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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Syrian War Is Creating a Massive Kidnapping Crisis in Lebanon
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/the-syrian-war-is-creating-a-massive-kidnapping-crisis-in-lebanon/279414/Shi'ite masked gunmen from the Meqdad clan, gather at the Meqdad family's association headquarters in the southern suburbs in Beirut. (Khalil Hassan/Reuters)
Im talking to perhaps one of the most dangerous criminals in Lebanon, but hes being unexpectedly polite.
My fixer and I drove through impossibly winding roads in the Bekaa Valley to get to his house, a squat, bunker-like building with a brand-new Hummer in the driveway. We announced ourselves to the child that opened the door; a little boy who looked to be about eight or nine. He led us into a small room to wait. There was a machine gun on a stand pointed at the window and a large block of hashish wrapped in plastic on the coffee table. The boy calmly picked up the hash and carried it out of the room. The machine gun stayed.
His father, a well-known narcotics dealer and member of the Jaafar family, one of Lebanons notorious Shiite clans, eventually came in and greeted us. He now sits next to me, solicitously asking what I would like to drink and whether I could use some food. His English isnt good, so my fixer does most of the talking.
The Sunni people are acting like thugs, the man says. Theyre trying to make a sectarian war. Theyre the ones who are kidnapping and killing people, throwing bombs, eating hearts.
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The Syrian War Is Creating a Massive Kidnapping Crisis in Lebanon (Original Post)
xchrom
Sep 2013
OP
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)1. that is the best article i have read about the situation in the region
tribalism and international politics. so whose side are we going to be on....
zappaman
(20,606 posts)2. Du kick and Rec! n/t
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)3. Druze minority. Something else I have to look up and learn.
MelungeonWoman
(502 posts)4. Written by the daughter of Terry Anderson.
Excellent reporting. Tit for tat abductions. I just can't understand why Americans don't want some of that.
Yes, that was sarcasm.