The Iranian Beachhead in Lebanon

All the Western efforts to strengthen the "pro-west" Siniora Government are proving to be useless. Iran is filling the void. Soon Iran will claim that the Shabaa farms are really theirs. Is anyone really surprised?

"Iran builds a presence in Lebanon" by Raed Rafei and Borzou Daragahi for the LA Times:

Along the roadways of southern Lebanon, thousands of banners festoon street lights and utility poles. They feature a distinctive symbol, a red inscription from the center of Iran's flag, protectively swathing Lebanon's iconic green cedar.

The emblem belongs to the Iranian reconstruction organization. Its presence delivers a message that is not lost on critics of Iran's role here, nor supporters who have watched cratered roads filled in, damaged school walls resurrected and life return to some semblance of normalcy over the last year.

Other countries "have reconstructed everything: the schools, the buildings, the roads," said Nazim Khanafer, a 47-year-old building contractor in Ainata, a town ruined in the war between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah a year ago. It is now being rebuilt with the help of Iran and other countries. "They have paid money to the people, unlike the government."

The countdown to the fall of the government has begun.

"There is a feeling that the state is absent from the reconstruction process," said Ali Amine, who has been closely following the rebuilding efforts in the south as an editor for Al Balad, a daily newspaper. "The government has shown no real interest in what happens in the south."

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaking Tuesday via giant screens placed in a south Beirut square, declared that his Iranian-backed group had spent $381 million to provide temporary shelter for 25,000 families, restore infrastructure and buildings and revive the economy. He accused the government of slowing down payments of $1 billion it had collected from international donors.

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