May 11, 2008
Hezbollah Vincible After All?
Most of the fighting in the Chouf appears to have died down, and I was able to talk to my friend in Aley as he returned from the front. I had been seeing this as another big setback for March 14 - and specifically the PSP - but he had a very different take. The post below is largely his version of events, with an editorial aside here and there from me. I'm not in a position to confirm any of it, but I consider him trustworthy. (The quotes are paraphrased from my notes, and I've cleaned the language up a little; he was pretty pumped on adrenaline when we spoke.)
"They [Hezbollah] got their asses kicked," was how he put it.
"Rami" described today as a major victory for the Druze of Aley, as they successfully fought Hezbollah to a standstill in the Chouf and handed over control to the Lebanese army instead.
Where I expected bitterness or resignation, Rami was ecstatic that the PSP were able to hand over their positions to Talal Arslan's people and the army. I asked him about the relations between Jumblatt's people and Arslan's - Arslan is generally with the opposition - but he said, "Politics is one thing. The leaders, they argue and fight about politics but we won't fight each other in the street. No Druze will fight other Druze."
I think that's an exaggeration, but he seemed unperturbed about the idea of Arslan's people being involved.
To back up for a second, the way Rami described it, folks in Aley woke up today expecting that the fighting was done, that the government's capitulation last night meant a deal had been made and it was back to the table. They were shocked when the attacks started, and even now he has no idea what the motivations and strategy were.
When the attacks started, the people of Aley responded, despite calls from PSP heads - and Jumblatt himself - to stand down. Rami said it was largely normal people such as himself, a school teacher, who were doing the fighting, with a few PSP commanders disobeying orders to help out. "Normal people" is a bit of a misnomer when you're talking about the Druze and fighting, of course. They're stereotyped as a pretty bad ass bunch; just about the last group you'd want to pick a fight with if you could help it.
"I learned things today about my community - I had no idea. They fought with anything. I saw old guys, Sheikhs, with World War II guns. Guns I'd never seen. And we had no ammunition. We were taking their weapons! They'd be fighting and they would run. Throw down their weapons and run."
"I've got a new gun, now. Thank you, Iran!" He claimed 25 Hezbollah dead, and 6 Druze. I have no way of confirming that, and it's certainly not been factored into the official body count yet, but there you go.
"The PSP commanders are probably going to get in trouble. I don't care. They're not - those @(*#&$( - they're not going to come into our towns and get greeted with flowers."
Rami said of Jumblatt, "He's not talking out of both sides of his mouth. They were telling us not to fight. He's afraid of a new civil war, but we're still going to defend our community."
He was adamant that his opponents had been Hezbollah, and not a proxy group like the SSNP or Amal. I'm not sure he's correct about that - Hezbollah has a reputation for not, well, downing weapons and running. And it's not easy to identify who exactly you're fighting without more standardization of uniforms. So I'm not entirely sure what to make of all that. But there you go - a different take, fresh in from the front.
Posted by ben at May 11, 2008 04:25 PM