Lebanon - British Embassy Infiltrates Military Intelligence, Provides Snooping Equipment, Indoctrinates Young Palestinians
The British ambassador to Lebanon is 'very exited' to hand off some useless, half armored patrol vehicles to the Lebanese army:
Martin Longden @MlongdenUK - 12:25 UTC · Feb 1, 2021Very excited to witness the arrival in Beirut of 100 armoured patrol vehicles, a donation from 🇬🇧 to @LebarmyOfficial. This is a great practical example of the 🇬🇧 🇱🇧 partnership, and of our longstanding support for the LAF's vital role in keeping the Syria border safe and secure.
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Keeping the Syrian border safe and secure is certainly not a British priority. Let's not forget that it was Britain which hired various companies, led by 'former' British intelligence officers, who then organized and ran the propaganda campaigns for the Jihadi onslaught on Syria.
The same companies were hired to secretly create 'civil society' groups in Lebanon that were then used to demonstrate for 'regime change' and to pressure the Lebanese government. It was also Her Majesties Government which hired such intelligence cutouts to embed into and undermine Lebanon's justice and security services.
Lebanon's army was another target of British intelligence efforts to gain control over Lebanon's policies.
'Anonymous' hackers have recovered and published a third batch of documents which show how Britain infiltrated Lebanon's Armed Forces Military Intelligence Department. Other documents show that Britain supplied spying equipment to the intelligence services it had infiltrated. Another secret program was designed to infiltrate Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and to manipulate Palestinian youths.
For all this the British government is using company cutouts. A government's Terms of Reference document for the penetration of Lebanon's military intelligence describes how the vendor is supposed to proceed. The 'excuse' is to provide training and support for counter terrorism (emphasis added):
The objective of [British Embassy Beirut] is to increase the capacity, capability and Human Rights compliance of the LAF and Military Tribunal within the CT arrest to trial process. A compliant pathway through the Lebanese CT system is sought that could be used by UK law enforcement in the case of terrorism cases with UK links in Lebanon.Requirement
An external supplier is required to deliver a two year programme on behalf of the British Embassy Beirut working primarily with the Lebanese Armed Forces Department of Military Intelligence, but with scope to engage with a broader range of security services here, to develop their investigative processes and evidential standards.
Working primarily via a embedded CT adviser, the successful supplier will also be expected to demonstrate a broad range of areas of expertise available on call down as necessary, to effectively project manage the programme while reporting into BE Beirut, and to demonstrate that they have built in rigorous and independent M&E processes throughout the programming timeline.
The British government offered £600,000 for the two year project which ran from July 2018 to March 2020 but has been extended to 2022. Importantly the 'supplier' had been told to keep the project secret:
CONFIDENTIALITY AND PUBLICITYThe implementer is not permitted to speak publicly (to the media, companies unrelated to any HMG audits or at conferences) about their work without the explicit permission of HMG.
Torchlight, a British company that was involved in previous spying projects in Lebanon and elsewhere, made a bid for the contract. It delivered a number of documents that describe its plans, people and methodology for the project. Here is how it plans to gain access to the Department of Military Intelligence (emphasis added):
Gaining Access to Premises / Organisations. The intricate and complex political and sectarian affiliations and loyalties of the primary security agencies makes them ‘courteous but cautious’ and reserved hosts, both between agencies and external partners. Each organisation exists within a silo, with little evidence of inter or intra-agency coordination. Within the GSD, for example, investigative processes appear to operate under a strict need-to-know basis which, from our observations, seems to stifle internal partnership working and information sharing. We will astutely and sensitively navigate these complexities during the first deployment to further build trust and assurances around our ongoing and persistent presence in their facilities while respecting the sensitivities of the work involved. Since no formal process exists for securing access to LAF DMI facilities, our Mentor worked hard during the initial phase of this programme to develop and leverage trusted personal relationships to successfully secure clearance and admittance through stringent security checks. Based on this experience, and the robust and enduring nature of the relationships we have established, we are entirely confident of being able to secure ongoing access and office space within the LAF DMI compound for the duration of the programme. This will be further enabled by engaging senior LAF DMI leadership at the outset of the project, ensuring their buy-in to the programme, highlighting how the approach and strategic objectives are fully aligned with their own vision of change as articulated to us during a meeting in March.
A bit of social engineering (and maybe an occasional bribe) and whoops a British government agent has security clearance and sufficient access to freely roam inside Lebanon's military intelligence service.
As a follow on project to the above infiltration a Investigations and Digital Evidence Assistance (IDEA) program for Lebanon, Maldives, and Morocco was to be implemented. This would give Britain access to 'counter terrorism' data acquired and held by the intelligence services in those countries. It was again Torchlight which made an offer. As part of this it submitted its methodology for the project. From this we can glean that Torchlight will deliver hard and software that the intelligence agencies it has infiltrated will then use to sniff on phones and internet data.
