After the French president joined his American and British counterparts in warning that they would respond to the Syrian regime's chemical attack in Douma, Ibrahim Al-Amin, editor-in-chief of the pro-Hizbullah daily Al-Akhbar, penned a scathing article against France. Al-Amin accused France of hypocrisy and of hiding behind the U.S. while also doing its bidding. He added that France, whose hands are stained with Arab blood, has always sided with the Arabs' enemies while "playing a dirty role" in their countries and acting to ignite inter-Arab wars. The claims about a chemical attack in Douma, he said, were lies meant to provide an excuse to attack in Syria so as to prevent the Syrian regime from recovering and curb the Russian influence in the Middle East.
Al-Amin concluded his article by threatening that France could pay a heavy price for its policy and its involvement in a strike on Syria, wondering whether the French need to be reminded "of the scenes of severed soldiers' limbs and [military] headquarters destroyed." It should be noted that there are French nationals among the UNIFIL forces stationed on Lebanese soil.
A report published in Al-Akhbar the same day stated that the resistance axis (Iran, Syria and Hizbullah) had "decided that a substantial [Western] attack on Syria would mean an open-ended war whose flames would be felt in every part of the region."
The following are excerpts from Al-Amin's article:[1]
Ibrahim Al-Amin (image: beirutobserver.com)
"Allah does what He wills to the U.S., and His party [i.e., Hizbullah] will do what it wills to Israel. But it appears that it falls to us, the people [who support Hizbullah], to do what we will to the countries and elements that rush to play roles that are beyond their capabilities. This is true for countries like Britain, France and Saudi Arabia...
"The French always wish to remain in the club of the Arabs' enemies. Its political, military, economic, media and cultural elites tell us that they love being the lackeys of the U.S., that they cannot spend a single night off the American train, and that they will never forgive themselves if their hands will not become stained with more blood of the people of this region. [They purport to do this] out of humanity, although only one of their eyes is open to humanitarian [concerns], for they fail to see what Israel is doing in Palestine, what Saudi Arabia is doing in Yemen, what the Americans are doing in Syria and Iraq, and what their [own] army is doing in Africa. Who among the French can be held accountable for this? The arrogant president, who thinks he is restoring the glory of the [French] republic? The government, whose members have become a bunch of third-rate functionaries? The military, which has become a police force within the country and a murderous gang outside it? The elite, which purports to defend liberty and pluralism, but does not contain a single serious voice that opposes the government policy? The intelligence apparatuses, who refuse to learn the bitter lesson and continue to be a marginal player that is ignored at the moment of truth?...
"It seems that France has decided, willingly or not, to succumb once again to America's authority and promote America's goals in the world and the goals of Israel and Saudi Arabia in our region. France's actions in the last two days remind us of 2005, when it decided to atone for its sin of opposing the Iraq war by fostering the climate [that led to] the assassination of [Lebanese prime minister] Rafiq Al-Hariri in Beirut and to the [Israeli] enemy's war on Lebanon in July [2006. All this occurred] even before [France] started its large-scale incitement campaign that led to the civil war in Syria, after it played a dirty role in Libya. This means that it would be a mistake to bet on France taking a different stance on the current developments in our region. France will not oppose the Deal of the Century that will harm the Palestinians' rights, nor will it oppose America's inclination to cancel the nuclear agreement with Iran and initiate a new war against it. France seems to be securing a role for itself in the global American war that aims to prevent Russia from resuming a central role in the world, [a war] that begins in the Middle East.
"France's decision to participate in military aggression against Syria, on the pretext that the Syrian regime used chemical weapons in the battles in eastern Ghouta, is not [even] directly linked to the events in Syria. It is a French decision to rejoin the American strategy, which focuses on preventing the rebuilding of Syria and on leaving the fires burning in all the [lands of] the Arab nation, as a cover for a new attempt to erase the Palestinian cause. It is a decision that tells us, the people of the lands of Al-Sham, that France misses the days of imperialism and of the [French] mandate and wants to start a war in defense of the Sykes-Picot [agreement]. [It also tells us that] it sets itself up as a judge of humanism and morality [entitled to] decide our fate. What gives it the right to do that?
"There is no need to explain the strategic [weight] of French firepower. It has no weight whatsoever in the global military arena. France today is like a young hooligan who is unable to fight by himself. He specializes in inciting confrontations, while positioning himself behind the bigger guy, and when the fight begins he steps aside and waits for the outcome. If the enemy falls, he jumps up like a monkey to get a slap or a kick in. But if the rival remains standing he is the first one to flee. Usually he is unlucky, and stands sobbing in place, wetting his pants and crying for help.
"France now refuses to reassess [its position] and admit the failure of its choices in the region, especially in Syria. It denies the state it has reached after long years of bashing Syria. Although it has no respect for any of the Syrian oppositionists it has recruited and exploited over the years, it has become like them, yearning for acts of revenge that will hurt Syria even more. France does nothing but play tricks, refusing to recognize the failure of the attempt to topple the Syrian regime, after it failed in its attempt to regain control of Lebanon or to gain a good foothold in Iraq or North Africa.
"What are the French doing? Do they realize how foolishly they are behaving? Do they need someone to refresh their memory and remind them of the scenes of severed soldiers' limbs and [military] headquarters destroyed? Or are they completely oblivious? Perhaps they will remember and understand that the rage of our people has a different taste!"
[1] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), April 11, 2018.
