The session has started. Join us with your questions.
Answer
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Name
chelh
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Profession
Question
Hello,
We all understand that Israel is US demand for Syrian to pull its troops from Lebanon... in your opinion what is Israel's next step once Lebanon is liberated from Syria? Is Hizbullah capable of defeating Israel if it were to be attacked?
Thank you.
Answer
With respect to the weapons of Hizbullah and disarming the Islamic resistance, right now this issue is being discussed politically. The pressure may increase in the coming period, but Hizbullah has many factors to face these pressures, especially that the Lebanese parties reject disarming Hizbullah and call on the party to cooperate in order to face the coming stage. In case political pressure fails, the military option would be the second choice to pressure Hizbullah and the resistance, but this option won’t succeed, because Hizbullah has many capabilities, whether military or public. We have to follow up on what is going to happen in the few coming days to see how things will turn out locally and regionally.
Name
momina
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Profession
Question
Al-salamu Aleikum,
My question is more religious: after the problems in Iraq, and now Syria, is there any hadiths claiming that Al-mahdi will come, and these are just signs of the end?
Shukrann.
Answer
I do not agree with applying religious sayings (Hadith and Quran) to the political issues, regardless of the correctness of these verses and Hadith and their interpretations. We have to deal with the political issue by analyzing information and understanding what is going on, through a comprehensive Islamic view to the events in the Islamic world.
Editor: Please direct your religion-related question to the Ask the Scholar page.
Name
sis_ta
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Profession
Question
What is the group Hizbullah's main purpose? Could you please give me some background on the group?
Jazakallah.
Answer
Hizbullah was founded in 1982 to fight the Israeli occupation of Lebanon, and it succeeded within the last 20 years in achieving this goal to a great extent. But the party has other goals at the social, educational, and political levels, which made it become a major political power in Lebanon. The party calls now for the reform of the political system in Lebanon and for achieving social justice, but it still considers the existence of the resistance (militarily speaking) vital to fight the Israeli threat. This is why it rejects disarming the resistance, and it still continues to work in the political and educational fields. The pressure, however, will increase on the party, in the coming period, to halt its military role.
Name
khalid
- Morocco
Profession
student
Question
Do you think that Syria was behind the assassination of Hariri?
Answer
This issue has not been resolved till now, although most of the analysis points accusations towards Syria. We are waiting for the results of the investigation, which was conducted by the international team, to identify the perpetrators of the assassination.
Name
Yusuf
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Profession
Question
As-Salamu `alaykum.
According to some sources, Islamist movements are a breeding ground for terrorists. For starters, what do you think of this idea? Secondly, there is a nuclear problem pending between Iran and the States. Could you possibly tell me about how Islamist movements in Iran react to this problem? Thank you in advance.
Answer
We do not agree about considering Islamic movements terrorist movements, although some of the people who belong to these movements may commit violent acts. It is not correct, though, to accuse all Islamic movements of violence or terrorism. There are hundreds of Islamic movements who commit to political and cultural work.
Regarding the nuclear issue in Iran, the Iranian regime thinks it has the right to obtain nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and that Iran does not want to own nukes. The USA and Israel, however, are afraid that Iran will get nuclear energy, given the possibility of transforming this energy into a nuclear bomb. All the pressure being exerted now on Iran aims at stopping its development of nuclear technology. No pressure is being put on Israel, which already owns two hundred nuclear bombs, according to recent reports.
Name
Fatma
- Malaysia
Profession
Question
Do you think that it is likely for the US to bomb Syria?
Answer
Till now, there is no evidence showing a possibility of the USA starting a military operation against Syria, because that will have negative effects on Americans in the region. But the USA is currently resorting to political, diplomatic, and economic means in order to gain what it wants—whether regarding Iraq, Lebanon, or Palestine.
Name
Ahmed
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Profession
Question
Why didn't the Hizbollah-sponsored, pro-Syria demonstration get enough coverage in the Western media, although it was a big demostration?
