Surfin' The South (Lebanon Style...)

Oh Lebanon, though I adore surfing your southern shore (al-janoob), getting there is a pain of absurd proportion. Though today was only the second time I have surfed you, I can already feel the mystique of waking in the hanus morning darkness to catch the early session. Keep in mind that the buses don’t run at 5AM; which is why our only option is to take taxi for $20.

Departing from Beirut at such an hour allows us to not only take in the raptureqe sunrise from your salty shore, but to experience the howling morning wind that comes whistling off the inland desert. This Arabian wind grooms the surface of the sea in a way that would seem impossible in the mid-day hours, surely setting for a session of smooth wave riding:


And after this aw-evoking surf, my friend and I decided it was time to experiment with another form of transportation:

(Click to play.)

Yup; after eating at our favorite hole-in-the-wall near our Jiyeh surf spot, we decided to wander along the beach to explore what mysteries lay unseen. Though we found a number of auspicious surf possibilities along the way, the waves were small today, and we ended up getting lost and wandering though a wild marsh of reeds:

(Click on the picture to enlarge.)

And after the marsh came a dusty road. With the mosques imam bellowing the Friday prayer in the background, we stumbled across a few most welcoming locals. There was no need to explain our presence to these men; they knew without asking. Before we could ask for proper directions, chairs, chai and a tightly packed water pipe was ushered to us in a fine exhibit of your peoples gracious character. If I where to guess, I'd venture that this type of hospitality has been around since the days of the early Phoenicians.

(Click on the picture to enlarge.)

Though I can almost guarantee that you, Oh Lebanon, are some abstract, mystical literary tool that I have invented to personalize this post, I do say that the spirit of your people has enamored me write as if such a force truly exists. It is truly a pleasure to travel these lands. Please allow the raw expression of my sunburnt face to fill what words I have forgotten:

The Mohammad al-Amin Mosque (Blue Mosque) in Beirut

(The afternoon sun shining on the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque in Beirut.)

Thanks to the fancy new hit-tracker some wiz-kid at Google came up with, I can now see that the majority of you reading this post are coming from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. And, it occurred to me that many of you probably haven't been inside a proper Middle Eastern mosque in a while.

As a service to The Casbah, I have taken it upon myself to jump into the back of a service taxi bound for the grandest religious establishment in Beirut, the Mohammad al-Amin Mosque. Though I am not a Muslim, this represents one of my favorite parts of Islam: The reciting of ancient Quranic poetry, all based on acknowledging the mystical "oneness" of God."
Enjoy!

(Click Here To Watch The Video On Youtube)

The finer points of anti-Iranian Shihab-3 ballistic missile defense

I'm glad that everyone enjoyed that little surfing spread, cuz the fun is over. If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that I have a secret fetish for security and weapon defense in the Middle East. Oh yikes!

For the most part, we have talked about the Israel-Iran front here at The Casbah. Although, it should be noted that after Hillary Clinton's statement a few days ago--"we'll take actions ... working to upgrade the defense of our partners in the region,"--a possible arms defense build up in the Persian Gulf might be added as a regular blogging topic.

What I want to focus on in this post is that Israel and the U.S. seem to have "unsuccessfully" tested the new Arrow II anti-ballistic missile system somewhere over the California desert. This system, as the name implies, is tuned to shoot down ballistic missiles, most likely coming from Iran or Syria.

It should be said, however, that this round of unsuccessful testing of the upgraded Arrow II with its X-brand radar is all in the wake of the already "successful" test off the shore of the Mediterranean 9 months ago. So what is going on?

Read this paragraph by Haaretz Correspondent, Yossi Melman:

Now, when Iran holds in its arsenal the Shihab 3 missile which can reach any target in Israel, a new solution must be found. This was in essence the goal of the unsuccessful test in California. In addition, Iran is about to incorporate a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers into its arsenal. Not coincidentally, even though there has been little media attention on the subject, Israel is mulling the purchase of the U.S.-made THAAD missile defense, which is still in the development phase.

While I think it is safe to say that the Israelis will eventually work out the finer points of anti-Iranian Shihab-3 ballistic missile defense, it will, indeed, take more time. Settled?

On a more personal note, has anyone heard any developments on the new Iron Dome short-range rocket defense system that the Israelis are working on for Gaza and South Lebanon? The real threat is not going to be an Iranian Shihab; it will be the estimated 15,000 rockets that will land on Israeli soil in the event of another Israel-Hezbollah war.

Oh, and PS: As I continue to wander around Lebanon, I have noticed that in some areas loyal to Hezbollah there are "mock" Katyusha rockets set up as street displays. And yes, they are pointed south at Israel. Ladies and Gentlemen, if this is not a propaganda campaign, I just don't know what is! I can't help but wonder if Israel hit these street displays in 2006? I mean, from Google Earth, they look like actual rockets! I'll try to snap a picture.

