Since the proclamation of its independent state in 1943, Lebanon has been moving from one occupation to another, whether public or hidden, and whether it is imposed by direct military force or by a Lebanese component. And in all cases, the occupier does its best to hold the reins of power in this small country - which carries in its very structure the seeds of its division - by watering these seeds to keep them growing. Consequently, they do not wither to allow the emergence of a final homeland for its entire people. A few days before Independence Day, which will be celebrated tomorrow, one of the suburbs of the capital Beirut was rocked by two explosions that targeted the Iranian embassy and blatantly conveyed the external polarization surrounding Lebanon, especially in regard to the side monopolizing its decision and dictating its policy, without the citizens having any say in it. The attack also constituted an unjustified response to the country's intentional implication by some of its people in the ongoing civil war in Syria, whose regime always perceived Lebanon as being a valve to defuse its tensions and an arena to address its opponents. However, this terrorist attack is one episode in a long series of actions and reactions that has been ongoing in Lebanon for decades, and whose perpetrators have been using the absence of a combining state, the weakness of its security institutions, the scattering of its political and religious loyalties and the prevalence of sectarianism over citizenship to recruit agents and collaborators and find defenders, supporters and deriders. The Lebanese themselves, along with the Palestinians, Syrians, Israelis, Iranians, Iraqis, Libyans and all the Arab and international intelligence apparatuses have been gnawing at Lebanon, infiltrating its regimes and exchanging strikes on and through its soil, without wasting any opportunity to weaken it and undermine its unity, despite their various slogans, goals and circumstances. And those of them who were targeted with an explosion today have certainly played a role – and more than once – in igniting the fuse or hitting the button, or are waiting for their turn to come again. The Iranians whose embassy was targeted are not peace doves or advocators of development and prosperity. They are part of most of Lebanon's ordeals, through different means and under many names. They are sponsoring loyal formations and groups and providing them with funds and arms, in order to use them to serve their political course which is based on the principle of permanent war to "liberate" whatever comes to mind, from the Shebaa Farms to Palestine, and maybe even Tetouan. By doing so, they are impersonating the Arabs and confiscating their causes. They have entered the Lebanese arena after the Syrians and based on their experience, and their entry was resounding with the detonation of two bases affiliated with the American and French troops in 1983, an attack whose commemoration was one month ago. Today, they are still strongly present through Hezbollah, which is heavily armed, and is imposing its program on the rest of the Lebanese, obstructing their political life whenever it is not just a cover for its policy, and threatening its security unless it is not a cover for its weapons and its fight alongside the Syrian regime. Hence, it is completely acting against the consensus and the neutrality which it previously ratified and approved, before they were disclaimed. The occupations are proceeding under different names and using different methods. And all that is left for Lebanon from its independence is its fading memory and a few speeches, modest shows, flags and rows of officials and medals. In the meantime, all that is left for the Lebanese from their state is bits and pieces, while awaiting the occupiers' completion of their task.
