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Inside Lebanon's Militia Safe Havens and Mini-States

Elias Bejjani - 4/29/2007

The hands of crime and hate that today killed in Lebanon the young men Ziyad Qabalan and Ziyad Ghandour are the hands of treachery, fundamentalism and terrorism. The same hands that are drenched in the blood of the innocent, the proud and the believers in sovereignty among our people. The same hands which, over the decades of the wars of others on Lebanon, targeted all our martyrs among the politicians, journalists, activists and free citizens and members of the clergy.

May the two martyrs rest in peace in the company of those who preceded them, and we ask the Almighty to grant their families and friends all the virtues of patience and consolation and faith. Lebanon and all its honourable and free men were the target of this barbaric and savage crime which, if anything, shows the degree of abjectness and baseness to which the planners and perpetrators and those behind them have sunken.

The purpose behind this massacre crime is clear: To sow the seed of strife among the Lebanese communities and disseminate a state of security anarchy in the country, in order to obstruct the rise of a strong, unified, and legitimate State, a free, sovereign and independent State that is self-reliant on its own institutions and armed forces, and the elimination of the authority, weapons and influence of the militias and their mini-states and security zones, as well as their culture of hatred and violence, the rejection of others and their fundamentalism.

The responsibility for this crime and any ramifications that may ensue lies squarely on the leaders and politicians of the militias who are trying by force, blackmail and threats to prevent the State from spreading its legitimate authority with its own armed forces over every inch of Lebanese soil. They are the same ones who stand today in the way of implementing the international resolutions and the control of the borders with Syria to deny the smuggling of weapons and infiltrators into Lebanon.

Everyone needs to display patience and have faith, to remain committed to the Lebanese State and its legitimate institutions, and not be dragged into the trappings of internecine strife and infighting. The security forces of the army and police must shoulder their responsibilities and uncover the criminals and hand them over to justice.

We at the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council (LCCC) strongly condemn this crime.