And when clashes broke out in Nabatiyeh, a town in southern Lebanon that is dominated by Hezbollah and Amal, Western and local media zeroed in on the violence | Residents of the southern town of Machghara say Amal is taking names of protesters, deterring many from participating |
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At the protest in Tyre, blaring music made it difficult to have a meaningful conversation with any activists | The Lebanese army is and dependent on Washington and the EU for its survival |
The disproportionate focus on these rifts obscured the reality of southern Lebanon, where tensions have been brewing between Amal and Hezbollah.
The event was moderated by WINEP fellow Hanin Ghaddar, a native of Lebanon who has devoted her career to lobbying against Hezbollah | A man called Alaa Abou Fakher, a Choueifat Municipality official and member of the PSP, was under suspicious circumstances by a member of the army following a verbal altercation over the roadblock in Khaldeh |
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The roadblocks are organized and coordinated through WhatsApp groups | Amal and Hezbollah were rivals in the civil war |
One figure involved in the protest who is pushing the idea of regional economic integration with Syria is Charbel Nahas, secretary general of the political party Citizens In A State CIAS.
The belief in the US — as — is that by empowering the Lebanese Army, Hezbollah will become obsolete | Later in the night, Amal members provoked the protesters in a familiar attempt at intimidation |
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Meanwhile, Amal leader Nabih Berri, a civil war-era warlord who has been speaker of the parliament since the end of the civil war, has enriched himself on the back of his community | In conspiracy-riven Lebanon, many privately speculated that Joumblatt had him killed |
Despite all outside attempts to co-opt the movement, the protests remain solidly focused on opposing corruption and the government as a whole.
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