Press Release
An Insult that Almost Ignited a Civil War and Destroyed the Country
(Translated)

 Following the description by the Lebanese Foreign Minister (Maronite) to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nabih Berri (Shiite) as "Baltaji" (which means a thug), the followers of Berri carried out protests and fired bullets and burnt down some centers of the Aoun’s camp, the most dangerous was the entry of protesters to the squares of Al-Hadath town shooting and terrorizing the people, this pushed the people of the town to take to the street and bear arms openly, chanting sectarian and divisive slogans. This incident almost ignited a new sectarian war in Lebanon (this riot continued for four consecutive days).

Commenting on what took place, we wonder:

• Where is the Minister of the Interior and his security plan and his security services?! Why wasn’t a single rioter arrested from those who shot the bullets and insulted people, terrorized them, and almost caused civil war?! Is the security plan and arrests specific to a certain category in this country?!
• Why wasn’t there orders to the army to strike with an iron fist to stop all armed manifestations and cover the roads and stop the provocations ?! Note that Al-Hadath area is surrounded by military barracks.
• Where are those who have deafened our ears with the prestige of the state and the preservation of law and private and public property?!
• Where are the judicial organs to issue arrest warrants for the security violators?!

Thus, this is how the events such as the events of 7/5/2008 and other similar incidents and yesterday events in the town of Al-Hadath are dealt with. On the other hand, the Authority and its symbols have always dealt with the people of Tripoli, Sidon, Beirut and its sister towns in the areas with brutality, oppression and to strengthen the conviction that Lebanon is a state of gangs and favouritism and that it is far from the concepts of justice and security. Most important of all, the army acts only with political order and not by self-motivation to preserve the security of the country and its people.

O people

The problems and crises in the region - including Lebanon - began after the intervention of Western colonial countries. Since France separated this part of the Ash-Sham (Lebanon) from its origin and made it a state without the components of a state, and established there a man-made system mixed with evil political sectarianism, after centuries of Islamic rule and its civilization, thus it was born distorted ... Since then, strife and civil wars followed every now and then. The demographic composition of the people of Lebanon (18 sects) under a capitalist system is mixed with sectarianism which deepened division and conflict between its people and turned it into a volcano about to erupt at any moment.

O people

If an insult from a leader to a leader threatens the existence of the state (Lebanon) and the ignition of a civil war in it, is this country then fit to provide a good and healthy life?!

Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim
Head of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Lebanon