Torchlight is equipment agnostic— we will only recommend equipment options that fit the solution. All potential suppliers undergo rigorous due diligence checks to ensure that we mitigate any risks that may affect delivery of outputs and outcomes. We maintain strong relationships with a wide variety of forensic equipment suppliers so that we can select the right solution for the requirement, and these established relationships also allow us to negotiate discounts, which we will pass on to the Authority to achieve VfM. For example, our market relationships and buying power recently enabled us to include a 10% discount for the purchase of digital forensic software to the British Embassy Amman. We will give due consideration to end user technical capability levels, maintenance requirements and fiscal sustainment needs (e.g. ongoing costs for licences, maintenance, software updates, patches etc) to ensure the equipment will continue to be used in a self‐sustaining manner independent of project support and be supported into the future. This is particularly critical because digital device technology is continuously advancing, and criminal actors are quick to adopt new technology solutions — law enforcement must therefore be equipped with a solution which can keep pace with these advances.
When Torchlight, working for the British government, provides equipment to other intelligence services one must assume that there will be backdoors built in which will give the British GCHQ and other Five-Eyes spy services direct access to it.
So far we have seen that the British government infiltrated Lebanon's civil society, its security services and courts as well as its army intelligence.
An even more sensitive environment in Lebanon are the Palestinian refugee camps. As pretext to infiltrate these HMG asked for offers for a secret counter-ISIS (DAESH) propaganda campaign.
This program had extraordinary secrecy requirements:
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You may only speak about the requirement in general terms when seeking local partners to deliver the requirement - you may not mention that the client is HMG.
One wonders why a program to counter ISIS would require such secrecy. But the need becomes obvious when one looks at who its target is.
Torchlight's bid for the project includes a Duty of Care statement:
Around 53% of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (around 450,000) live in the 12 recognised refugee camps. The ongoing conflict in Syria has forced many Palestinian refugees from that country to flee to Lebanon in search of safety. Most Palestinian militancy in Lebanon is confined to these camps.
...
Torchlight maintains strong connections into LAF Intelligence – who are officially mandated to administer and police the camps – through our own ongoing security programmes in Lebanon, as well as through the local NGOs with which we are partnering on this project, which operate in all 12 of the PRCs and have excellent relationships with both the LAF and the various militias that have a presence in the camps and have existing access permits in place. We also maintain strong networks within the international NGO community, including with Field Security Officers at UNRWA. While in the camps, we will ensure our project team are accompanied by local NGO staff who are familiar with the camp, its people and protocols, at all times. We are acutely aware of the potential threats of violent backlash towards beneficiaries as a result of perceptions around this programme, and have appropriately mitigated these in the design as described Sections 1.2.1 and 1.5.1.
Section 1.2.1 names seven local NGO's as partners for the project. The devised method for the project is to influence youth in the camps through various workshops and courses without letting them know that the program is part of a British anti-ISIS campaign. Section 1.5.1 is the Risk Assessment. It notes:
This programme will not be overtly branded as a CVE/C-Daesh programme and at no stage will we disclose HMG involvement in this programme.
The secret project, budgeted with £1.5 million, was to be led by Alicia Kearns, a public relation figure who previously worked for the British Ministry of Defense and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. There she was the top cheerleader for the 'moderate' Jihadis who attacked Syria: Her CV notes:
2014 - 2016Cross-Government lead for Syria and Iraq Communications, and Senior Advisor for Counter Daesh Communications, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Devised Prime Minister-approved communications strategy to defeat Daesh and support Syria. Led communications at UN-led Syria Peace Talks and supported Moderate Opposition. Led UK Government strategic communications/PR response to Russian military activity in Syria. Represented the UK Government at one-to-one meetings with Foreign Ministers, the most senior religious leaders of countries, NGOs, and foreign militaries for 15 countries. Member of Rapid Deployment Unit, assisting with crisis response to Sousse and Greece. Managed a team devising and delivering overt and discreet communications campaigns in the UK and Middle East. Also oversaw @UKAgainstDaesh twitter channel, taking it from 104th to 2nd most influential FCO Twitter account. Three bonuses for ‘exceptional’ delivery and nominated for exceptional policy delivery award. Security Awareness in Fragile Environments plus (SAFE+) training, including additional Hostile Environment Awareness Day course. Also Rapid Deployment trained for managing crises including evacuations.
All the British programs described in this series are designed to help the British government to achieve British aims. Britain is not creating loud youth groups demanding 'regime change' on Beirut's streets for the benefit of Lebanon. It does not infiltrate Lebanon's justice, security and military intelligence services out of pure generosity. When it secretly abuses NGO's to indoctrinate Palestinian youth it does not have the Palestinian's wellbeing in mind.
