I am the Sheik of Araby
Your love belongs to me
At night when you're asleep
Into your tent I will creep
The starrs that shine above
Will light our way to love
You rule this world with me
I am the Sheik of Araby

(Rudolph Valentino's "The Sheik")

'Imad Mughniyah was killed in Damascus, in that uniquely modern Lebanese way of settling scores- a car bomb. Except this time there were outsiders involved, and he was killed in a tightly-controlled Arab police state. Mughniyah was a Hizbollah operative and strategist, and he was all over the place during the 1980s, but he seemed to have faded from the public scene in recent years. He had been accused of involvement in various acts of sabotage and terrorism: from the bombings against US and French military bases in Beirut (1983) to the bombings of US Embassy and other installations in Kuwait City, to various hijackings. Some probably far-fetched reports have even linked him, along with al-Qaeda, to the al-Khubar bombings in Saudi Arabia during the 1990s.

In many ways, as a young man he summarized the Arab East as it was durng the 1980s: the beginnings of Shi'a stirrings in the region, especially in Lebanon where they had a plurality but were marginalized economically and politically. Politically, they were largely "owned" by a few Shi'a feudal families. The 1980s, after the ill-advised Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the ourtbreak o the Iran-Iraq War, saw the genesis of Hizbullah as we know it and the growth of the older Amal Shi'a organization. The ill-advised US military incursion in Beirut under Reagan provided a new impetus for Hizbullah recruiters and gave its planners a tempting target, which they hit.
The US mission in Beirut was in some ways a mini-Vietnam, it represented the same type of folly: placing small US military units in precarious positions in the middle of a hostile population.

The method of Mughniyah's death is not strange, not for a Lebanese fighter or even politician, but the venue is. Inter-Lebanese scores are usually settled in-country, which indicates that some foreign power(s) was behind the operation. Besides, he had been more active outside Lebanon and was wanted by several foreign countries, including being on the FBI most-wanted list. Hizbullah has already blamed the Israelis, as have other Arab sources and Iran, which means that if a foreign power was behind it, the Israellis were involved.

The most ridiculous take on him, outside Lebanon, tended to be in conservative US media. The most absurd was mentioned in Wikipedia as follows:

"Some foreign policy experts, including conservative Michael Ledeen, have claimed that Mughniyah had a strong working relationship with Al Qaeda and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi especially in recent years with the invasion of iraq."

Some clever "experts"!: given the Salafi hatred of Shi'as, a Hizbullah-alQaeda alliance would be like a Nazi-Jewish marriage, impossible for anyone with any sense to perceive...except perhaps for the "experts" mentioned above. These are the same people who tried to tie Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day in many places- ok, ok, I forgot that it is banned is Saudi Arabia. Anyway, tomorrow the Lebanese cabinet and its allies were scheduled to commemorate the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. They had planned a huge demonstration in support of the cabinet. So far, most Lebanese leaders, including Mr. Saniora, have condemned the killing of Mughniyah and made the appropriate noises for such an occasion. This attitude from its Lebanese allies will not please the Bush administration: he was accuseed of involvement in killing many US citizens abroad and was wanted in the country.

Some politicians are even calling for a joint commemoration of both Mughniyah and Hariri. Odd, but then that is Lebanon and it is Valentine's Day in many places (except Riyadh, and I am not sure about Qom).
We may see a Lebanese joint political and mourning potluck tomorrow, but it won't last.
Cheers
Mohammed