28 Mar 2024
Tuesday 14 March 2017 - 16:08
Story Code : 254777

Iran and Lebanon: From fake news to real war?

Sputnik News|Martin Jayia: In the last few days, both Israel and Lebanons Hezbollah movement exchanged threats, reviving the specter of another Israeli invasion of Lebanon.





Even the Western mainstream media admits the root cause ofthe tension could be Mr. Trumps threats togarbage the nuclear agreement with Iran, Hezbollahs longtime supporter.

No one could take the ensuing threats more seriously thanthe people inLebanon. Lebanon has faced war so many times that the people here regard the black dog almost asan old friend, such is their despondency when faced withit once again. After the official end ofthe civil war in1989, Lebanon survived several bombing campaigns byIsrael (the biggest one in2006, which decimated the countrys infrastructure foryears tocome). Now Lebanon is home to1.5 million refugees fromneighboring Syria, becoming the most densely populated refugees safe haven inthe world.

Hezbollah's Attraction: Natural inLebanon, Fatal inthe US

In this situation, it is natural that the militant group Hezbollah, which was born asa response tothe Israeli occupation in1982 and which helps the Syrian government tofend offthe Islamic States extremists it is natural that this group enjoys some popularity inLebanon. Hezbollah also has a strong faction inthe Lebanese parliament, and the groups charity work is visible everywhere.
Unfortunately, it is not visible tothe American government which continues toview Hezbollah throughthe prism ofhostility, asif Hezbollahs leader Hassan Nasrallah continued toshout Death toAmericans! despitethese slogans having been dropped byHezbollah decades ago.


Unfortunately, US media has a great capacity ofpreserving cold war stereotypes inthe Americans minds, and the bearded mullahs urging people tohate America this is what Israel and the Trump camp would have dearly wanted tosee fromboth Lebanon and Iran. These images would correspond withIsraels (and Trumps) usual disingenuous narrative aboutthese countries. Just days ago, Trump tightened the sanctions againstIran, promising totear upthe agreement betweenIran and its Western foes, an agreement which Russia helped toreach. (Moscow already made a statement that it wants the agreement tostay).

Why No One Argues

Few American journalists even try toquestion this narrative, which states that Iran and its proxies are THE MAIN threat tostability because oftheir "terrorist" activities. Israels prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week reiterated this position calling Iran the source of 80 percent ofIsraels security problems.

Trump blasts media inthe US for 'fake news' butincredulously his own team continues tofeed journalists witha skewered mindset of alternative facts aboutthe Middle East which is not only outof date, butwhich is factually inaccurate atbest and a shameful lie atworst.

Since its Islamic revolution of1979, Iran has not invaded neighboring countries or bombed any ofthe countries which are its enemy. Its proxy inLebanon, Hezbollah is tarnished byevents that happened more than30 years ago the bombings ofAmerican servicemen inBeirut inthe times ofthe Lebanese civil war.
In the meantime, the US and some ofits allies inthe EU managed toinvade together atleast three sovereign countries (Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya). The number ofpeople killed duringthese wars is HUNDREDS OF TIMES bigger thanthe number ofAmerican soldiers killed byHezbollah inLebanon.


In fact, it is seldom reported that Iran and Hezbollah are doing most ofthe fighting todestroy Daesh inIraq and Syria while US soldiers keep a safe distance fromthe scrap.

The Sins ofOthers

And then there is al-Qaeda and Daesh inthe region. Do American journalists simply not know who was funding those groups, certainly atthe start ofthe war inSyria? Or is it that they prefer the manufactured consent ofkeeping that inconvenient truth far fromthe weary public which once believed inthe freedom ofthe fourth estate?

Terror groups both Daesh and al-Qaeda butalso other groups which align themselves withthem have been more or less been defeated inSyria because ofIran and Hezbollah. It might not sit comfortably withTrump and his adviser Steve Bannon inDC. Why? Because this inconvenient truth, if told tohumble Americans, would hinder his present plans tothreaten Iran withwar continuously and withimpunity.

Alas, journalists inthe US are getting younger and less professional bythe day. They create the real vortex offake news: they look likepersonalities ofthe media who lock themselves intotheir own echo chambers and refuse tolisten tofacts when presented withthem.

Who Wants War

I'm not a fan ofIran. But I don't believe forone moment the country is a threat toits neighbors. All it wants is toprosper and get onwith building its economy. A recent article bythe New York Times correspondent inTehran is worth reading. The writer points outthat most Iranians don't want war withthe US or Israel butalso are afraid that inthe madness ofthis fake news war their country could just incidentally slip intoa major confrontation.

Meanwhile, the same journal's OpEd editor publishes the worst piece ofcliche-packed baloney onthe Assad government that I have ever read. Call centre journalism bytwo armchair geopolitical experts fromacademia whose 'information' might aswell have been provided tothem byClinton's 'regime change' fanatics. Garbage which really shouldn't have made it intoprint inthe first place and was two years outof date anyway.
But this disinformation is worrying. We are living introubled times witha US president who is perhaps not mad, butcertainly narcissistic ona worrying scale, capable ofanything just toget a few headlines.


The Iranians don't want war. And neither does Hezbollah inLebanon. In fact, the more I listen toNasrallah, the more I'm impressed byhim. His recent speech made a lot ofsense and he came acrossas the only rational player inthis game. Unlike Trump and Netanyahu, the Shiite leader takes a pragmatic and intelligent approach towhat is happening which merely confirms what I have always believed: the American people and the West ingeneral is being sold a lie once again abouta "threat" inthe Middle East.

Nasrallah: Vendicated bythe Past?

Remember 'weapons ofmass destruction' and the western leaders, including Blair, who signed upto sexed upintel aboutSaddam?

Nasrallah points outan irony inthe Iran so-called "threat" though which is hard toignore: he said inhis speech that it is Israel's not Iran's nuclear program which is the real threat and will be the ultimate downfall ofIsrael. But he also points outthat forthe first time ever, a massive defensive wall is being built bythe Israelis ontheir border withLebanon and that ammonia stocks inHaifa have recently been moved so asto not present Hezbollah witha sitting duck target.
"For Israel, the political circumstances towage a war againstLebanon are always there, due toan Arab cover that let Israel attack Lebanon in2006, and these circumstances are stronger now" he says. "As forthe nuclear power inIsrael that threatens the whole regionwe are turning it toa threat onIsrael itself", adds the Hezbollah leader.


The problem withfake news is that it generates fake news threats and ultimately war. Trump's churlish and feeble attack onfake news is insincere and a sham. His logic is asperverse asthe dog owner who chastises others forbeing cruel tohis animal: "Only I'm allowed tobeat my own dog" is the sullied rationale. Trump does not hate fake news. He just hates it when it doesn't work his way. What we are seeing inthe Middle East is fake news which is not being questioned byUS media and it is escalating rapidly towardsa war once again. Both Trump and Netanyahu are really the only threat topeace inthe Middle East and need a war withIran and Hezbollah tonourish their own political objectives and they will be supported byGulf Arabs who are sore losers inthe Syrian War who only want tosettle the score. It seems though that they have got their information aboutHezbollah inLebanon wildly wrong forthe second time inten years or they are believing their own fake news.

Martin Jayia is a Beirut-based journalist, he recently won the U.N.'s prestigious Elizabeth Neuffer Memorial Prize (UNCA) inNew York, forhis journalism work inthe Middle East.

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