BEIRUT: The World Lebanese Cultural Union pledged $2 million to the Army Tuesday, after launching a new military support fund set to be financed by the Lebanese diaspora. The head of the WLCU, Albert Metta, announced the formation of the new donation fund during a national conference for the Lebanese Army in France Tuesday. […]

  The Army Intelligence had detained recently a “dangerous” Saudi national, reportedly the leader of a group affiliated to the Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant, As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday. The Saudi national, whose identity remained unknown, was arrested at the Rafik Hariri International Airport as he arrived from Turkey. (Link)

Cheikh Malek el-Khazen here explains Israeli-Lebanese relations. He is heir to the House of Khazen, of the Lebanese nobility.

What is the general Lebanese opinion on Israel?

Officially, Lebanon is at a state of war against Israel. Currently, the borders are being supervised by UNFIL forces (mainly forces from European and Asian countries) in addition to the Lebanese army. Lebanon is a small country, but it comprises of 18 recognized religious sects. The main two religions are Christianity (the Maronite Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Assyrian Church of the East) and Islam (Shi’a and Sunni). There is also the Druze minority religion, and there is a small Jewish population. Because of the diversity, there are very few topics where all Lebanese agree, but on at least one thing we can: that Israel is unacceptably hostile towards Lebanon. In Lebanon, Israeli war planes and drones, without provocation, breach our air space on a daily basis, citing “security reasons”. In addition, these forces sometimes stage mock attacks on Lebanese cities and emit sonic booms that frighten civilians. It is perhaps needless to say that relations are very unfriendly.

How was Israel involved in the Lebanese Civil War? It seems that a good amount of anti-Israel sentiment can be traced to that point. Were Christians under-supported by the Israelis?

The Lebanese Civil War is extremely complex, but it reminds me of Iraq’s current state. Whereas, in Iraq, their war started because of their invasion in Kuwait in the early 1990s, and it is currently very heavily sectarian — Kurds on one side, Arab Sunni on another side, and Shi’a on another – in Lebanon, the war started in response to the Palestinian threat and invasion of Lebanese cities. It ended in 1990, after Syrian forces invaded, and our country, too, is highly sectarian. Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 and later invaded the south of Lebanon until 2000, when Ehud Barak finally retracted Israeli forces.

As I understand, tension has also very much increased since the 2006 Lebanon War, which caused your country, conservatively, to lose at least $5 billion. Do you agree?

http://catholicanalysis.org/2014/09/15/a-cheikhs-summary-of-israeli-lebanese-relations/

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