Hezbollah to Make Power Grab in Lebanon

It looks like Hezbollah may be making their move:

Nasrallah on course for anti-West government backed by Assad

In his first speech on the Lebanese crisis, Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday night, Jan. 16: "The opposition will exercise its own national convictions and will not be intimidated by the world's reaction."

He added: "The opposition" had decided unanimously not to name Saad Hariri, the pro-Western prime minister they toppled last week, as next head of government, meaning that the Hizballah-led camp will build its own regime shunning Hariri.

Nasrallah and Hariri will certainly go head to head to decide which rules the country.

Hizballah has the advantage of being the most powerful armed force in Lebanon. Added to Hariri's disadvantages is the refusal of his potential outside supporters, whether the US, France, Israel or Saudi Arabia, to intervene on his behalf.

The Hizballah-led government's first step will be to declare illegal the Special Lebanese Tribunal whose prosecutor Daniel Bellemare is due to submit his report to pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen within 48 hours. Nasrallah's pretext will be that his findings and the indictments of his henchmen were composed in Tel Aviv – not at the STL's seat in The Hague.

As Hezbollah makes their move, we Syria getting involved (again):

Syrian President Bashar Assad threw all his weight behind Hizballah's drive to rid Lebanese politics of the Saad Hariri and so derail the Obama administrations policy objectives in Lebanon.

Assad has now dropped the pose of aloofness from the Lebanese crisis which he has struck since after Hizballah toppled the Hariri government last week. The Syrian ruler has now stepped in with both feet to block any western moves to save the ousted prime minister turned caretaker - as attested to by a clip broadcast Saturday, Jan. 15, by Al-Jadeed TV, a station sponsored by Hizballah and Syrian intelligence.

Assad hopes to put Hariri finally on the spot by calling together in Damascus Monday, Jan.17, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Edrogan and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh A Thani – purportedly to confer on ways to ease the Lebanese crisis, but in reality, to back up actions by Syria and Hizballah to invalidate the international tribunal and its expected decision to indict Hizballah officials for the Hariri murder.

Seeing Syria and Iran directly involved now - as they support and prompt the efforts of Hezbollah - is an ominous development in the region. The end-game is to destroy Israel, and we are seeing the pieces of the board put in place for these final battles.