March 12, 2007:
Southern Lebanon used to be a
playground for freelance arms dealers. Hizbollah had plenty of Iranian cash,
and no one, not the Lebanese police, army or coast guard, was keeping anyone
out. Hizbollah controlled access, and if you had weapons to sell, you were
welcome. No more. Despite threats of retaliation from Hizbollah, the Lebanese
army and UN peacekeepers have been seizing weapons, at least large quantities
found in the backs of trucks. This has made some of the gunrunners a little
hesitant to go into southern Lebanon looking for buyers. Recently, a guy, in
possession of three portable Russian surface-to-air missiles was busted, and
his missiles seized by Lebanese police. To make matters worse, for Hizbollah,
the government made a big deal of it with the media. All this was, in effect,
telling Hizbollah, "what are you going to do about it?" The missiles were
elderly SA-7 models, and not much use against Israeli warplanes, which
indicated potential customers would want to shoot down civilian aircraft.
Gunrunners are having an easier time of it the rest
of Lebanon, where the various Christian, Shia, Sunni and Druze factions are
building up their arsenals in anticipation of another civil war. But southern
Lebanon, despite the risk of another war with Israel, is definitely an
unfriendly place for arms dealers.