The March 14 Alliance (Arabic: تحالف 14 آذار‎), or M14, named after the date of the Cedar Revolution, is a coalition of anti-Syrian political parties and independents in Lebanon, led by MP Saad Hariri, younger son of Rafik Hariri, the assassinated former prime minister of Lebanon, Samir Geagea president of the Lebanese Forces, former President Sheik Amine Gemayel and MP and former minister Walid Jumblatt of Progressive Socialist Party. Free Patriotic Movement of General Michel Aoun left the Alliance (March 14 was not an established alliance back then) before 2005 general elections due to major disagreements and became part of March 8 Alliance year 2006.

At the last legislative elections, May and June 2005, the alliance became the dominant group in parliament with 72 MP:s out of 128. Currently the Alliance has 68 of 127 MP:s because of assassinations, a defection and a natural death.


Unknown "Habibi<3" Crazy - 16 years, 2 months, 9 days ago

The Military Assault
Hezbollah's assault against Beirut's neighborhoods was completed rather swiftly, especially since there was no organized resistance to it – contrary to earlier claims by some commentators that Saad Hariri's Future Movement (FM) was arming and training its own militia with Saudi and US support. Any resistance to Hezbollah's encroachment came from non-militia inhabitants of the (predominantly Sunni) neighborhoods under attack.

Hezbollah militiamen were joined by fighters from the Shiite Amal militia and the pro-Syrian militia, the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party (SSNP). According to one report in the pro-Hezbollah paper, al-Akhbar, the plan of attack had been drawn in advance by the recently assassinated Hezbollah commander, Imad Mughniyeh.

Hezbollah mirrored the Syrian regime's priority of targeting the free media, as its militiamen and their allies proceeded to storm, ransack and torch pro-March 14 media outlets in Beirut.

The militias proceeded to surround and attack Hariri's headquarters in Qoreitem, as well as the Beirut residence of Druze leader Walid Jumblat and the offices of his Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). They also surrounded the government Serail, amidst calls by pro-Syrian tools to run it down and forcefully remove Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Both Hariri and Jumblatt issued direct orders to their guards not to fire back at the attackers.

At this stage, Hezbollah made the fateful decision to expand its operation to the Druze Shouf mountains. This proved a decisive mistake, as Hezbollah was unable to take a single village, even though it attacked on multiple fronts from the west, east and south. It was repelled on all fronts. Hezbollah then had to introduce mechanized units (trucks mounted with recoilless rifles and heavy machine guns) as well as mortars and rockets – all indicators that the infantry units were not capable of penetrating the villages. PSP reports cited at least three-dozen dead Hezbollah fighters
Unknown "Habibi<3" Crazy - 16 years, 2 months, 11 days ago

The Progressive Socialist Party (or PSP) (Arabic "الحزب التقدمي الاشتراكي" al-hizb al-taqadummi al-ishtiraki) is a political party in Lebanon. Its current leader is Walid Jumblatt. It is ideologically secular and officially non-sectarian, but in practice is led and supported mostly by followers of the Druze faith.

The party was founded on 5 January 1949, and registered on 17 March the same year, under notification N°789. The founders comprised six individuals, all of different backgrounds. The most notable of these was Kamal Jumblatt (Walid Jumblatt's father). The others were Farid Joubran, Albert Adeeb, Abdallah Alayli, Fouad Rizk, and George Hanna.

The PSP held in Beirut the first conference for the Socialist Arab Parties in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Iraq in 1951. From 1951 through 1972 the party had between three and six deputies in parliament.[1]

The PSP under Kamal Jumblatt was a major element in the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) which supported Lebanon's Arab identity and sympathised with the Palestinians. Despite Jumblatt's initial reluctance to engage in paramilitarism, it built a powerful private army, which proved to be one of the strongest in the Lebanese Civil War of 1975 to 1990. It conquered much of Mount Lebanon and the Chouf District. Its main adversaries were the Maronite Christian Phalangist militia, and later the Lebanese Forces militia (which absorbed the Phalangists). The PSP suffered a major setback in 1977, when Kamal Jumblatt was assassinated. His son Walid succeeded him as leader of the party.

From the Israeli withdrawal from the Chouf in 1983 to the end of the civil war, the PSP ran a highly effective civil administration, the Civil Administration of the Mountain, in the area under its control. Tolls levied at PSP militia checkpoints provided a major source of income for the administration, which succeeded in providing a high standard of social and public services.

The PSP played an important role in the so-called "Mountain War" under the lead of Walid Jumblatt: after the Israeli Army retreated from the Lebanese Mountain, important battles took place between the PSP and Christian militias. PSP armed members were accused of several massacres that took place during that war (31 August 1983: 36 civilians in Bmarian, 7 September 1983: 200 Christian civilians killed in Bhamdoun, 10 September 1983: 64 in Bireh, 10 September 1983: 30 in Ras el-Matn, 11 September 1983: 15 in Maasser Beit ed-Dine, 11 September 1983: 36 in Chartoun, 13 September 1983: 84 in Maasser el-Chouf, and many others...).

Since the restoration of constitutional rule in 1989, PSP leader Walid Jumblatt participated in a number of governments, but, after the Syrian Accountability Act and the UN Resolution 1559, joined the opposition and took up a position opposed to the role of Syria in Lebanon's politics. Unlike some opponents of the Syrian presence, he did not oppose the presence of the Syrian army per se, but contended that the Syrian intelligence services were exerting undue influence.

Following the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, calling for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, Jumblatt was particularly prominent in the opposition. However, he was opposed to the demand that Hezbollah be disarmed, and insisted on maintaining relations with the Shia Islamist party. Later, he has drifted into sharp opposition towards the group, and has decided to support their disarmament, claiming that Syria and Iran are trying to take over Lebanon through Hezbollah.

Unknown "Habibi<3" Crazy - 16 years, 2 months, 11 days ago

The Druze (Arabic: درزي, plural دروز, durūz) are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of the Ismaili sect of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies. Because of such incorporation, many Islamic scholars label the Druze as a non-Muslim religion, even though the Druze are officially classified as Muslims.[6]

Theologically, Druze consider themselves "an Islamic Unist, reformatory sect".[7][8] The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid "People of Monotheism or Unitarianism" or al-Muwahhidūn "Unitarians, Monotheists." The origin of the name Druze is traced to Nashtakin ad-Darazi, one of the first preachers of the religion, though the primary leader of the faith was the Persian mystic Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad.


Unknown "Habibi<3" Crazy - 16 years, 2 months, 11 days ago