Hezbullah, Lebanese army battling ISIS from entering Lebanon

[calgaryblood]

Over the last week Hezbullah and the Lebanese army have unofficially joined together to fight a commen enemy: ISIS.

This is really unprecedented as they have not worked together before. Again, both sides deny they are working together but it wasn't a coincidence they both attacked at the same time from opposite sides.

Hezbullah is also protecting a Christian town from being taken over by ISIS.

Here is an old article but relevant now as tensions have flared up and they're protecting the same town now as well.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer...k-by-isis.html

Asked why Hezbollah took such pains to protect a Christian town, Abdullah shrugs. “Christians have a holy book just like us,” he replies. “They’re people just like us. They’re Lebanese, so we protect them.”


It’s a role most Americans wouldn’t associate with Hezbollah, which remains on the U.S. State Department’s terrorism list as a result of bombings and kidnappings of U.S. citizens associated with it during the Lebanese Civil War. But to the people of Ras Baalbek, Hezbollah is their only hope of holding on to the life and village they’ve always known. A man who owns a small grocery store in the middle of town says he did what he could to assist Hezbollah as they battled ISIS in the hills outside the village.

“If it weren’t for Hezbollah, you would be seeing daesh playing in our village right now,” he explains as he pours a glass of lemonade. “We’ve never seen anything bad from Hezbollah — the army can’t defend this whole area. If daesh comes, God forbid, we know what will happen to us. We saw what they did to the Christians in Syria and Iraq. That’s why we’re on alert, thanks be to God and to Hezbollah, who are protecting us. I have an injury from the war, so I can’t walk very well, but I helped them fill their guns with bullets.”

[undercoverbrother]

Asked why Hezbollah took such pains to protect a Christian town, Abdullah shrugs. “Christians have a holy book just like us,” he replies. “They’re people just like us. They’re Lebanese, so we protect them.”

This is nice to read.


I struggle to wrap my head around the concept of a none government military rolling around your country.

IIRC there are more than one militia in Lebanon, correct?

Hopefully, they kill every last POS ISIS individual they see.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

This is nice to read.


I struggle to wrap my head around the concept of a none government military rolling around your country.

IIRC there are more than one militia in Lebanon, correct?

Hopefully, they kill every last POS ISIS individual they see.

I'm currently here and they aren't mobile, they stay in their strongholds and control their territory unless they've got "business" somewhere else.

They make their own checkpoints in their territory and I actually drove past one a few hours ago. They don't hassle you or question you whatsoever unless you look very suspicious. They always need to be wary of suicide bombers.

Lebanese army still controls the country but Hezbullah is too powerful to control since they're backed by Iran. Also the Lebanese army can't openly work with Hezbullah because the U.S would cut their military funding. But the U.S knows they need Hezbullah right now so they're turning a blind eye.

When the battle started about a week ago they would question people more often but since they've pretty much destroyed ISIS in the past week it has eased up again. ISIS likely still has small hidden cells in Lebanon but they are pretty much non existent because of the mission this past week. They got trapped from all sides and had no where to run.

[blankall]

Hezbollah already has thousands of troops in Syria fighting ISIS. They also hold about 10% of the seats in the Lebanese parliament. Is this kind of cooperation really all that "unprecedented"? Seems like a the natural result of ISIS spilling out into Lebanon.

From what I'm reading, this also doesn't seem like your classic military defeat. It's sounds like a 3-way truce, where ISIS is agreeing to move back into Syria, and Hezbollah is agreeing not to attack ISIS anymore in Syria:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/0...042420298.html

[calgaryblood]

Lebanon is a democracy with elections. If the people elect someone from Hezbullah it doesn't mean the Lebanese army is working with Hezbullah.

And it wasn't a "truce", ISIS got destroyed and had no chance. They were in a small area and being attacked from all sides, on the ground and from the air. They had no chance.

Only reason they agreed to stop killing them was so they can give up the location of the 9 Lebanese soldiers who were kidnapped in 2013 in exchange for letting the ones that survived back into Syria.

8 of the 9 Lebanese soldiers were found dead.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Lebanon is a democracy with elections. If the people elect someone from Hezbullah it doesn't mean the Lebanese army is working with Hezbullah.

And it wasn't a "truce", ISIS got destroyed and had no chance. They were in a small area and being attacked from all sides, on the ground and from the air. They had no chance.

Only reason they agreed to stop killing them was so they can give up the location of the 9 Lebanese soldiers who were kidnapped in 2013 in exchange for letting the ones that survived back into Syria.

8 of the 9 Lebanese soldiers were found dead.

I wasn't insinuating that the Lebanese government is typically on the same side as Hezbollah, just that communication between the two is regular and that there are likely all sorts of deals worked out between the two.

There's also conflicting reports about how successful Hezbollah/Lebanon had been against ISIS. The same way we have been constantly hearing from Russia, for several years now, that the ISIS threat is over. If it's true that Lebanon has allowed safe passage of ISIS troops back into Syria and Hezbollah has agreed to stop attacking ISIS in Syria, that's a very large concession. It looks like Lebanon also agreed to allow the release of ISIS soldiers in custody in exchange for the Lebanese soldiers:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/w...a.html?mcubz=3

[OMG!WTF!]

