It's the Tribes (merged thread)

[tribeguy]

Knowing not a lot about Hezbollah, other than what is relevant to their use of violence for political aims, I would be amazed if they had any tribal affiliation at all. Even if they did, it would be almost entirely irrelevant.

Very interesting Mr. Owen. How many books have been written in Arabic about tribes in Lebanon? Is Hezballah not a manifestation of currents within Lebanese society? Are not tribes a part of Lebanese society? Isn't it easier for terrorist organizations to recruit through kinship groups? Are there any Arab tribes that are common to both Iran and Lebanon/Syria? Isn't moving lethal aid through kinship groups that have been involved in smuggling for hundreds of years easier than trying to fabricate them out of people that don't know each other? Haven't Iran and Iraq been using kinship groups to undermine each others' states since their inception? Are recruitment and lethal aid irrelevant when it comes to terrorist organizations such as Hezballah?

What makes you think that tribes are irrelevant to Hezballah when you don't know the answer to the above questions - the answer to which all point directly towards the importance of tribes in all aspects of middle eastern society, not just Hezballah (SADR family of the ((Al-Musuwi)) tribe, Nasrallah related to Muqtada Al-Sadr, Baqir Al-Hakim AND Bahar Al-'Ulum!!!)? As if they all reached the same conclusions because they aren't related to each other? As if noble tribes weren't important in Lebanon as elsewhere?

Your assumption and bias against the relevance of tribes is based on not knowing the precise answers to these questions. In other words, you don't know what you don't know yet. Please post relevant questions or answers in the future, not assumptions.

The answers to all of those questions are unamazing to me and assuredly well known by Syria and Iran. And you had better believe that tribes are relevant to Hezballah. And please, don't come at me with what all of your Lebanese friends say. I have heard it far too often. Lebanese scholars have well defined the importance of tribes, as have Syrians and Iraqis. Or, go ahead and let the all knowing natives run their mind jobs about how sophisticated they are compared to other Arab nations. I don't drink their kool aid.