calling them will actually help, or hurt the victim who often is told at police stations to “suck it up” and “go back to your husband” so that he can eventually kill her like so many innocent mothers, and to add insult to injury, gets custody of the abused and traumatized kids.

So, yeah, it’s not as safe as most of us like to think it is, and the big part of that blame lies on the government, busy wasting our taxes prosecuting status-posters, protesters and college kids smoking pot, instead of organized crime, terrorists and murderers.

Link to article in Business Insider

On the Istanbul Attack and the Fallout in Lebanon


It took me a while to get updated with what was happening in the La Reina nightclub on the Bosphorous in Istanbul. It undoubtedly put a huge damper on what was a safe and secure NYE in Beirut, that saw all of its clubs packed with revellers celebrating the new year.

There are several things that made me cringe, not least of which was the media and politicians’ reaction in the aftermath. However, the reaction on some social media channels ways also very painful to read and says a lot of the state of the world and in Lebanon in 2017.

Media Failing

Lebanon has a lot of experience when it comes to covering tragedies and massacres and terrorist attacks. When you have TV stations like MTV that consistently fabricate stories from “satanic worshipping” and “digital drugs” and accept paid content like a new chicken sandwich place opening as a feature on their evening news, what else would you expect from them?

When they still host a tortured gypsy or whatever Michel Hayek is, and do a multi-hour “news” show to try and explain how his “predictions” from the past came true, what else would you expect? When one of their main popular shows is about ISF operations against “criminals”, when none of these cases has been to court yet, and they always focus on crimes done by non-Lebanese and non-Christian suspects, what do you expect? Fair and balanced news? Reporters that are “news” reporters, are more like tabloid trash, clickbait adventurers taking a dump on whatever humanity that might reside under all the polished, fake exterior of their “news”.

Then, on the opposite side of the fabricated news spectrum, you have Al Manar. One of their “journalist”, Hasan Hamzeh, tweeted gleefully that “Isntanbul is paying the price it deserves/owes”. MTV and Al Manar are basically the exact same level when it comes to integrity. One of them caters to extremist shiite fundamentalists, the other panders to extremist christian ones. It truly is like two opposite sides of the shit news services, with whatever credibility left in Lebanon’s mediascape lying somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.

This applies to several other media outlets in Lebanon, but as usual, MTV outdid them all last night in their ever-declining level of professionalism (assuming they ever had any).

Martyrs or Not?

Another thing that bothered me was how several pro-Hezbollah accounts where sharing videos and photos of their fighters killed in Syria, with captions like, “how do you like that, my friend Hussein, nightclub victims are now called ‘martyrs’” (example).

One thing such disgusting religious vitriol shows is how identical both sides of the extremist religious struggle are. If pro-Hezbollah folks are sworn enemies, fighting to the death against the ISIS fighters who carry out such attacks, then this should be a straightforward condemnation of a barbaric act against unarmed civilians. Instead, they question the “righteousness” of the victims’ deaths because they are at a nightclub, and dare I say of a different sect, which makes their lives, and deaths, mean less to such people. Which begs the question, how is that attitude any different from that of ISIS folks? Or Saudi Arabia’s, who’s ashamed that its citizens would party, and won’t release the names of its killed citizens.

If anything, it shows how religious conservatives are two sides of the same, hateful, violent and intolerant coin.

As for my personal opinion, I don’t like the word martyr because it has such a religiously-charged connotation. Also, when you are murdered in cold blood, when not even aware of it, I don’t get how you are a martyr for a cause. You’re a victim, and your killer and his ideology and backers need to fucking pay for it. “Martyr” is a word Lebanese politicians throw around to remove the guilt of them not doing anything to solve a crime or murder: “Khallas, he/she is a martyr with god now, you should be proud and glad” and case closed. No, not case closed. Find the son of a bitch who did this, and put him behind bars and do the jobs that our taxes pay for.

ISIS Cowards Hate Clubs

When ISIS targets clubs around the world, it tells you a lot about what a club represents to them, and what it should to us. Aside from the alcohol being served, the entire idea of a nightclub or party is like cancer to ISIS and co. It’s a place where folks are happy, no one wants to decapitate or crucify another person, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a guy, girl, gay, straight, white or black. Whether you like it or not, places like Bataclan and La Reina are now symbols of hope and resilience to the hatred and violence of religious extremism.

To this effect, I hope police forces and governments stop bullying clubs and club-goers over a joint of weed, and focus on protecting them from religious fundamentalists hopped up on god knows what drugs. After all, whether it’s in London, Beirut, or Istanbul, governments and their sympathetic religious conservatives always push back against clubs and the open and liberal culture that surrounds them. A kind of culture we are in need of most these days, with ISIS, Trump and Brexit threatening to make intolerance the new norm around the world.

Fuck Da3esh.