Lebanon’s socio-economic and political collapse under the tutelage of its President Michel Aoun has become the center of attention for many in the West. The Beirut blast was a wake-up call for the United States and France to fully grasp how Hezbollah has managed, through its incompetence and corruption, to literally destroy a country. With all eyes on Lebanon, Hezbollah enters a new stage of accountability, which is foreign territory for the terror group.
Will the next round of U.S. sanctions impact present or previous political operatives of the Free Patriotic Movement? Possibly. Unless Aoun, whose loyalty is to Aoun only, is spying on Hezbollah for the West. To save his own skin.
LOOSEN HEZBOLLAH’S GRIP
So much of Hezbollah’s illicit and behind-the-scenes activities go unnoticed by the public at large. The Lebanese know how corrupt their politicians are, but they are clueless about how Hezbollah drives and feeds that corruption. In yesterday’s U.S. sanctions of ex-ministers Ali Hassan Khalil and Yusuf Finyanus, the US has embarked on an educational voyage, using the intelligence it has gathered, to inform the Lebanese people.
By publishing the details about the two corrupt ex-ministers that drove the U.S. decision to sanction them, it bought itself a very important podium. One with the capacity to turn every disgruntled and angry Lebanese against the terror organization.
Indirectly, it also risks to turn the Lebanese against Hezbollah’s allies starting with the Amal Movement of Nabih Berri. Will the next round of U.S. sanctions impact present or previous political operatives of the Free Patriotic Movement? Possibly. Unless Aoun, whose loyalty is to Aoun only, is spying on Hezbollah for the West. To save his own skin.
Because of close relationships with the Christian Maronite community of Lebanon, it would not surprise us if France and the US are cooperating on the intelligence needed to expose the corrupt like Finyanus and Khalil
FRANCE IS DRAINING THE SWAMP
Lebanese warlords who survived the civil war are the most corrupt politicians Lebanon ever experienced as an independent nation. They pilfer, steal, and rob at will. From using the government as their own ATM machine to securing largely-inflated government contracts, the miscreants running the country today have managed to hold Lebanon hostage with over $160 billion in debt.
After the blast, France saw fit to drain the swamp while involving State assets to pressure those in power today. One of those assets is Bernard Emie, France’s master spy. Because of close relationships with the Christian Maronite community of Lebanon, it would not surprise us if France and the US are cooperating on the intelligence needed to expose the corrupt like Finyanus and Khalil.
Let us not forget that France’s intelligence services reign supreme in Lebanon. Emie himself served as the Ambassador to France between 2004 and 2007.
Hezbollah, as an Iranian entity, suddenly finds itself under the microscope because it cannot escape its Lebanese identity
HEZBOLLAH ENTERS A NEW STAGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY
The terror organization Hezbollah, as an Iranian entity, suddenly finds itself under the microscope because it cannot escape its Lebanese identity. Something that is totally strange to its leadership. Its reaction, so far, has been slow coming as it grapples with the new realities. No one, before the Beirut blast, held Hezbollah accountable for any of its actions or activities.
But suddenly its Lebanese identity is forcing it to come to terms with two new masters intent on highlighting its corruption, which clearly shows that the terror group empowers Iranian interests, not Lebanon’s.
We estimate that the next round of U.S. sanctions on other Hezbollah-affiliated politicians will divulge even more damaging information. Think of it as the crescendo of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.
The information get more intense and more revealing with every sanction, and the politicians allied with Hezbollah are more important and more visible.
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