The money spent on all these secret infiltration programs is a multiple of the money spent to deliver those 100 useless patrol cars.
The described projects are dangerous for Lebanon and all its inhabitants. They open the country to extensive British spying and to manipulation from the inside.
The people of Lebanon should demand that their government end all such programs.
Posted by b on February 1, 2021 at 18:57 UTC | Permalink
location, location. israel wants lebanese water & oil & gas, america wants to block the bri. britain works for israel interests rather than britian's. location location. lebanon, myanmar & syria have the great misfortune of having caught the eye desirous eyes of predators.
Posted by: emersonreturn | Feb 1 2021 20:09 utc | 2
Again, why would the Brits be so interested in undermining Lebanon?
Not saying it isn't happening, but what's the reasoning behind these British operations?
And no, "all in support of Israeli efforts to destabilize neighboring Arab states" would not be a complete answer.
What does Britain want in Lebanon?
Posted by: Jay | Feb 1 2021 20:31 utc | 3
It’s really touching how the Brits and Americans give their crappy under-armored vehicles to their “allies” in the Middle East. The Iraqis got Humvees and the Lebanese got these Land Rovers. These vehicles were not very effective against IED blasts or RPG fire.
Besides, the Lebanese military is a sad joke that couldn’t fight its way out of a wet paper bag. It needs Hezbollah’s help for anything that requires more than dealing with small arms fire. These vehicles will hardly change that.
As for the covert ops, the US and UK do stuff in their overseas embassies that they’d never allow in foreign embassies on their own soil. Their hypocrisy knows no limits.
Posted by: Temporarily Sane | Feb 1 2021 20:48 utc | 4
Maybe the deep state gave the Lebanon franchise of the "seven countries in seven years" project to the Brits. Let the poodle pull some weight.
Posted by: NoOneYouKnow | Feb 1 2021 20:59 utc | 5
Now what makes you think our "intelligence" organizations haven't done this in their home countries? Seems to be the case to me.
Posted by: Mr. House | Feb 1 2021 20:59 utc | 6
@ Jay #3
What does Britain want in Lebanon?
The same that Cameron /Blair wanted from Qaddafi back in 2010/2011 - oil!
Jacob Rothschild must be working in the background for Block 8 and 9 should these go to Israel !
Posted by: Yul | Feb 1 2021 21:17 utc | 7
Temporarily Sane, 4:
Technically, neither Land Rovers nor Humvees were ever designed to be armored cars of any type.
They're supposed to be easy to drive general purpose vehicles. Of course, Humvees weigh at least 6000 pounds, so can't cross a makeshift bridge or readily be loaded on a cargo plane. Land Rovers just fail because of quality control problems, not the inherent engineering.
There's a reason that the basic Toyota pickup is popular in war zones, it doesn't break down, and 8-10 men can right one that's rolled on its side. No, not an armored car either.
Also IEDs based on anti-tank rounds--a very common type of IED--basically can't be stopped by anything short of exotic, extremely heavy, tank armor. Some times they can be deflected, and networks of added bars can be used to safely detonate them a couple feet away from the side of the vehicles. But only very heavy trucks or armored cars can carry such grids.
Posted by: Jay | Feb 1 2021 21:44 utc | 8
Again, why would the Brits be so interested in undermining Lebanon?
Not saying it isn't happening, but what's the reasoning behind these British operations?
And no, "all in support of Israeli efforts to destabilize neighboring Arab states" would not be a complete answer.
What does Britain want in Lebanon?
Posted by: Jay | Feb 1 2021 20:31 utc | 3
-----
Acting as a ZioNazi-proxy is more than sufficient to explain this.
Overt and covert ZioNazi infiltration of British political-parties and power-structures is common knowledge at this stage. Theres evidence aplenty for both.
[Likely MI5 agent] Keir Starmer, UK Labour party leader, recently employed a spy from Isreal's notorious military intelligence Unit 8200.
Former Israeli army spy recruited by Labour will feel right at home
When ZioSpys are now being openly and shamelessly employed by political parties in the UK, why wouldn't the answer to your question be "all in support of Israeli efforts to destabilize neighboring Arab states" ?
Posted by: Triden | Feb 1 2021 21:59 utc | 9
@ Jay #3
What does Britain want in Lebanon?
The same that Cameron /Blair wanted from Qaddafi back in 2010/2011 - oil!
Jacob Rothschild must be working in the background for Block 8 and 9 should these go to Israel !
Posted by: Yul | Feb 1 2021 21:17 utc | 7
---
Oil is certainly the answer one would give if one were determined to mislead.
