Monday, July 18, 2005

Lebanon Watch

This is important. Haaretz is reporting this:
Lebanon's parliament passed a law on Monday granting amnesty to jailed former anti-Syria Christian warlord Samir Geagea, paving the way for his release after 11 years in prison.

Geagea was the only warlord to be jailed for crimes during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. He is expected to walk out of his cell at the Defence Ministry in a few days after the bill is signed by President Emile Lahoud.

Samir Geagea and Michel Aoun were both leaders (and other times deadly rivals) of different Christian milita forces during the Lebanese civil war. Michel Aoun has been calling for the release of Geagea since shortly before his return to Lebanon and constantly since his return from exile. No doubt Hezbollah will consider this an omnious sign, and if it finds the prospect a little to threatening; look for an attack on Israel in the coming week or so.

The Lebanon Daily Star has a few more details in its report; including how the Hezbollah MP block staged a walkout as a protest on the vote to pardon Geagea.

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