I have told this tale tell before, but now with a just reward.
It is well-known that the Lebanese Army is a joke. This is an army which has never defended the borders of Lebanon. Even in the 1948 war, the Lebanese army never did anything in defense of Palestine, made it clear to the Israelis it did not want to engage and there was a press clipping from that time (I reported this once, but cannot seem to find it now) which wrote that Lebanese and Zionist soldiers were playing soccer (football) near the Palestine-Lebanon border. And the Lebanese delegation after the ’48 war – in an effort to decided the new armistice borders – told the Israelis: We are Phoenicians. We are not Arabs. We do not care about the Palestinian cause.
Being “Phoenician” and indifferent to the Palestinians did not protect the Lebanese from constant Israeli attacks. While it is true that Palestinian resistance organizations set up bases in south Lebanon and from there launched attacks against Israel, the Israelis were indiscriminate in attacking Lebanon (as is their nature) and even bombed the privately-owned Middle East Airlines on the tarmac of Beirut.
During the civil war, Lebanon had no cohesive self-defense against Israel’s 1982 brutal invasions (which killed thousands of Lebanese). But even after the war when a national army was restored it did nothing to repel 18-years of Israeli occupation and was known for serving tea to Israeli commanders. Only Hezbollah can claim credit for riding (most of) south Lebanon of Israeli occupation.
And, today, Hezbollah remains the only real defense against Israeli aggression. But the Lebanese army thinks it can demonstrate its courage through other ways instead of actual defense. In Lebanon, where real greatness is often substituted for the fake and delusional Lebanese nationalist notions of “greatness, the Army think that it proves it “strength” through other means: biting the head off a snake.
This is an annual ritual by the Lebanese Army where soldiers “prove” their strength by biting off the head of a snake. This is due to the Arab proverb of a man being so strong he can bite off the head of a snake.
This act is so stupid and, yet, is a constant feature of Lebanese army displays. Finally nature may restrain them from their own stupidity:
Well, guess what? Lebanese Army soldiers were taken yesterday to a hospital suffering from poisoning after they performed the snake act in one Lebanese university. And with snakes, Lebanon can defend its borders against Israeli attacks.
H/T: Angry Arab.