Brits don't need oil from the Med. They still have plenty in the northsea. Nor is there enough oil available in the area the Rothschilds are alleged to covet, to make it worth their while.
Oil was also the goto answer for all the progressive pundits to explain the Iraq war. Just like "pipelines" was used by those same useful-idiots to "explain" both Afghanistsn and Syrian wars.
Complete nonsense, as the course of subsequent events has proven.
But useful nonsense, in order to distract from the 3rd rail answer
Posted by: Triden | Feb 1 2021 22:10 utc | 10
The french must have some hurt feelings about the british moving into their territory?!
Fantastic post b!
Posted by: tucenz | Feb 1 2021 22:17 utc | 11
My guess is that this overly-complex plotlette is about getting some intel on Hezbollah. It's 15 years since the IOF was booted out of Lebanon and then followed into "Israel" where it received another good kicking. War Nerd loved it almost as much as "Israel" hated it. And, OBVIOUSLY, they haven't mustered the chutzpah to try it again. So they STILL haven't got a handle on Hezbollah's organisation, operations and pecking order. And until they've figured out Hezbollah, they can't risk Bibi's Wet Dream, an attack on Iran because if Iran is attacked before Hezbollah has been neutered, there won't be an "Israel" left to host the gloat-fests.
One need only pay attention to the influence which "Israel" commands in Western Mock democracies to deduce that it owns more politicians than any other Lobby because it pays bigger "rewards" than other lobby. Of course it is possible that Her Majesty's Government is going to all this bother out of the Goodness Of Its Heart....isn't it?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Feb 1 2021 23:06 utc | 12
Good catch b, and unless I'm wrong in guessing, the U$A is up to its eyeballs in being complicit with the UK, and probably our favorite Zionist state also...
Posted by: vetinLA | Feb 1 2021 23:06 utc | 13
"Oil was also the goto answer for all the progressive pundits to explain the Iraq war. Just like "pipelines" was used by those same useful-idiots to "explain" both Afghanistsn and Syrian wars.
Complete nonsense, as the course of subsequent events has proven.
But useful nonsense, in order to distract from the 3rd rail answer"
Posted by: Triden | Feb 1 2021 22:10 utc | 10
It is layered like an onion where incendental thruth on one level is expected to have utility.
Posted by: dave | Feb 1 2021 23:07 utc | 14
Jay @ 3:
If someone were to answer your question to your full satisfaction, no doubt British intel would quickly be onto that person's trail immediately to take him/her down.
My suspicion though is that the answer goes a long way back into recent past history, past the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 that divided up the Middle East in the event of the downfall of the Ottoman Empire and which gave Iraq and much of the Arabian Peninsula to Britain and Lebanon and Syria to France. The British were then able to install Ibn Saud (1875 - 1953) as monarch of the newly created Saudi Arabia, and created and gave Jordan to the Hashemites (the current royal family of Jordan) to appease them for not making them the custodians of Mecca and Medina (because they claimed descent from the Prophet Mohammed).
The answer surely goes back to the weird belief, common among British political elites during the 19th century, that the British peoples are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and that the current British royal family is descended from the line of King David (and ultimately is related to Jesus, since Jesus was of the line of King David through his mother Mary). This belief is known as British Israelism and embraces British imperialism, racial hygiene and anti-Semitism. I should think the worldview of British Israelism can easily accommodate a hatred of Russia and China as the equivalents of Gog and Magog.
Gregory S Neal, "Imperial British-Israelism: Justification For An Empire"
J Wilson, "British Israelism: A revitalization movement in contemporary culture"
What the British aim to do is subvert the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 - and what better way to do that than through Lebanon, a former French colony, and rub the French nose into dirt? - to reclaim what they consider to be their Holy Lands that they believe God promised to them, and not to the other lot who also claim to be God's Chosen People.
Posted by: Jen | Feb 1 2021 23:22 utc | 15
What the British aim to do is subvert the Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 - and what better way to do that than through Lebanon, a former French colony, and rub the French nose into dirt? - to reclaim what they consider to be their Holy Lands that they believe God promised to them, and not to the other lot who also claim to be God's Chosen People.
Posted by: Jen | Feb 1 2021 23:22 utc | 15
--------
And yet it is Zionist spies which are infiltrating the British establihment right now, rather than British spies infiltrating the Zionist establishment.
Which would in my opinon cast a very large question mark over your above quoted conclusion.
British Israelism was a passing fad, useful to help provide justification for an attempt at British expansion in the Levant in the mid 1800's. It spawned an establishment-backed religious movement known as Dispensationalism, which shortly thereafter transferred itself to the US, the current hegemon, and morphed into what we now know as the "Christian Zionist" movement
Posted by: Triden | Feb 2 2021 0:09 utc | 16
Jen @Feb1 23:22 #15
... and rub the French nose into dirt?
