Rogue Lebanese Hezbollah branch begins "cleansing" Southern Lebanon

[Buehre]

I have a friend that works border patrol in Israel. Reportedly, a large number of Lebanese civilians made it to the border. Israeli troops were informed that a few squads of Hezbollah had gone rogue and started "Cleansing" the southern part of Lebanon of Christians. Just moments ago, The main body of Hezbollah reportedly has reigned in the rogues.

[Peter1469]

There is also talk of Hamas and Hezbollah getting close to fighting each other. That may take pressure off Israel, but make the northern boarder hotter for a while.

The Sunni / Shia civil war in Syria is spreading.

[Ransom]

The Sunni / Shia civil war in Syria is spreading.

I reckon even regional powers with even more limited options couldn't prevent it from doing so. Let me know when it reaches national security interest levels as far as the Us is concerned.

[Peter1469]

The US doesn't have any interest getting in a Sunni Shia civil war. We will likely benefit from them distracting each other.

[Buehre]

I reckon even regional powers with even more limited options couldn't prevent it from doing so. Let me know when it reaches national security interest levels as far as the Us is concerned.

It may not be of American security interests, as Israel can keep the war from spreading into Israel. But some of us actually care for the well being of other people, American, British, French or Israeli intervention would be good. It would save countless lives in the world.
The difference between Liberals and Conservatives is that Liberals pretend to be the people's friend. Conservatives actually care for people, not only in their country, but abroad as well.

[Buehre]

Also, I'm not saying we should conduct military action in this scenario, I am just saying that it would reduce bloodshed. Or we could just send supplies...

[Ransom]

Israeli "intervention" would be good?

[Buehre]

Well, only under certain circumstances. Israel can deal with most threats swiftly in the area.

[waltky]

Mebbe Obama gave `em to `em... Hezbollah has US armored personnel carriers. But how did they get them? November 16,`16 - Over the weekend images surfaced online of a Hezbollah parade in Qusair, Syria, featuring U.S. armored personnel carriers affixed with antiaircraft guns.
The images prompted a flurry of speculation about the vehicles’ origin and whether the group had pilfered the stocks of the U.S.-supplied Lebanese military. The armored personnel carrier, known as the M113, is one of the United States’ most ubiquitous armored vehicles and has been in service since the 1960s. The tracked semi-rhombus-shaped vehicle comes in numerous variants and can be outfitted to carry troops and artillery; its chassis was even used as the basis for a nuclear-missile carrier. It has appeared in every major U.S. conflict since the Vietnam War and is used by U.S. police departments and dozens of others countries’ militaries around the world. As a prominent political and military entity in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s possession of the vehicles could support the theory floated by the defense analyst Tobias Schneider, who tweeted that the personnel carriers were probably taken from the Lebanese Armed Forces, a major recipient of U.S. military aid. Over the summer, the Lebanese military took possession of dozens of pieces of artillery, armored vehicles, semiautomatic grenade launchers and 1,000 tons of ammunition — all worth about $50 million — as part of the United States’ ongoing efforts to bolster the country’s capacity to fight extremists. The shipment, overseen by the Pentagon and the State Department, brought the amount of U.S. military aid sent to Lebanon in 2016 to $221 million, according to U.S. Ambassador Elizabeth H. Richard. While Lebanese smugglers have helped move weapons and ammunition to opposition groups in Syria, cases of Lebanese military equipment appearing in the conflict have been rare. In a tweet, the Lebanese military denied that the M113s were taken from its stocks, a claim backed up by a State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the issue. “The Lebanese military has publicly stated that the M113s depicted online were never part of their equipment roster,” the official said. “Our initial assessment concurs: The M113s allegedly in Hezbollah’s possession in Syria are unlikely to have come from the Lebanese military. We are working closely with our colleagues in the Pentagon and in the Intelligence Community on to resolve this issue.”
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2016/11/2369810-1024x464.jpg&w=480 Jordanian Armed Forces M113 armored personnel carriers attack a simulated invasion force during a mission readiness exercise at the JAF’s Joint Training Center After comparing the “structual analysis of the vehicles in the picture,” Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood said that the Pentagon had ruled out the possiblity of Hezbollah taking the M113s from the Lebanese Armed Forces. Closely aligned with Iran and Syria, Hezbollah has been fighting alongside Syrian government troops since the beginning of the conflict. The Hezbollah M113s appear to be an older variant, and U.S. officials said they are inclined to believe that vehicles came from the disintegration of the Southern Lebanese Army, or SLA. The SLA was an Israeli-allied and supplied Christian militia that fought during the Lebanese civil war. Its military equipment was ultimately absorbed by Hezbollah in the early 2000s when Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon. In 1985, Israel supplied 20 M113s to the SLA, according to arms transfer data provided by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. From 1984 to 1996, Israel provided more than 130 armored vehicles, tanks and artillery pieces to the SLA, according to the data. Another possibility, as pointed out by Schneider in subsequent tweets, is that Hezbollah took them from Syria’s recently renamed al-Qaeda affiliate, formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra. It is unclear where al-Nusra got its M113s. U.S. equipment falling into the hands of extremist groups and regional opponents has been a recurring theme in the Middle East and southwest Asia for the past 15 years as American wares have been distributed wholesale to those willing to fight for U.S. causes. Armored vehicles, weapons, night-vision devices and body armor have been diverted from places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, subsequently showing up on battlefields throughout the region. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/11/16/hezbollah-has-u-s-armored-personnel-carriers-but-how-did-they-get-them/

