This is the Lebanese opposition: Qasim `Ali Yusuf (who appeared on NBN TV) said that young men who were playing songs of the right-wing Lebanese Forces militia stopped him in the area of Sinn Al-Fil [a stronghold of the right-wing Christian opposition], and asked him whether he is a Syrian. He said that he was Lebanese, adding that he works in the area of Mustadirat Al-Hayik. But they did not believe him, and went on to severaly beat him, and causing him bruises and injuries. In other news, fanatical right-wing director of the right-wing sectarian Christian newspaper, An-Nahar, (Jubran Tuwayni) got into trouble. He gave a talk at St. Joseph University, and did not know that he was being taped. He said, when asked about the large demonstration by the anti-opposition forces last week, to the effect that there are "humans" and there are "cattle." When Al-Manar and NBN TV reported his statements (in addition to apparently some racist anti-Syrian statements that he made), he issued a firm denial. Tonight, NBN TV played a video tape of his remarks 5 times during its nightly news broadcast. Independent former deputy Albert Mansur, who wrote the earliest critique of the Lebanese political order after At-Ta'if (Al-Inqilab `Ala At-Ta'if) has a good explanation of the Hariri's very late dispute with Syria. He believes that after At-Ta'if, an arrangement was made according to which an alliance was constructed between a corrupt financial order (headed by Hariri) and a corrupt security apparatus (Syrian-Lebanese) headed by Lahhud. The two orders were in alliance for much of the 1990s and dividing the spoils, but something happened (that he could not identify) that caused the rift between the Lahhud order and the Hariri order. That resulted in Hariri's break with Syria. Kuwaiti newspaper As-Siyasa (thanks to Fadi for the link) is reporting that a "major Gulf country" [read Saudi Arabia] is planning to offer full financial and political support for the Lebanese opposition. It seems that Jumblat--the sectarian Druze warlord who inherited his leadership from a medieval dynasty, and who recently asserted that the Saudi government is "not oppressive" is being rewarded, it seems. When the dust is settled, all of you Lebanese who did not write a word of praise for Al-Hariri, who did not lie about Hariri's real economic and political record, who did not pretend that Hariri is the embodiment of a homeland, you should be proud of yourselves. Those of you who are visiting the grave site of Hariri, can you also pay homage to the poor Syrian workers who were recently killed in Lebanon by members of the opposition?