I am doubtful that the world still works like that.
It seems much more likely that USA, UK, France, Israel, KSA are all in it together. Just as with Syria where there are otherwise know as the Assad must go! Coalition. In Lebanon, they might be termed the Hezbollah must go! Coalition.
TINA!
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 2 2021 0:11 utc | 17
Jen @Feb1 23:22 #15
... and rub the French nose into dirt?
I am doubtful that the world still works like that.
It seems much more likely that USA, UK, France, Israel, KSA are all in it together. Just as with Syria where there are otherwise know as the Assad must go! Coalition. In Lebanon, they might be termed the Hezbollah must go! Coalition.
TINA!
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 2 2021 0:11 utc | 18
Triden @Feb2 0:09 #16
With what little I know about it, I think you're right about British Israelism being a passing fad (though apparently one with purpose). However I wasn't aware of the connection to Dispensationalism and the "Christian Zionist" movement. Thanks for that info.
!!
Posted by: Jackrabbit | Feb 2 2021 0:16 utc | 19
"Speaking of the Brits: see https://www.rt.com/russia/514291-navalny-aide-funding-alleged-british-spy/.
This is a tape of Navalny's top aide secretly meeting with a Second Political Secretary from the British Embassy in Moscow, and casually asking for "10 or 20 million dollars".
Key quote: "That's not a lot to ask from people who have billions at stake, is it?"
Posted by: mooncalf | Feb 2 2021 1:19 utc | 20
The Scofield edition of the King James Bible, with its dispensationalist footnotes, is published by the Oxford University Press.
Posted by: lysias | Feb 2 2021 1:25 utc | 21
Posted by: lysias | Feb 2 2021 1:25 utc | 21
Scofield himself was directly financed by the New York based banker, and well known supporter of the nascent Zionist movement, Mr Samual Untermeyer
It's quite likely that the copiously footnoted bible was handed over for the OUP to publish, in order to lend it a much-needed veneer of academic rigour. A bible published by some New York or Boston based co-religionist of Mr Untermeyer would have perhaps been a bridge too far in terms of establishing its credibility
Posted by: Triden | Feb 2 2021 1:55 utc | 22
Jen, 15:
Well, your answer makes more sense than those from Yul (7) and Triden (9) answers.
Though the British Royals are German.
But yes, there may be something to a British challenge to France. Then I'd have to ask ask, what the Brits would want in Lebanon? There's next to zero oil.
As for possible ancient British ties to the Mediterranean, I've certainly read Where Troy Once Stood, which has Gog and Magog outside of Cambridge England, and apprehend that it makes a different sense of the founders of Rome in Vigil's Aeneid, but neither work really includes the Levant.
Your Gregory S Neal link goes to a 404 page.
Posted by: Jay | Feb 2 2021 2:55 utc | 24
Posted by: Jay | Feb 2 2021 2:55 utc | 24
The employment of a known Isreali intelligence operative by the leader of a British political party which saw its previous leader's ability to lead destroyed by a media campaign run by known prozionist figures in the likes of the Guardian and the state broadcaster BBC, peddling unfounded accusations of "Jew hatred".
The existence and power of groups like Conservative Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Isreal?
Obviously it would be sheer madness to suggest that any of those things could possibly have anything to do with covert British interference in the politcal and military intelligence sectors of a known and repeated target of Israeli military hostility
Posted by: Triden | Feb 2 2021 3:14 utc | 25
Jay @ 24:
Try this link: https://www.revneal.org/Writings/Writings/british.htm
Posted by: Jen | Feb 2 2021 4:53 utc | 26
Jay @ 24:
You may have heard the story that in the early 2000s, before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein commissioned a report from Iraqi intel on rumours and stories he must have come across about the origins of the Wahhabi movement in the Arabian Peninsula during the 1700s and 1800s, the background of its founder Mohammed ibn Wahhab (and his supposed link to the followers of a self-styled Jewish messiah figure in Ottoman Turkey who were all forced to convert to Islam and who were then banished by the Ottoman authorities to the Nejd desert in the Arabian Peninsula some time in the 1600s or 1700s so their activities would no longer disrupt Sefardic Jewish communities in the Balkans and Anatolia), the Saudi Royal Family's links to the movement and Mohammed ibn Wahhab, and the supposed British encouragement of the Wahhabi movement way back in 1700s as a means of targeting Islam and dividing and weakening the Muslim ummah (community).
The Iraqi intelligence report was found by US soldiers during the invasion of Iraq and was later translated into English. It gets a mention in a Wikipedia article on "Memoirs of Mr. Hempher, The British Spy to the Middle East".
I myself find this quite fantastical apocryphal stuff to believe. One would have to believe that British elites have very long-term aims going back centuries in targeting Islam and in using Jewish individuals as tools to do this.