[waltky]

Hezbollah muckin' things up in Lebanon...
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/images/smilies/mad.gif
Hezbollah at the center of Lebanon’s current crisis
November 13,`17 — The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah is at the center of the recent crisis that has gripped Lebanon and rattled a region already rife with conflict.


When Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri declared his resignation in a surprise announcement from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, he blamed Hezbollah for imposing itself on the country and doing the bidding of its main backer, Iran, in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region. The one-time local Shiite guerrilla army that rallied Lebanon’s Shiites and battled Israel — even earning admiration from the region’s Sunnis— has turned into a powerful, well-armed group caught up in the Iran-Saudi rivalry that is shaping the Middle East. Saudi Arabia singled Hezbollah out, accusing it of declaring war on the kingdom, just as the U.S. ratcheted up its pressure on Iran and imposed new sanctions on Hezbollah, which it considers a terrorist group. Here is a look at the 35-year old militant group, its sources of power and regional role.

BEGINNINGS and LEADERS

Hezbollah was formed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in 1982 to fight Israel’s invasion of Beirut. Under the leadership of Hassan Nasrallah, who took over in 1992 after his predecessor, Abbas Mussawi, was killed in an Israeli airstrike, the group moved from seeking to implement an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon to focusing on fighting Israel and integration into Lebanon’s sectarian-based politics. Nasrallah, now 57, has played a key role in ending a feud among Shiites, focusing attention toward fighting Israel and later expanding the group’s regional reach.


https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/Wires/Online/2017-11-13/AP/Images/Lebanon_Hezbollah_90133.jpg-fe054.jpg?uuid=La2CeMi5Eee1BooQ7RHs9Q
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, center, escorted by his bodyguards, waves to a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters during a rally denouncing an anti-Islam film that has provoked a week of unrest in Muslim countries worldwide, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon. Nasrallah, who took over the militant group in 1992, has focused on integration into Lebanon’s sectarian-based politics, fighting Israel and expanding the group’s regional reach.

WARS WITH ISRAEL

Hezbollah became the main militant group opposing Israel and the buffer zone it established in southern Lebanon in 1985. In 1996, Israel launched an offensive to end the guerrilla attacks, striking Lebanese power stations and killing more than 100 Lebanese civilians sheltering in a U.N. base. A year later, 12 Israeli soldiers were killed in a commando raid in the south. Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 was hailed as a victory for Hezbollah. In the same year, Hezbollah captured three Israeli soldiers and a businessman in cross border raids, and later negotiated a swap in 2004, releasing hundreds of prisoners and fighters. Then in 2006, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, sparking a 34-day war that killed 159 Israelis and more than 1,000 Lebanese. A U.N.-brokered cease-fire brought thousands of international peacekeeping troops to police the Israeli-Lebanese border.

HEZBOLLAH AT HOME

Hezbollah’s popularity at home didn’t only stem from its opposition to Israel. With a weak Lebanese state, the Iranian-sponsored group, like most other sects, provided a vast array of social services for its supporters, through education, health and social networks. But as the militant group sought more executive and legislative powers following Israel’s 2000 withdrawal, it worked to funnel some of its support through state institutions to reach the broader public. Another turning point came in 2008, when heavily armed Hezbollah fighters seized control of vast parts of Beirut, flexing its power domestically for the first time. The show of force followed attempts by Lebanon’s Western-backed government to curb the militants’ influence by dismantling its telecommunication network. Hezbollah has been the most powerful player in Lebanon’s politics ever since. Saudi Arabia and Iran, which backed opposite sides inside Lebanon, ended a two-year deadlock over electing a president by tacitly approving a power-sharing deal that effectively enshrined Hezbollah’s new powerful role. With that, Hariri, a Sunni, headed a unity government and Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, became president.

REGIONAL FOOTPRINT (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/hezbollah-at-the-center-of-lebanons-current-crisis/2017/11/13/2f436e7c-c8b9-11e7-b506-8a10ed11ecf5_story.html?utm_term=.edc17b1fee1c)