Hizbullah's black-clad terrorist militia are training to take over Beirut’s airport and highways and carried out dry-run maneuvers early Tuesday as Beirut residents fled in panic, Lebanese media reported. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said it is throwing up its hands in the effort to help stability, adding, ”Lebanon is dangerous."
Hizbullah’s army early Tuesday carried out exercises, without weapons, aimed at taking control of Beirut’s airport, major highways and the seaport. The drill spread fears of a return to the violent street violence that nearly set off a new civil war two years ago. Reports stated that schools closed and people kept their children off the streets.
Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency quoted a retired Lebanese general saying that the next prime minister of Lebanon may come from the ranks of Hizbullah, which is backed by Iran and allied with Syria.
Hizbullah toppled the government last week by quitting the coalition on the eve of the presentation of findings of a United Nations tribunal. The tribunal submitted a sealed indictment, whose contents will not be known for several weeks.
Hezbollah said stimulating Beirut coup as Saudi drops Lebanon mediation efforts
Hezbollah militants spread across the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Tuesday in a reportedly simulated coup of the capital, in the wake of the political unrest that has engulfed the country since the guerilla movement exited the Lebanese coalition and caused the government to collapse.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has abandoned its own mediation efforts in Lebanon, saying the situation was "dangerous," Al Arabiya television said on Wednesday, citing Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisa
Unarmed militants from the Iran- and Syria-backed militant organization took to the streets across various central sites across the capital, according to Lebanese media. The organization gave no advance notice of the simulation, the reports said.
Hezbollah's dramatic withdrawal from the cabinet earlier prompted many to fear a recurrence of factional violence so common in the war-torn country.
Lengthy negotiations lie ahead between Lebanon's factions as they attempt to build a new government. On Tuesday, Turkey's foreign minister was in Beirut in a coordinated visit with Qatar's prime minister to discuss the political crisis in Lebanon.
There is never a dull moment in the Middle East. Will Hezbollah actually carry out these plans?
It is hard to know, but for now, they are clearly attempting to intimidate their opponents and reveal what they are capable of.
The world continues to wait and watch this evolving situation, a situation which could be enormously "prophetic" depending upon just how extreme Hezbollah is willing to become to avoid these pending indictments.
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