The Daily Star, one of the oldest and most respected newspapers in Lebanon, reported on Dec. 24 that a bloody gun battle took place in the eastern part of the already fractured nation, killing 33 members of two rival terrorist organizations.
With reportedly 32 members of the al-Qaeda branch in Syria the al-Nuṣra Front (The Front for the Support of the People of Greater Syria) killed in an ambush, only one member of the hometown favorite Hezbollah (The Party of Allah) was killed in the fighting.
The Spanish Civil War Redux…
The two separate militant jihadist groups are seen by many Middle East watchers as proxies in an Islamic Cold War between Iran and the Royal House of Saud.
For decades the Islamic Republic of Iran has backed the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which is the self-proclaimed enemy of the United States and Israel.
On the other side of the hot-cold war, a coalition comprised of the Saudis, Americans, Turks, the European Union, and a host of other small but oil-wealthy Persian Gulf nations financially and militarily back al-Nusra.
As the al-Qaeda franchisee in the greater Syrian region, al-Nusra is also the self-proclaimed longtime enemy of the United States and Israel unto death.