Posted by: Jen | Feb 2 2021 5:15 utc | 27
"Her Majesty's Government", not "Her Majesties Government".
Posted by: RoHa | Feb 2 2021 5:38 utc | 28
"Though the British Royals are German."
No. Some of their ancestors were German, some were Danes, some were Scots, some were English, and I think at least one was Russian.
But most of them, and certainly the most recent ones, were born in the UK and brought up mostly in the UK. That makes them British.
Posted by: RoHa | Feb 2 2021 5:51 utc | 29
"... and rub the French nose into dirt?
I am doubtful that the world still works like that."
I suspect there are still a few in power who like to stick it the Frogs now and again.
Posted by: RoHa | Feb 2 2021 5:52 utc | 30
"Importantly the 'supplier' had been told to keep the project secret:"
That's nothing special. Everything in Britain is secret. It's the main reason that Brexit is such a disaster. The main facts and analyses were kept secret from the public, who are only now discovering how awful the situation really is. The EU by contrast published everything, perhaps the reason that b being German finds British secrecy in this affair significant. It isn't. Another good case of British secrecy is the AstraZeneca vaccine affair, where the Brits refuse to publish their deal with the company, but the EU has.
Posted by: Laguerre | Feb 2 2021 7:33 utc | 31
Hm. A commentator at a previous article about the British meddling in Lebanon who`s name I don`t recall but who was apparently Lebanese suggested that the British intelligence operation is designed to stabilize the country. IMHO that assessment is consistent with the known facts:
- military deliversies to and military training for the Lebanese army
- infiltration of the Lebanese military and in particular the military intelligence agency in order to get insight into the internal secterian power struggles and in order to get access to the Palestinian refugee camps
- anti-IS propaganda in the Palestinian refugee camps
- infiltration of the Lebanese opposition in order to understand the internal power structure and the underlying dynamics of the protests
(I don´t believe the Lebanese protests are artificially created from abroad and remote controlled by London. The Lebanese have enough reason to be discontent with their political system.)
Posted by: m | Feb 2 2021 9:32 utc | 32
Meanwhile in Russia...
"Patriot" and Navalnyi associate caught lobbying UK intelligence and offering to sabotage Russian bank VTB in exchange for funding and assistance.... Can't see this idiot walking free for much longer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cXnTKvvhMA&feature=emb_logo
Posted by: Et Tu | Feb 2 2021 10:55 utc | 33
Posted by: m | Feb 2 2021 9:32 utc | 32
"suggested that the British intelligence operation is designed to stabilize the country"
The problem with that argument is that Lebanon is anything but stable. If the Brits are trying to fix it they are doing a bad job, and they should give it up and let competent people have a try. But the fact is if you look at their ex-colonial enterprises, they are all humanitarian and political disaster areas like India and their African ex-possessions, they were called "possessions" back in the day, and they meant it. I think they are doing it because they like to grind the noses of the poor in the dirt, and they like to annoy the French too.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 2 2021 11:36 utc | 34
@ Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 2 2021 11:36 utc | 37
Lebanon was designed to be unstable (as was all the African countries and most Middle East countries). Here's a quick history of its "foundation":
Posted by: vk | Feb 2 2021 11:39 utc | 38
"Lebanon was designed to be unstable"
No shit? French and Brits dividing up the Middle East, and very self-satisfied about it?
That isn't what the person I was talking to said, and I was talking to him, not you.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 2 2021 11:56 utc | 36
@ Posted by: Jay | Feb 1 2021 20:31 utc | 3
"What does Britain want in Lebanon?"
1- Britain works hand in hand with Israel, it could ultimately be Mossad funnelling funds and initiatives through the UK. As to the the why, i would hope that would be pretty obvious to everyone...
2- Regardless, Britain is NATO, NATO is also opposed to Iranian influence. Infiltrating Lebanese Intelligence means an insight into Hezbollah activities, both at military and government levels.
3 - Practical applications? Israeli jets counter Iranian and Syrian forces by flying freely and uncontested over Lebanese skies. You wanna tell me no one has ever thought about running an operation to take one down? Wouldn't Israel love to know when, where and how these operations are conducted... time to call the UK Embassy and call in a favour...
Posted by: Et Tu | Feb 2 2021 12:05 utc | 37
Thanks B, brilliant stuff! The very first sentence is already highly amusing. So this geezer is beside himself with exitement about scrap metal - that's real passion. Those Landrovers will look nice parked among the 1000+ M113 that have been offloaded on the Lebanese. Next time Israeli warplanes breach Lebanese airspace, they could try and catapult a Landrover at the trespassing jets. You know, for lack of air-defence capabilities.