Pretty cool to hear from someone who is there. Any more info/stories would be cool. I work with an art gallery in Beruit. They send little doses of reality once and a while too.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

I'm currently here and they aren't mobile, they stay in their strongholds and control their territory unless they've got "business" somewhere else.

They make their own checkpoints in their territory and I actually drove past one a few hours ago. They don't hassle you or question you whatsoever unless you look very suspicious. They always need to be wary of suicide bombers.

Lebanese army still controls the country but Hezbullah is too powerful to control since they're backed by Iran. Also the Lebanese army can't openly work with Hezbullah because the U.S would cut their military funding. But the U.S knows they need Hezbullah right now so they're turning a blind eye.

When the battle started about a week ago they would question people more often but since they've pretty much destroyed ISIS in the past week it has eased up again. ISIS likely still has small hidden cells in Lebanon but they are pretty much non existent because of the mission this past week. They got trapped from all sides and had no where to run.

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Lebanon is a democracy with elections. If the people elect someone from Hezbullah it doesn't mean the Lebanese army is working with Hezbullah.

And it wasn't a "truce", ISIS got destroyed and had no chance. They were in a small area and being attacked from all sides, on the ground and from the air. They had no chance.

Only reason they agreed to stop killing them was so they can give up the location of the 9 Lebanese soldiers who were kidnapped in 2013 in exchange for letting the ones that survived back into Syria.

8 of the 9 Lebanese soldiers were found dead.

Some of what you put in these two posts is so foreign to me.

A non-government force, in strongholds, that are too powerful for the nation's military to control.

It highlights how lucky we are, and that isn't a slight against Lebanon.

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by blankall

I wasn't insinuating that the Lebanese government is typically on the same side as Hezbollah, just that communication between the two is regular and that there are likely all sorts of deals worked out between the two.

There's also conflicting reports about how successful Hezbollah/Lebanon had been against ISIS. The same way we have been constantly hearing from Russia, for several years now, that the ISIS threat is over. If it's true that Lebanon has allowed safe passage of ISIS troops back into Syria and Hezbollah has agreed to stop attacking ISIS in Syria, that's a very large concession. It looks like Lebanon also agreed to allow the release of ISIS soldiers in custody in exchange for the Lebanese soldiers:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/w...a.html?mcubz=3

Only conflicting if you're getting your news from News sites that don't know what they're talking about. I'm talking to actual soldiers here and they've destroyed ISIS.

Even in the link you posted it says this is the first time ISIS has negotiated a deal and gave up territory they held. They always go out fighting but they knew they were trapped and had no way out.

Also, Hezbullah has not agreed to stop fighting ISIS in Syria, don't know where you got that from.

[SebC]

That doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Only conflicting if you're getting your news from News sites that don't know what they're talking about. I'm talking to actual soldiers here and they've destroyed ISIS.

Even in the link you posted it says this is the first time ISIS has negotiated a deal and gave up territory they held. They always go out fighting but they knew they were trapped and had no way out.

Also, Hezbullah has not agreed to stop fighting ISIS in Syria, don't know where you got that from.

You're correct. I was reading into the ceasefire, and it doesn't specifically mention a ceasefire in Syria too.

ISIS has negotiated withdrawals before though:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7733101.html

Just out of curiosity do you not consider Al-Jezeera a credible news source?

[Snuffleupagus]

Isn't Hezbullah Shia?

Shia/Sunni = Oil/Water

[calgaryblood]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Isn't Hezbullah Shia?

Shia/Sunni = Oil/Water

Yes they are but the reason they're fighting ISIS isn't because of them being mostly Sunni, it's because they want to take over countries in which they control or countries that support them (Syria, Iran).

The Lebanese army has Sunni and Shia as well as Christians and Atheists so this isn't a war of religion although religion obviously does play a part. ISIS could be Shia and Hezbullah would still be fighting them.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Isn't Hezbullah Shia?

Shia/Sunni = Oil/Water

Things are just different in Lebanon.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

ISIS could be Shia and Hezbullah would still be fighting them.

I'm not sure I believe that, from what I understand the Sunni-Shia divide is very strong. Even with the most religiously diverse country in the Middle East Lebanon's Sunni-Shia population is still divided with most living hundreds of miles away from each other.

Despite big talk the Saudi's still won't commit to fighting ISIS due to outcry within the royal's. And ISIS likely wouldn't exist if they were Shia Muslim's

[calgaryblood]

Lol honestly get a clue. Do u even understand how small Lebanon is? Hundreds of miles away from each other?

[AltaGuy]

Lebanon's Sunni-Shia population is still divided with most living hundreds of miles away from each other.

Wow - if you know absolutely nothing, just don't say anything.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by calgaryblood

Lol honestly get a clue. Do u even understand how small Lebanon is? Hundreds of miles away from each other?

OK Mr. Ignoramus, what is it? 100 miles from the North(Sunni's) to the South(Shia's)

Sue me in geography class for a $1

[AltaGuy]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

OK Mr. Ignoramus, what is it? 100 miles from the North(Sunni's) to the South(Shia's)

Sue me in geography class for a $1

Doubling down on ignorance? There are Sunni, Shia, Druze, and Maronite towns scattered throughout Lebanon, north to south and west to east. In Beirut alone, every group mentioned save the Druze have significant communities, and there are also some large Palestinian refugee camps thrown in for good measure.

[_Q_]

I'll leave this here

Spoiler!