Some Christians in Lebanon celebrated the ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad over the weekend, gathering in town squares to set off celebratory fireworks and gleefully destroying pictures of Assad from border crossings. did.
Among the Christian groups most happy about the end of the Assad dynasty is the Lebanese Forces Party (LF), a militia and current political party. active During Lebanon's 1976 civil war, it was led by a Maronite Christian leader named Bashir Gemayel, an ally of the United States and Israel. It was assassinated Less than a month after he was elected president of Lebanon in 1982, a bomb attack killed dozens of his supporters. The assassination sparked further bloodshed, including LF attacks on Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon guarded by Israeli forces, leaving hundreds dead.
The current leader of LF, Dr. Sameer Geagea, said Lebanese Christians have long accused the Assad regime (then under the command of Bashar al-Assad's father Hafez) of using terrorists to kill Gemayel because it was allied with Israel and opposed Syrian influence in Lebanon. He announced that he had been criticized. Assassination of Druze leader in Lebanon Kamal Jumblatt 1977 Sunni Lebanese president Rafic Hariri Like numerous other deaths in Lebanon in 2005, Lebanese believe this was a targeted killing orchestrated by the Assad regime to protect its interests in Lebanon.
Mr. Geagea told party leaders that the overthrow of Assad should be seen as “Bashir Gemayel Day.”
“They assassinated him, but they turned him into an icon,” Geagea said of Gemayel. “Today is a day of justice not only for Syria but also for Lebanon.”
On December 8, 2024, supporters of the Christian Lebanese Army party gather in Beirut's Achrafieh district to celebrate the fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime. A poster of assassinated Lebanese president-elect Bashir Gemayel is displayed. (Ibrahim Amro/AFP via Getty Images)
LF leaders urge Iran's terrorist proxy and Lebanese political party Hezbollah to lay down arms and abandon dreams of armed rule, as Syria is a key link in Iran's arms supply chain Ta. With Syria now under the control of the Sunni jihadist alliance opposed to Iran, Hezbollah will have great difficulty rebuilding its former fighting capabilities. wiped out During the past year's ill-fated war with Israel.
“The game is over,” Geagia told Hezbollah. “A day late is a day wasted, both for yourselves and for all Lebanese.”
“This is the beginning of true nation-building in Lebanon,” he declared.
Lebanese media channel MTV on Sunday commemorated the fall of Assad's regime by commemorating the Lebanese victims of the regime, including Gemayel, Jumblatt and Hariri. There were many other names on the list, including journalist Samir Kassir, a prominent Lebanese critic of the Syrian regime. killed in 2005 due to a car bomb.
Lebanon's MTV channel also broadcast Beirut's fireworks display celebrating the fall of the Assad regime.
Some Syrian Christians thank you Because Assad saw him as a lesser evil and extended protection to their communities compared to the hardcore Islamists who would eventually overthrow him. During the early months of the war, some Syrian Christian leaders openly stated They hoped for a quick victory for Assad, as they feared even more the terror of ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Christians in Lebanon have little reason to judge the Assad regime, and have long memories of murders ordered by Assad's family.
After a decade of brutal civil war and the rise of Islamic State, relatively few Christians remain in Syria. There were around 1.5 million Christians in Syria when the war began in 2011, but there are now fewer than 300,000. many of them ran away Especially after ISIS began wiping out ancient Christian communities in Lebanon.
Lebanese Christian refugees from Syria believe that the overthrow of the Assad regime and the overall disaster of Iran's proxy war against Israel have weakened Hezbollah, leaving Lebanon with a functioning government and multi-ethnic society after years of corruption and stagnation. I just hope it gives you a chance to build one.
With an al-Qaida splinter in power in Damascus, their chances of returning to Syria are dimming. Throughout the long and bloody years of Syria's civil war, many feared its outcome.
