Saturday, August 11, 2007
Charles Levinson reports from Lebanon how Hizballah has been rebuilding, and closing off more sections of the country: Tracking Hezbollah north of the Litani
“Who sent you?†they asked. “What are you doing here.â€
“Our mistake,†we said, and hurried out of there before they thought to stop us.
The sign is new since last summer’s war, a 19 year old from Rihane told us.
“We used to run around and play in that valley, but now no one can go there,†he said. “There are a lot more areas like that today than there used to be. There is more security everywhere now. The resistance is preparing itself. They’re much more curious than ever before.â€...
It's another sort of remodeling that's even more interesting, however:
All these villages are poor, in a state of general decline, and were thus unable to resist when a wealthy Shiite businessman named Ali Tajeddine offered to buy their land for two and four times its estimated value. Tajeddine is originally from the village of Hanaouay outside Tyre. He made his money trading diamonds in Sierra Leone before moving back to Lebanon and starting a successful contracting business. It’s said he’s funded by Iran and he’s widely believed to have strong ties to Hezbollah. He is reportedly a key player in Jihad al Binna (the Building Jihad), Hezbollah’s post-war reconstruction outfit.
Qotrani has sold off some 200 to 300 acres to Tajeddine, including just about all of Shbayl, which is technically part of Qotrani.
“They are trying to make demographic changes here. There are new people coming,†Qotrani’s mayor told us. “Shiites have moved here from the south and are living in apartments belonging to Ali Tajeddin, but we’re poor. What can we do?â€...
More on that at Levinson's post. The Druze and Christians better be careful. I know a certain mouse that was beaten to death under similar circumstances. There are no Jews involved here, though, so no one should mind the ethnic reconstruction.
In similar news, Lebanese authorities have discovered Hizballah has been building its own secret phone network in parallel to the public one.