So what's Hezbollah going to do about all this? I'm guessing: they're going to do shit about it. To lie low is the order of the day, because JCPOA must be resuscitated, right? Nasrallah isn't going to take any chances. Correction, my bad: a chance he's always going to take is with regard to his own cholesterol levels. Just like his brothers Rouhani and Zarif. How stretched can one man's paunch become?
Posted by: Scotch Bingeington | Feb 2 2021 12:07 utc | 38
Et Tu, 40:
Point 3: You really think Lebanon has significant air defense capacity?
Point 2: Not aware of NATO trying to counter Iran, I'm aware of US delusions regards Iran.
Point 1: No, the why is not obvious, provided your hypothesis correct.
Posted by: Jay | Feb 2 2021 14:01 utc | 39
RoHa, 29:
Doesn't have anything to do with where the current Brit Royals were born, they're largely German by recent (as in the last 200 years) ancestry. Right, there's a bit of Tsar in there too.
Posted by: Jay | Feb 2 2021 14:11 utc | 40
RoHa, 29:
Doesn't have anything to do with where the current Brit Royals were born, they're largely German by recent (as in the last 200 years) ancestry. Right, there's a bit of Tsar in there too.
Posted by: Jay | Feb 2 2021 14:11 utc | 41
What does Britain want in Lebanon?
Jay @ 3
To neutralise Hezbollah. The operations conducted so far seem to be about gathering intelligence,
They can’t attack Iran before they do that.
Attacking Syria was supposed to break the land bridge between Iran and Lebanon as well as neutralise an Iranian ally.
If you read “Which path to Persia?” You will see the road goes through Damascus,
Posted by: Down South | Feb 2 2021 14:25 utc | 42
Posted by: Down South | Feb 2 2021 14:25 utc | 45
"To neutralise Hezbollah. The operations conducted so far seem to be about gathering intelligence.
Well, certainly that. You had Iraq 2003, Lebanon 2006, Georgia 2008, Syria & Ukraine under Obomber, and so on before and after still happening, all about somehow to get Iran, to get Russia to obey, and not just for the Izzies, we want revenge too for 1979, and we want control of the hydrocarbons.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 2 2021 14:46 utc | 43
Bemildred @ 46
The irony of the situation is that by taking out Iraq they took out the only check on Iranian expansionism,
They must have been popping corks in Tehran when the US and allies invaded Iraq.
Posted by: Down South | Feb 2 2021 14:55 utc | 44
@ Posted by: Jay | Feb 2 2021 14:01 utc | 42
Not sure if you are joking or really simple... or maybe you're trolling and i'm the dumb one.
Point 3: You really think Lebanon has significant air defense capacity?
- No it does not, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah_armed_strength#Unconfirmed_air_defense_systems
But Manpads are relatively cheap and easily concealed, effective up to a range of 5-7 kms... not sure at what height Israeli F 35's fly at when bombing Syra... but you would think someone would be ready for them? Yet not a single missile even fired. Stealth means a jet appears later on radar, not never.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-said-to-fly-low-over-beirut-scaring-residents/
Also, having enemy jets regularly fly over your territory and not doing anything about it sounds exactly like the actions of an Army infiltrated by foreign powers. Logistically, Iran could easily provide more effective anti air batteries and radars. Whether they would pre-emptively be taken out by Israel could be a reason why they haven't been used, though a lack of political will could be another. Perhaps it's just not worth risking their hardware when it's not Lebanon being bombed, best save them for when that happens next...
Point 2: Not aware of NATO trying to counter Iran, I'm aware of US delusions regards Iran.
-NATO in case you had not realised, is run by the US. It's HQ may be in Brussels, but since Eisenhower even single commander has always been American... if you don't understand what that means then i really am wasting my time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Allied_Commander_Europe
Both France and UK bombed Syria with the US, UK seized Iranian tanker in Gibraltar..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_missile_strikes_against_Syria
But we can also go much further back too..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27état#Britain's_role
Point 1: No, the why is not obvious, provided your hypothesis correct.
-time for a history lesson? The short version is, Britain basically created Israel. The mutual back scratching has evolved with the rise of the US, but has been constant since. There was a few wars between Israel and Lebanon...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel–United_Kingdom_relations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli–Lebanese_conflict
Posted by: Et Tu | Feb 2 2021 15:00 utc | 45
the iraq war 2.0 was originally called "operation iraqi liberation". ah but trident says it had nothing to do with oil, so it must be true. yep, the 7 sisters have nothing to do with us policy in the middle east, kinda like united fruit had nothing to do with us policy in central and south american. nothing to see here, giant corporations are just helpless victims.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 2 2021 15:17 utc | 46
Too bad that b is not interested in the Lebanese of Congo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU-BK-Jt6ys
Posted by: Mina | Feb 2 2021 15:32 utc | 47
Posted by: Down South | Feb 2 2021 14:55 utc | 47
The irony of the situation is that by taking out Iraq they took out the only check on Iranian expansionism,
They must have been popping corks in Tehran when the US and allies invaded Iraq.
