World View: Lebanon's Army Moves to Crush Sectarian Violence in Sidon

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• Lebanon’s army moves to crush sectarian violence in Sidon
• Angry Sunni mob attacks Shia families in Giza, Egypt, killing four
• Vicious attack by Pakistan Taliban kills 10 foreign tourists

Lebanon’s army moves to crush sectarian violence in Sidon

Rescuers carry a man from an armored personnel carrier hit by an RPG launched by Assir’s forces on Sunday (Daily Star)

The consequences of the invasion of the Iran-supported Shia terroristgroup Hezbollah into Syria, and their successful participation in thestunning victory by the forces of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad inflattening, demolishing and recapturing the town of Qusair are stillcontinuing to grow. Hezbollah’s actions have infuriated Sunnisthroughout the region, and raised the specter of a major sectarian warbetween Sunnis and Shias.

A major battle broke out on Sunday between the Army versus thesupporters of radical Salafist Sunni preacher Ahmad al-Assir. In asurprise ambush using RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), Ahmad’sfighters killed ten soldiers and wounded 38 others, and suffered twoof their own casualties in firefight that followed. The fightingerupted at 2 p.m. and continued throughout the night.

Lebanon’s Army has been trying to remain neutral between the Sunnisand Shias, but this attack requires a response. According to astatement:

“The leadership of the Army will not stay silent… it will continue its mission to break the strife in Sidon andother regions, and will strike with an iron fist all who dare toshed the blood of the Army.

In a video posted on Sunday, Assir said that the Army belonged to the

“To all our partisans, we are being attacked by theLebanese Army, which is Iranian and Shiite. I call on allpartisans to block roads and all honorable Sunni and non-Sunni[soldiers] to quit the Army.”

The Army is demanding that all who participated in the ambush bearrested. Daily Star (Beirut)

Angry Sunni mob attacks Shia families in Giza, Egypt, killing four

Angry mob beats a Shia in Giza on Sunday (Al-Ahram)

An angry mob of over 3,000 Sunnis, led by Sunni Salafist sheikhs,torched and attack houses of Shias in a village in Giza, Egypt, onSunday afternoon killing four, including a prominent Shia leader.Police did nothing to stop the attacks. According to a Shia activist,the attack was triggered by a Muslim Brotherhood event at whichpresident Mohamed Morsi appeared:

“We hold President Morsi responsible for this attack.There are not less than three million Egyptian Shias who live inEgypt and last Saturday during the Syria solidarity conferenceattended by Morsi in the Cairo Stadium, Salafist sheikhs insultedShias and incited hate against those Egyptian Shiacitizens.”

He added that Morsi did nothing to discourage the hate speech.

Two weeks ago, Morsi broke off all diplomatic relations with Syria,as a consequence of Hezbollah’s invasion of Syria. Sunday’smob attack is one more sign of the increasing Sunni fury atSyria’s victory in Qusair, aided by Hezbollah.

This mob attack on Shias by thousands of Sunnis, led by Salafist Sunnisheiks, is reminiscent of Aprils mob attack on Muslims in Burma(Myanmar) by thousands of Buddhists, led by Buddhist monks. (See “5-Apr-13 World View — Meiktila, Burma, violence has echoes of Kristallnacht”)

People sometimes ask me how it’s possible for World War III to startif no politician declares war on anyone, since doing so would be “badfor business.” As I’ve explained before, a generational crisis warcomes from the people, not from the politicians, and this isillustrated by the mob violence in Burma and Egypt in the recent past.In this generational Crisis era, it would not take very much totrigger a wider war that could envelope an entire region. Al-Ahram (Cairo)

Vicious attack by Pakistan Taliban kills 10 foreign tourists

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP – the Pakistan Taliban) is claimingresponsibility for a vicious attack on foreign mountaineering touristsin the Himalayas. Gilgit-Baltistan, which borders China and Kashmir,had been considered one of the more secure areas of Pakistan, so thisattack is relatively unprecedented. The foreigners were from Ukraine,China, Slovakia, Lithuania, Nepal, while one of them wasChinese-American, and TTP says that it has created a new cell toattack foreigners, to avenge the U.S. drone strikes. Al-Jazeera and Daily Times (Pakistan)

Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail