By Rami G. Khouri
| The Daily Star |
"..........The Hezbollah-Syria-Lebanon dynamic now also feeds into the newest regional problem arena: deteriorating Sunni-Shiite relations across the Middle East, including increasing incidents of outright ethnic cleansing, bombings, and intense provocations that started after President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair invaded Iraq and turned it into the first modern Arab battleground of Sunni-Shiite mutual demonization and death.
The Syria-Lebanon battlefield is now being defined by this same demon, which is dragging in regional actors. The most frightening example this week was Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti supporting the influential Islamist-televangelist Youssef Qaradawi’s call for all able-bodied Sunnis to fight Bashar Assad, Iran and Hezbollah in Syria. The dangers ahead may make Iraq look like a picnic.
As Syria and its battles rekindle old tensions and create new ones, Hezbollah reflects the dramatic and dangerous new directions in which many Middle Eastern actors navigate through crumbling edifices of Euro-manufactured statehood, battle each other for survival, and cling to older, indigenous identities of sectarianism, ethnicity, tribalism and other sub-national configurations.
One day, they will all have to manage the hard task of rebuilding credible, secure and legitimate states. But that day is down the road.
Now is the time to fight, it seems, and Qusair was only a hint of the stupidity and waste that lies ahead."
No comments:
Post a Comment