War in Lebanon: The Mircocosom Between the Middle East and the West

On the map, Israel and Lebanon are seemingly insignificant countries. Yet, since 9/11, it has been realized that the Middle East, and moreover, the region where Israel and Lebanon are found seems to be key U.S.'s security.

When one thinks of the recent 2006 Lebanon War, it is often assumed it was a war in the Middle East not concerning America or any of the westernized world. Lebanon possessesboth many sects of Christianity and almost an equal number of Sunni and Shiite Muslims. In addition, its geographical location allows us to look at the problems and reasons for religious tension throughout the world.

The question is posed, why is there so much tension between these religions and their individual sects? Moreover, how is the Westernized world, more specifically the U.S., affected by the troubles of the Middle East and how does it affect them? There is no better country to use as a microcosm than Lebanon.

The Lebanese War, the July War,or also known in Israel as the Second Lebanon War, was a military conflict betweenLebanon and northern Israel. The main parties involved were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on July 12, 2006 and continued until the United Nations brokered a ceasefire effective on August 14, 2006. However, the war did not formally end until early September when Israel lifted their naval blockade of Lebanon.

These wars symbolize struggles and tensions between Muslims, between Jews and Muslims, between Christians and Muslims, and (on a higher scale) the tensions between the Middle East and the Western world. These oppositions are centrally driven by the Hezbollah, a group of radical fundamental Shiite Muslims supported by Syria whom the U.S. has labeled as terrorists. It places in a nutshell, all the problems that have been suturing for the past few decades.

Syria, a country that was the puppeteer for the Lebanese government for many years, still desires governmental power. Thus they have supported and employed the Hezbollah. On the other end of the struggle is Israel. Israel has been the world's only Jewish nation since 1948. It has a liberal democracy and is supported by the United States, whom is the world's largest predominantly Christian country. Another involved party is the Sunnis. In this situation they were against the Shiites and fighting on behalf of the Christians.

Though Lebanon is a rather small country that lies on the coast of the Mediterranean and borders Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, it possessesunique viewpoints for being a Middle Eastern country. Located between two countries with equally different viewpoints, this serves as a grave problem.

The conflict began after Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli border villages while kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and killing three others. Israeli troops attempted to rescue the abducted soldiers but were unsuccessful. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon. These attacks damaged Lebanese civilian infrastructures, including the airport, which Israel said Hezbollah used to import weapons. Hezbollah then continued launching more rockets into northern Israel and engaged the Israel Defense Forces in guerrilla warfare from hardened positions.

More than one thousand people died in this conflict, most of which were Lebanese. After the ceasefire, much of Southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to unexploded bombs. On August 11^th 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the United Nations Resolution 1701 in an effort to end the hostilities. The resolution, which was approved by both Lebanese and Israeli governments in the following days, called for the disarmament of Hezbollah, withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon, and the deployment of Lebanese soldiers with an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

If a broad comparison was to be made of the West (U.S.A. and Europe) and the Middle East, we could begin to understand the tensions that lie on a smaller scale between Israel and Lebanon. Israel, a Jewish nation, lies amidst a throng of Islamic countries. Moreover, it is supported by the world's strongest power and largest, predominantly Christian nation: the United States. The United States, which has issued itself with the manifesto of spreading democracy and freedom throughout the entire world, has an established ideology that there should be a distinct separation between church and state. This westernized mindset has been applied to Israel as well as Lebanon (Lebanon was colonized by the French). On the other end of the spectrum lies Syria and (to a certain degree) Lebanon, which is an Islamic country believing in Dih wu Dowla (Arabic: State and Religion). This is an old Arabic saying, communicating that the state and religion are one. It also states that the Qur'an (the holy book of Islam) is the principal law. At the same time, there is a complete break in the religion that separates the Muslims into two sects: the Sunni (followers of the Caliphs and the elected Imams) and the Shiites (followers of Mohammad with Ali as his rightful successor). This division dates back to the sixth century.

The differences in these sects are magnified when we look at how Lebanon is divided. The country is divided by the desires of the countries that it be Islamic, and the group of radical Muslims, Hezbollah, but also supported by Syria in aiding this effort; yet, it is still influenced by the mindset of the West and France to the point where French is still a national language. This influence was the result of France's colonization of Lebanon. Another factor is Lebanon's infrastructure, having been interwoven with both Islam and Christianity. The current status holds the Muslims as the majority. However, Christianity dominated the country for so many years before this that, consequently, the views of Christianity are still an essential element. Still, within Lebanon there is a strong Muslim divide which some would even say is the real reason for the war. Hezbollah attacked Israel from Lebanon. This put a lot of pressure and tension on Lebanon from the world outside the Middle East since Israel is supported by the U.S., which is, obviously, in an ongoing fight against "terrorism." Their attacks were caused by a series of circumstances: Israel's occupation of the Sheba farms, a ten square mile plot of land that was once owned by Syria then Lebanon, the fact that three Lebanese prisoners were never released proceeding the Civil war, and the idea that (according the their dogma) Israel is an illegitimate state. The fact of the matter is, when an understanding begins to occur that these situations go deeper than mere, general tensions caused by numerous nations (which for some unknown reason cannot get seem to get along), then change can occur in the manner these events are carried out. Still yet, we will realize that whatever happens, anywhere in the world, even in seemingly insignificant countries, such as Lebanon and Israel, westernized world, and moreover the U.S. is involved to the point where the situation could possibly, directly or indirectly, control our security.