BEIRUT (AP) – The unveiling of a large statue in Beirut of an Iranian commander killed by the US last year has sparked outrage among many in Lebanon – the latest manifestation of a growing rift between supporters and opponents of the BEIRUT (AP) Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
The bronze bust of Gen. Qassem Soleimani was erected by the Ghobeiry municipality on Tuesday in a Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut airport to commemorate the slain general’s supporting role in Lebanon’s wars with Israel. Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s proxy militias in the Middle East, was killed in a U.S. drone crash near Baghdad airport a year ago.
Many Lebanese, mostly critics of Hezbollah, have turned to social media to celebrate the celebration of a foreign military leader in the Lebanese capital. ‘Occupied Beirut’, tweeted a Lebanese Amin Abou Mansour who posted it with the hashtag #BeirutFree_IranOut.
Others lament what they described as the cultural hegemony of militant Hezbollah and its ally, Iran. Wael Attallah, a Lebanese Canadian, tweeted: ‘This is a cultural aggression imposed on Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese today feel violated and powerless. The rift widens day by day, little by little. ”
One Lebanese media personality said she received death threats after her criticism on social media about the new statue.
The criticism caused a backlash from fans, who started a Twitter storm with the hashtag: #Soleimani-is-one-of-us.
The assassination of Soleimani and a leading Iraqi military leader at Baghdad airport last year significantly increased tensions in the region, sparking outrage among their supporters and bringing Iran and its allies and the US closer to an overall conflict. Iraq and Hezbollah, Iran’s closest allies in the region, called for US troops to be expelled from the region and threatened to take revenge for the killings of the two commanders.
The fallout over the Soleimani statue reflects the deepening divisions in the small country that has become increasingly in line with Iran, alienating traditional Arab and Western supporters.
An article on the online website Al-Modon calls the bust in southern Beirut a “symbol of (an) Iranian mandate” in Lebanon that replaces the symbols of a bygone era when photos or statues of Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul -Nasser and Syrian President Hafez Assad. was common.
The bronze bust of about 3 meters (10 feet) is located in a roundabout in a street named after the Iranian general and is connected to a highway named after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini – a reflection of the growing Iranian influence in Lebanon.
Giant posters of Soleimani were also installed along the highway of the airport and in streets and neighborhoods connected to Hezbollah, which in some cases provoked angry reactions from the locals.
On the eastern Bekaa highway to the Brital area, unknown men burned down a billboard of Soleimani on Sunday, according to local TV channel LBC.
The next day, other portraits of Soleimani north of Beirut in Nahr al-Kalb were burned by men who swung the portraits of Bachir Gemayl, who was assassinated in 1982.