حزب الله يؤكد استهداف غارة اسرائيلية لأحد مواقعه و"لن تبقى بلا رد"

الإثنين ليلا: نفى "حزب الله"، وقوع أية غارات داخل الأراضي اللبنانية، او اي استهداف لمواقعه في البقاع او على الحدود مع سوريا!
الأربعاء ظهرا: بيان لحزب الله يؤكد وقوع الغارة على أحد مواقعه، ويتوعد بالرد في المكان والزمانين المناسبين!
لجنة البيان الوزاري تجتمع ولا تتوصل الى اتفاق حول "إعلان بعبدا" والبيان الوزاري!

I await the day when I will read ONE meaningful post, ONE counter argument, ONE credible or mature info from you,-_Flamethrower_- , but alas!

They got a taste of their own medicine. They now know how it feels to be at the receiving end of the droppings of fighter jets) They celebrate their divine victories over Syrian villagers after bombarding them from air and land. Cowards

HA is de facto Lebanese State, it has all attributes of a state...

What Lebanese state...? Is there such a state...?

How can people down vote phoenix's question? A perfectly valid point that is showing the toothless nature of our politicians. Next time anyone violates our air, land or sea needs to be taken out period. It does not matter who they are.

There were casualties indeed. Good for Hizbollah that they can claim that the bodies at the Dar al-Hikma hospital are from the glorious war with the sunni in Syria rather than the humiliating victims of an Israeli air raid.

So once again we Lebanese will have to live under the specter of more people dying, and why? because our dear Hezbollah seems to forget, or rather ignore that it is not alone in living in Lebanon. So as its statement says, it will retaliate against Israel, then what? Israel will retaliate in the name of its much vaunted and cherished, "Self defense against terrorism", then what? Unsuspecting Lebanese citizens from all sects and walks of life will get caught up in another round of brutalities, their life will get screwed up again, plans destroyed, loved ones lost, properties destroyed and all for what? Because a man who lives in hiding and his militia feel they are above every consideration.

cornholioooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

papa john's

religion/faith will always have a place, but not in the streets... rather at home.

hariri govt toppled on January 2011.
syrian uprising (peaceful) began march 2011
Armed resistance began on/between august and october 2011
Major fighting and the rapid influx of refugees began between March and June 2012.
all that info just in case you say the refugees showed up in march 2011.
some links for you:
http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/lebanon/foreign-direct-investment
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/lebanon/gdp-growth-annual
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Lebanon ( please note gdp growth rate)

in the end, the syrian refugees cannot affect the gdp numbers.. you can reference any other country that has syrian refugees and let me know if there is as significant a drop (if any) as ours.
the drop has nothing to do with the syrian refugees, and did begin with the toppling of the Hariri govt, with the gulfs refusal to do "business" with HA... lack of tourists is what brought down our gdp growth rate... lack of tourist spend is what brought down our gdp growth rate.. not a bunch of syrians living in tin houses.

FT, the hospitality sector forms a major part of our economy, hit it, and you cripple the economy. Lebanon has a lot to offer the world, tourism is not only about prestigious hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and discos, they are all fine, but there's a lot more to offer, but in a nutshell, in Lebanon we haven't yet exploited our potential, but for that to happen, stability is a prerequisite.

Roar. Half of Lebanon's tourism flows through Syria? Can you share a link with that info?
Syria's war had nothing to do with the drop of tourism. The gulfs travel warnings, many of them, have nothing to do with the Syrian war but the situation in the country.
And yes the times roughly coincide but the influx of refugees did not begin in earnest until a year into it.
Again I ask you to show me GDP growth rates that were affected by that magnitude (if any) by the influx of Syrian refugees. Jordan? Turkey? Iraq? And to a lesser extent Egypt?

Ok brother Roar, it's a good position from you, so whilst Arzak prepare his stats, why not you do the same?

