Give Tripoli And Akkar Some Credit

While we are all equal partners in making this victory happen, the loud and sincere support the Army got in Tripoli and Akkar will help make sure this tragedy doesn’t happen again in the future..

Jubilation in Tripoli

The episode was a resounding Intelligence failure from Alquaeda.

Assafir’s main story yesterday detailed what we knew all along. That Alquaeda believed that the Northern Sunni city of Tripoli would be a friendly environment for it to start violent activities that would ultimately culminate in an “Islamic Emirate” in Northern Lebanon.

The plan didn’t work out, not only because Alquaeda didn’t understand the nuances in Tripoli, but because the people of Tripoli and Akkar rejected being part of an Islamic state and stuck with their Lebanese Identity. They have instinctively sided with the Lebanese Army and wholeheartedly welcomed their victory. (Just ask Absi’s wife who said she was “disappointed” by the backstabbing from alleged Tripoli accomplices)

Distaste for the city of Tripoli and its people can sometimes be felt in opposition circles. Hezbollah’s supporters think that Tripolitans and Akkaris are betraying “The real cause” by supporting leaders they perceive as American stooges (Tripoli is a strong supporter of PM Seniora). The FPM has also lately gotten into the habit of lumping all Hariri-supporting Sunnis (liberals, moderates and pro-Hariri Islamists) into the same camp as the fringe Salafist-jihadis terrorists, sometimes making outrageous claims like “it is Mr. Hariri himself who is funding and arming them.”

But Tripoli and Akkar deserve more. 

If I were an Alquaeda leader watching the news from outside and seeing TV footage of Northern Lebanese Muslims overjoyed by my defeat, i would fire behead my intelligence chief and start searching for a different place to wage my Jihad.

The people of the North deserve credit for opposing terrorism the same way the people of the South deserve credit for opposing Israel.