The ‘Syyid’

There was a constant flow of beer and nicotine giving life to the place. The bar was crowded. I could hear laughs, silly talks, political debates, and black humor. We were sitting outside; the bar had a section outdoors on some form of a balcony. Inside the TV was visible for us through the glass window which formed the alternative of a wall. Friends were still coming and the table was getting smaller and the crowd bigger. On the screen an announcement said that the Secretary General of the Hezbollah was going to have a speech in some moments. Everyone in the bar was waiting impatiently. An hour passed before his face filled the screen, he had the Lebanese flag behind him and the flag of the Hezbollah. The moment we saw him, we left our outdoor seats to go inside in order to listen to the speech, everyone else did the same. A sudden silence occupied the room broken by some cheers.

Today Israel threatened to bomb Beirut the city not the Suburbs and everyone was expecting the ‘Syyid’ to reply. His words were captivating like always, he made a presentation of the field work until this day, the achievements and the perspectives – it was not propaganda material it was a calm reading of a battle. He repeated the stance of the Resistance as a defense force and not as aggressors; the moment Israel stops bombing the Hezbollah missiles will stop falling on northern Palestine. He criticized the Israeli press control and the tactics of hiding their losses and fabricating their victories. He talked about 2 major achievements of the Israeli army: the Qana massacre, which as he believes aims at terrorizing the people of the south, and the Baalbek kidnapping of a poor guy and his family for the stupid reasons that he bears the same name as him. In fact this act of kidnapping of 5 civilians should be at least condemned by the world for being illegal, or is it just the kidnapping of Israeli SOLDIERS that is a terrorist act? Everyone was laughing; the Syyid has a very acute sense of humor. He ridiculed the Israeli command and the Prime Minister and asked the Israeli people to revise their minds and see if in fact Olmert did anything good in this whole crisis and told them they were living in a fabricated illusion.

We rose our glasses to his health. A cheer was heard in the bar. Then he took the stand we were waiting for: if Beirut is bombed, Tel Aviv will also be bombed; a capital for a capital. It would not be an action but a counteraction; a retaliation. A resistance cannot be defeated with all the weapons of the world; it can neither be crushed with warplanes that kill women and children nor with smart bombs that target civilian infrastructures. These crimes only make it stronger. He spoke of Lebanon not of Syria or Iran, he spoke of a a tiny country that stood alone against one of the strongest armies in the world and against the whole world, for pride, land and freedom. Lebanon will not become Iraq or Afghanistan, nor will it become an American protectorate. The speech was over and again glasses were raised for the health of the Syyid: let them bomb Beirut, we will remain here, sitting, drinking, laughing, living and waiting for their planes. We are a people that fears not the sounds of falling bombs, we do not have nervous breakdowns when a missiles drops nearby. It is not about bravery but about having a cause that is right and a spirit that cannot be killed. As I am writing these words the sound of explosions is disturbing the night of Beirut, it is still on the Suburb. It is us who are defending ourselves. It is us who are fighting terrorism.