Surfing with Nasrallah

That's right, I surfed the south Lebanon with Sayyid Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah!

(Click on the picture to enlarge. I hope this does not blacklist me from a future job... And yes, as you can see, Hezbollah put an AK-47 on their flag.)

Well, it wasn't exactly like Nasrallah was sitting on the sandy shore, running his fingers though his clerically groomed black beard. Nevertheless, I sure got the feeling he was watching from his larger-than-life poster, mysteriously hung from a telephone pole near where my friend and I were surfing.

The truth is that the Bush-era political brand of a "terrorist" really throws off the common perception of Hezbollah. Simply put, they are not al-Qaeda. They do not share a similar Islamist ideology, nor do they act with the same kind of sporadic violence against the West and its travelers.

Though this post isn't going to be about explaining the various social, political and community-oriented work of Hezbollah, I do want to make it clear that they have become a ligament force within Lebanese society, whether anyone really likes it or not. It is not dangerous to visit, travel or for God's sake surf through Hezbollah controlled Lebanon. We can debate al-muqawama and armed resistance in another post.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge.)

As for the surfing, my Lebanese friend and I arrived at Jiyeh--a 30-minute drive south of Beirut--at 6am, on Wednesday of last week. The morning wind was brisk and offshore, thanks to a distinctly shaped canyon that shoots the morning breeze down onto the beach like a wind tunnel. (It should be said that these Lebanese canyons also make for perfect guerrilla country and were a big part of Hezbollah's strategy during the 2006 War with Israel.)

Most surfers prefer hitting the water before dawn. At this time, the offshore wind tends to blow, smoothing the surface of the waves and producing that epic spray off the back.

Since we are talking about the Mediterranean Sea, it is important to mention that these waves do not have the same amount of distance to travel, compared to the Pacific Ocean. Thus, the waves are closer together (about 10 second periods for all you surf hounds out their). Waves also come in sets. This means that the Sea may seem flat for a minute, but as these lumps out on the horizon approach the shore, the sea bottom gets shallower, forcing these lumps to rise from the depths and form into rideable waves. Even by my spoiled California standards, this was a day when the conditions came together: the wind, the waves and the portrait of Islamists in the background. Simply priceless...

(Notice the off shore spray off the back of these waves. This is why the top of the water was so glassy and crisp. Thank you Lebanese wadi, canyon in Arabic. )

What other blog talks about the Lebanese mountains, Afghanistan and East Jerusalem all in the same post?

Phew. Back from a weekend trip in the mountains of northern Lebanon. Quite an experience and a beautiful place, really. We went up this haggard chairlift that for all I know could have been built during the French period in Lebanon. And I have to say, Lebanon is the only country I have ever been to where the military is in charge of operating these rugged mountain lifts. Huh? Yeah, I was just as confused.

(Taken July 19, 2009 on some mountain north of Tripoli, Lebanon. Beautiful, eh? In a strange way, it almost reminded me of those pictures that are coming out of Afghanistan/Pakistan. Perhaps it was the military jeep in the foreground.)

OK, now for two points of hard, intellectual business:

1. Every Tom Dick and Harry in the Afghan blogosphere seems to be talking about "the new Stephen Biddle piece." So, yeah, I just read it. (Click here to read it for yourself.) My first reaction was that Biddle seems to be getting a lot of play for putting fourth an argument that he himself seems skeptical of. Regardless of this dubious reality however, expect to see this kind of essay rewrote in the next few months. I think that people are starting to grasp that we can beat this lose coalition of anti-Western Afghan warlords that have been deemed "Taliban." Get ready for a flurry op-eds calling for a new effort in Afghan statecraft, especially along the NGO and IGO route. (I like Rory Stewart and Sarah Chayes for this kind of stuff.)

2. A dear friend and frequent commenter on The Casbah, Franco, writes in:

OK Abu and Rooster.
How the heck will a 2 state solution work if Israel is again going to develop apartments in East Jerusalem and will not pull off, even given US pressure?

Seriously, a legitimate question right? (By the way, has anyone heard the Rooster crow of late? Hmm... Summer in San Diego may have the best of him. Not even a peep? Roost?) Well, I would respond to this question with, "Yes, exactly. The Palestinians will not settle for anything less than East Jerusalem as their capital." But, however, that does not mean that they won't settle for some kind of internationalized agreement of the city. Personally, I think it would be a shame to erect pre-'67 fences in such a special place. And to continue on this personal note, my experience is that a significant amount of Israelis would be in favor of pulling their Orthodox goons out of these "apartments" if a civil agreement could be reached. I'm a little skeptical about anything big happening in Obama's first term. Upon a second? I mean a man could do... let's just say it wouldn't be popular with the American zionists.

Sound off in the comments if you want to give Franco's question a shot!