By General Monzer El Ayoubi
Translation: Dr. Pierre A. Sarkis
The day before yesterday, and upon the arrival of Prime Minister-Designate Saad Harriri to the presidential palace in Baabda, where he presented his potential cabinet “modified and altered” to the President of the Republic, there was hope that the road to hell could be overcome, although the rate of burns in the Lebanese body had reached the fourth degree which often leads to death. The damage has touched the very deep layers, such as, the muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, nerves, even the bones, and the skin became charred black with the nerves afflicted to the point of sedation.
Next, although most people did not expect something good, they “have been blowing in yogurt for a while after they had been burned by milk” (an Arabic saying for hope against hope) if available. However, few people bet on the issuing of the decree of the government formation for several reasons, not the least being that the poor and needy who have carried misery on their backs for so long, and patriotism as a conviction, despair as a companion, and they do form the majority, could not find in the garbage disposals any remnants of food, or rotten crumbs of bread. Other needy groups could not collect plastic, glass and cardboard products to sell for “a Lira worth a penny”, not because of the efficiency of the collection and sorting cartels in order to recycle and preserve the environment, but because of the scarcity of the consumption of the contents of these products.
All this suffering, associated with the loss of water, medicine and food, as well as fuel and electricity did not intercede on their behalf, as hatred transcended the accepted barriers, the imitators clung to their stubbornness adopting a policy of political spite, and the principle of “screwing”- excuse the expression, despite suffering from castration, or Criptorchidism, violating the country and the cause, destroying the present and the future without decency or shame after the panic had vanished.
Since last night, statements and accusations have returned mutually on the frontal facades of palaces behind the barricades of constitutional norms in the battle of trivia and mandates, but the blame for ignoring the persistent indiscriminate shelling was willful, and overcame the shooters of the Kornet missiles for their failure to penetrate the shields of the local Merkava, after the constitutional Tripods launchers were clogged.
What is next? It is obvious that things are going to get worse, unless there is a “hidden sew” that had been hatched between the French tailor with the Egyptian needle and the Saudi thread. Hurrying up to withdraw his nomination after a long “nine months” anticipation, and the coolness in replying and the discussion without apathy from the other, is proof that the arm wrestling is still going on either directly or by proxy, at the expense of the wounded homeland and the Lebanese people despite denials through advocacy, that the obstacles to the formation of the government, or its tripping, is a local internal matter. The one twinning goal seems to be to confront, with the infected Syrians, the “Caesar Law” pandemic (sanctions levied on Syria and Lebanon by the US) with a consistent link to push displaced Syrians into a settlement approach. In addition, the mirror’s backdrop is close to being polished with Iranian uranium finishing, and the reflection of its other side is nuclear according to the degree of enrichment, as if renewing US commitment to return to the US-Iran nuclear agreement can only be signed in Beirut, not Vienna.
In conclusion, hope has always been accompanied by pain even if it seems to be a mirage, and clings in its vileness to a thin lifeline. Overconfidence is not a fatal lapse but a hopeful ambition for salvation, but this morning’s sunrise came with fainting eyes, wrapped with ashes of disappointment.
Batroumine, 16/07/2021
Scholar in Security and Strategic Affairs