Well, yes, I remember a number of heated conversations before they went into Iraq in which I pointed out that that would be the expected result. Me and lots of other too, War Nerd for one. Vo Nguyen Giap, who kicked our ass flat in Vietnam, wrote a piece on Afghanistan back then (he was 104 or something) telling the numbnuts that they were going to lose. But no, they are Masters of the Universe and "We make out own reality". Well your reality sucks. One of a long series of self-owns leading up to the Corona debacle, which they also botched. That, Afghanistan and Iraq is where all this buffoonery started, and it continues today mainly in the attempt to show that they were not wrong after all or something like that.
Posted by: Bemildred | Feb 2 2021 16:05 utc | 48
the iraq war 2.0 was originally called "operation iraqi liberation". ah but trident says it had nothing to do with oil, so it must be true. yep, the 7 sisters have nothing to do with us policy in the middle east, kinda like united fruit had nothing to do with us policy in central and south american. nothing to see here, giant corporations are just helpless victims.
Posted by: pretzelattack | Feb 2 2021 15:17 utc | 49
-------
Reading comments like the above it's hard to decide what the most appropriate reaction is: to feel sorry for how the individual concerned can be so easily manipulated and distracted or to laugh uproariously at the idiocy contained therein.
Posted by: Triden | Feb 2 2021 17:57 utc | 50
PS: would now be a bad time to point out that the real reason the US has a Dept of Defence is not to "defend"?
Posted by: Triden | Feb 2 2021 18:06 utc | 51
The UK is not there for the benefit of the Lebanese.
If form is anything to go by, the US, UK, France will try to complete the Israeli plan (Yinon) and break Lebanon into smaller parts. Christian, Sunni, Shia, and any other grouping they can weedle in.
It probably won't be too appreciated in a country that is used to being multiethnic, but since when did the NewEmpire-Wannabes care about what the citizens of a vassal country think?
The US is building a massive "embassy" to rival that in Bagdad. (several hectares), the steel and concrete being brought in FIRST - before any reconstruction of blast damage around the port. (Priorities ! build the Military a swimming pool and amenities before the locals get fed or sheltered). They love disasters, Remember Haiti and when they got to live on cruise liners while the locals still didn't have any tents? "Saved" a few by giving out plastic water bottles too.
Small statelettes seem to be popular with the Biden administration. (as in Syria). Anyway, they don't want all those soldiers coming home, only cause trouble if they voted for Trump in the elections. There are very few places left to stand at around the White House -
But I must say that the UK is "stepping out again" in the world. It wants to join the "new" NATO in Asia, is in Syria, and certainly is in a lot of places where it should not be. Not Hong Kong though, the new places might be psychological compensation for that empty feeling?
Posted by: Stonebird | Feb 2 2021 19:37 utc | 52
British intelligence failed huge in Myanmar. The chinese are still laughing
Posted by: Nick | Feb 2 2021 20:47 utc | 53
Explosive video exposes MI6 links to Alexei Navalny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TaG7jOlRmI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cXnTKvvhMA
Posted by: Mao | Feb 3 2021 2:03 utc | 54
Good info. Would be interesting to know if there was any reaction in Lebanon.
Hard to expect normal actions: "foreign agent" arests, investigation, trial..
Israel First both in USA and UK.
Posted by: Saraj | Feb 3 2021 13:11 utc | 55
@ Jay | Feb 1 2021 20:31 utc | 3
Isn't it obvious? There hasn't been an independent country of UK for a long time, in fact since the mid-50s. It's a US Territory like PR or Guam, without a vote.
The British have always been good at spying, provoking and murdering, so some tasks are assigned to them as part of the US-Zionist Empire distribution of labor to its slaves.
"all in support of Israeli efforts" to exterminate Palestinians and conquer more territory is an important part of what the US Zionist empire does, so that is always part of it.
Posted by: Piero Colombo | Feb 3 2021 17:39 utc | 56
@ Saraj 55
Same here. Has there been much coverage locally ?
I'm willing to bet that if the brits are investing all these resources into the operation, odds are the project is wide enough to cover the narrative management aspect as well. After all, that's what they do best, right?
Posted by: robin | Feb 3 2021 20:38 utc | 57
The comments to this entry are closed.
The use of the adjective "perfidious" to describe England has a long history; instances have been found as far back as the 13th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfidious_Albion
Instances of this continue to be piled on constantly, eight centuries later ... Is it a cultural tradition?
Posted by: Canadian Cents | Feb 1 2021 19:33 utc | 1