A Bittersweet Victory Over ISIS in Lebanon
ISIS surrendered. Lebanon’s Army secured a swift and decisive victory. Lebanese soil is free from the terror group, and for good. More than 50 of the terrorist fighters were killed in the battle, and six of our soldiers were martyred.
The bottom line is, Lebanon won, and the terrorists surrendered. However, the courage and decisiveness showed on the military side, were met with outright treason, spinelessness and cowardice on the political side.
ISIS murderers, the beheaders of our soldiers, the suicide vest makers that attacked our towns and cities, the hateful, barbaric terror group that occupied our land, now leave aboard air-conditioned buses, to serve a purpose that we as Lebanese can never comprehend. To make matters worse, our soldiers kidnapped by the terror group, have been dead since 2015, and were just a few kilometers from our fortified positions the whole time…
Terror Must Never Be Met With Impunity
No matter how powerful an army, when the justice system is weak and inept, peace and prosperity can never endure. If every time we get in a fight with terrorists, we end up releasing their most dangerous members from our jails, and allowing them safe passage with their weapons to another part of our region, we are losing.
How many terrorists have we seen granted immunity, released and driven in politicians’ cars so they can restart their career of murder of terror again? How many of those released, will come back to murder our fellow citizens? What excuse can there be for not serving justice on those that have attacked our very way of life, and everything we stand for and believe in? Those that threaten the values we hold dear, such as freedom, equality and tolerance?
The catastrophe started when the counter-offensive in 2014 was abruptly stopped, leaving the soldiers kidnapped by Nusra and ISIS at the mercy of their captors, just a few minutes’ drive from our forward operating bases. The political decision to stop that counter-offensive aimed at rescuing our soldiers, will forever haunt those that stood by, popping bottles of champagne in celebration, as our soldiers were being executed and tortured, with the rest of our forces ordered to stand down instead of finish their mission and end the occupation by terror groups long ago.
Lebanon must never negotiate with terrorists. By letting them kidnap our people, then succumbing to their demands to release their own, is the wrong message to send. What would stop these terrorists from doing it again, to release whatever’s left of their prisoners in Lebanese custody?
How can the people in command in this country look at the faces of the martyred sodliers’ families and loved ones, fellow soldiers and citizens, and explain to them after everything that could’ve been done, we settled for white caskets draped in Lebanese flags, in return for the freedom of the terrorists who put them in those caskets? All that, years after they had been executed, and we still had hope, despite all odds and the spineless handling of Lebanese authorities of this national catastrophe.
Adding Insult to Injury
Most people feel that the authorities knew about the soldiers’ fate, and yet did nothing about it till it was too late. Purposely misleading us, till the time was right for their political calculations, using the offensive as a cloak for more sinister plans they had prepared that will damage Lebanon and the Lebanese just as much if not more than ISIS and its likes.
We got a day of mourning for a Saudi monarch, but 9 of our soldiers, abandoned by our leaders, left to die a horrible death at the hands of terrorists, didn’t even get a second glance from our politicians. I guess those martyred soldiers don’t fill the politicians’ bottomless pockets the same way old Saudi monarchs do (who cut aid they promised to our military for petty reasons, yet still get a day of mourning for some reason)…
Can the politicians in this country sink any lower? Forcing irrational taxes down our throat, using an illegitimate parliament, during the daze of battle, wasn’t enough for them it seems. They also had to insult the memory of our fallen soldiers, and insult the intelligence of their families, and us, the taxpayers who pay those politicians’ salaries.
Why Hezbollah is OK with this
What I still don’t get, is how Hezbollah is ok with this. After making the battle of Ras Baalbek and El Qaa harder for our army, they were the orchestrators of this second withdrawal of the terrorists into Northeastern Syria. The terrorists fled over the border, to where HA is operating alongside the Syrian Army, and they OK-ed their withdrawal, humiliating as it was, to go and fight another day, instead of being killed in battle, or brought to justice in court.
Does HA still have use for them for another time? To utilize the excuse of fighting them for different ambitions later down the road? Who knows, and most of that is just speculation, but I still can’t wrap my head around why HA would be ok with this, and create a status quo on the ground that would make Lebanese authorities also go along with this horrific slap in the face, of letting our occupiers, killers of our citizens and soldiers, go free, and even get them buses to safely escort them to safety… They should see their day in court, and serve the sentences handed down to them and spend the rest of their days in jail, not go on to fight another day, risking all of our safeties and futures.
We’re Sorry
To the families of the soldiers, we’re sorry this happened to you. I cannot imagine how worse your pain must be, losing your sons because of the treasonous behavior of our illegitimated leaders, who know let their killers walk free.
The elections are coming, and each and every one who helped create this situation, will be sent home for this. Let them dare extend a fourth time. The rage is now almost uncontrollable, and with their savage tax hike, pretty soon, most of us will have nothing left to lose and the proverbial camel’s back will finally crack, and all hell will break loose…
To the martyrs of this battle, and our kidnapped martyrs, you will always be in our country’s memory, and we are all forever indebted for your sacrifice. The least we can do, is make sure it was worth it, and everyone who conspired or let you down for their own personal politics, needs to pay, sooner or later.