What implications and significance does such a demo have?
Answer
The Lebanese, Arab, and Western media covered Hizbullah’s demonstration, and considered it one of the biggest demonstrations that took place in Lebanon. But it wouldn’t be of interest to the Western media to focus on this demonstration, because it does not coincide with their goals in pressuring Hizbullah and Syria. The significance of this demonstration lies in its assurance of the existence of a huge faction of the Lebanese people who refuse to harm Syrian interests and reject the disarming of Hizbullah as well as the implementation of UN resolution 1559. The demonstration also proves that is not true that opposition forces only have popular backing in Lebanon. The demonstration succeeded in making some kind of political balance between those who oppose Syria and those who support it.
Name
Jon
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Profession
Question
What is the stance of the majority of the Lebanese regarding the Syrian presence in their country?
Answer
Currently, there is almost a consensus on the necessity of the exit of Syrian troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon, whether on the basis of the Taif accord or the UN Resolution 1559. But this does not cancel the Lebanese people’s wish to have relations with Syria, because of the geographic, historic, and economic ties between the two neighbors. Moreover, most political parties in Lebanon refuse to harm Syria’s interests, or the Syrian people, whether there were Syrian troops in Lebanon or not.
Name
Abdullah
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Profession
Question
What are Israel's interests in Syria?
Answer
Israel now occupies part of the Syrian territories—in Golan—and it considers Syria a primary source of aid for the Palestinian armed factions; Israel also believes that Syria the leaders of Palestinian armed groups. This is why Israel wants to pressure Syria to stop supporting the resistance and accept a peace treaty with Israel, without giving Syria its rights, nor returning the Golan Heights. Moreover, Israel alleges that Syria has helped the resistance and Hizbullah in Lebanon obtain weapons to threaten Israel. The existence of a strong regime in Syria, which aids the resistance, poses a strategic threat for Israel.
Name
Peg
- United States
Profession
Question
Does Syria support terrorism in Iraq and Israel?
Answer
The Syrians always assert that they care about the security of Iraq and the Iraqi people. But there is some information that indicates that some of the people who carry out military operations in Iraq get some privileges in Syria, such as passing the borders to Iraq or gaining access to financial resources. But we should distinguish between two kinds of military operations in Iraq: operations that target the US army and the coalition forces on the one hand, and operations that target the Iraqi people on the other hand. The latter is what we call terrorist operations.
As for Israel, the operations that Palestinian factions carry out against the occupation are resistance operations, not acts of terrorism, and Syria is indeed hosting some of the leaders of the resistance movement, who were expelled by Israel, which also occupied their country. But Syria denies that the operations that occur in Israel against the Israeli army are orchestrated in its territory.
Name
Heba
- Egypt
Profession
Question
Is a civil war likely to erupt in Lebanon?
Answer
This is currently out of the question in Lebanon, because all Lebanese factions reject going back to war. The regional and international circumstances do not allow the occurrence of a civil war right now, but that does not rule out the existence of security tensions in some regions. But a decision has been taken by the Lebanese regime and army to prevent any further spread of such tensions, and this was evident in the last few weeks.
Name
Sara
- Egypt
Profession
Question
But other Arab countries also hosts leaders of the Palestinian resistance. Why aren't these countries accused by the international community of sponsoring terrorism too?
Answer
Accusing Syria of sponsoring terrorism is not only because of the existence of Palestinian leaders in its territory; it is directly associated with the Israeli-American campaign against Syria and the geographic and strategic location of Syria near Palestine, as well as Syria’s support for the Lebanese resistance, which succeeded in defying the Israeli occupation in south Lebanon, let alone the problems which occurred in the American-Syrian relations since the American occupation of Iraq. All these factors make the US and Israel accuse Syria of sponsoring terrorism. It is true that the Palestinian leaders visit also other countries, and live there temporarily or for long periods, but these countries have good ties with the US, which prevents the Americans from accusing these particular countries of sponsoring terrorism.