Hi FT, thanks for responding. Sure, I do understand what you wrote about, but to be honest, I still feel that you have not put the finger on the wound. I am hungry and about to go out for a bite, but the things I mentioned were the main catalysts to the decline in tourism. Now if other factors contributed, sure, the possibility is there, masalan the terrible standoff between Hezbollah and the Turks, the kidnapping of their citizens here, Hezbollah's role in the Syrian war and the riposte from the Takfiris, the repeated closures of the airport road etc... Masalan, one of my projects was to promote cultural, eco and religious tourism that could have turned our villages into economically prosperous regions, what happened after all the incidents from 2006 onwards?

FT.. lebanon has (ever since the end of our civil war) survived as a touristic hub for the gulf.. primarily.
When Hariri was toppled, HA and co were made to pay the price. it is really as simple as that...
the global rescission was at its peak between 2008 and beginning 2010.. all years that saw amazing growth in Lebanon..
we have ALWAYS had non existent political stability... so why the change now? why such a significant drop with political instability with an M8 govt and not an m14 govt?
Lebanon itself was unaffected by the recession, as we already live a notch above it. and the one and only reason we are witnessing such hard times is that the gulf is making HA pay.. missiles cant feed it's constituents .. and Iran is in no position to offer an alternative.

FT, thanks for the interest bro. No, in 2006 we didn't yet have the time to make an FB page, the whole project was still in the works, but basically the whole idea was to start something that the Greeks started then. These days, tourism is changing from the old type of beach, sun, clubs to things a lot more rewarding, so comes, cultural, eco and religious tourism. We could have promoted Lebanon as the right destination for tourists from the West and other parts of the world to come and stay with families in villages, these families had to dedicate one clean room in their homes and the guests will live with them just as the hosts do in their daily life. Souvenirs would be crafted traditionally, foods prepared for the tourists to take back with them, like Jams, Compote, Pickles, Wines, herbs, Zaatar, etc...

FT. Religious tourism would be for the Convents and Monasteries and Islamic institutions, where tourists will also stay and learn from our ways, finally Eco-Tourism, in the remote areas of Lebanon, where the air is pure, water is clean, we could make programs where tourist will come to plant with us trees that will bear their names. Each month we will send them reports of the trees they planted and sponsored. Again, our visitors will live in the great outdoors, Kayaking, camping, man, Lebanon is rich, so rich that we still don't know that we are sitting atop a gold mine, if only we had the right approach.

The sad part is the next war will be a total war of destruction against Lebanon unlike the 2006 war. No area will be safe, no building will be safe, and the Lebanese army will take the brunt of it as well while HA will hide among civilians.

I have finally come to this sad conclusion Beiruti, that a friend in need is a friend indeed. I always suspected that Israel and Hezbollah have a lot more in common than we may know of, and the developments of recent, just like in the past simply confirm this. Thanks for your excellent posts, always good to read them.

the main problem for Lebanon to thrive is hezbollah and you know it or refuse to see it... the main cause for insecurity is hezbollah: how come you attract people and investors who will prefer to settle elsewhere...

as for tourism only the ministers can change things: but they are all inefficient and useless...

how funny!

So it bears no resemblance to the Nazi salute or is 'clever' wordplay the taste of the month?

sure they just wave their hands like this... no resemblance to the nazi salute whatsoever...

wait and hezbi lovers will say that the nazi never saluted this way! LOL

so pathetic in their denial that they look as ridiculous as those saluting heil nasrallah!

Saved? There are no refugee camps left? no armed pallies in there? Take a seat you coward. We protected ourselves from Arafat. We being the true resistance with Bachir Gemayel at the forefront.

The first thing in healing is admitting the truth. It was Lebanese murdering Palestinians at Sabra and Shatila. As far as Israel causing Lebanese inter fighting, it's time for you to take responsibility for your own actions, and stop blaming others.
You guys have a huge task of mutual compromise and acceptance, including stopping the anti Palestinian apartheid, if you want internal peace and progress!!!