Center for a New American Security

Nir Rosen sent along this description of what it was like to patrol on the streets of Hamra with Hizbollah following their victory in West Beirut: "It felt just like being on patrol with young American soldiers in Dora in December. They operated that well, moved that well, and were as young as American soldiers on their first tour."

Meanwhile, fighting continues in the mountains east and south of Beirut. There are reports of heavy fighting near Tripoli as well. Overall, the March 14th forces have been taking one hell of a beating. Abu Muqawama has been searching for comment on the fighting from some of March 14th's strongest supporters in Washington, and he accordingly read David Schenker's piece for the Washington Institute. David has been a resolute supporter of March 14th, but he is intellectually honest, and his assessment of U.S. policy options seems, to this blogger, quite accurate:

Regardless of what drove the timing of the standoff, it appears the government miscalculated. Sadly, for Washington, there are few realistic policy options to reverse the Hizballah coup. It is highly unlikely that the UN -- which failed to even prevent the rearming of Hizballah -- would agree to more dangerous deployments in Lebanon.

David then pins his hopes on the Lebanese Army, but it seems to Abu Muqawama that, if anything, the Lebanese Army has sided with Hizbollah in the fighting. That is to say, they can obviously see Hizbollah is the strongest side and they've basically stayed out of it, happy to act as peace-keepers once the fighting has already reached some sort of conclusion but unwilling to step in between the two sides. Does this square with what everyone else is thinking, or no?

If you want to read stuff from hard-core March 14th supporters, check out Michael Totten's blog where Michael, Lee Smith, and Tony Badran (and David Wurmser) have all been blogging on the situation in Lebanon and policy options there. Oddly, Lee -- who Abu Muqawama likes very much and met in Lebanon, in 2005 -- seems more worked up right now over whether or not Obama might be less pro-March 14th than President Bush and not paying all that much attention to the fighting in Lebanon that might be making it more and more difficult to ... support March 14th.

But maybe this blogger is wrong. After all, it's not as if the U.S. government is going to suddenly switch horses and become pro-Hizbollah, right? So the question for the readership is: Given the events of the past week, what should America's policy be toward Lebanon? Should it change? And if so, how?

(Abu Muqawama is genuinely stumped here, so all answers are welcome.)

Update: Watch the BBC get shot at in what Abu Muqawama is guessing is the Chouf.
Update II: Read/Listen to Nick Blanford's report for the Christian Science Monitor. His article in the London Times today suggested he had been on the phone talking with Walid Bey at some point, though Abu Muqawama is guessing he has been reporting from behind Hizbollah's "lines." Stay safe, Nick!
Update III: Borzou Daragahi -- who used to write wonderful reports from Iraq for the Los Angeles Times -- has an article today from Beirut talking about American-led efforts to create a Sunni militia in Lebanon. What a militia that was! How much money did the U.S. spend to create a militia who threw down their weapons and ran when Hizbollah invaded their neighborhoods?
Update IV: At least Jumblatt's Druze fought in the Chouf. Reuters is reporting 14 Hizbollah militiamen were killed. Wasn't it Jumblatt who was always saying "The war of the mountain is finished" with respect to the war between the Maronites and Druze following the Israeli withdrawal in the 1980s? Well, I guess Round II is finished now too. Seriously, though, studies have shown the Lebanese militias always fought best when on their home turf, and though this one will go in the "L" column for the PSP, at least they put up a better fight than Sheikh Saad's Hamra All-Stars.