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This email has been sent out toBani
Maarouf
all over the
Globe!!!
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Please read & forward, Thank you.
Sincerely
Shauki Halime
"In their Own Words" - young brave men
defending their homes and families !!!!
Amazing accounts of the recent fighting in the mountains.
These simple, raw and genuine feelings reflect and symbolize
the courage, bravery, faith and pride of
Bani Maarouf.
We pray for peace and unity.
<<Accounts from the fighting in
Aley
and the
Shouf Mountain.doc>>
Aley and the Shouf Mountains.
May , 2008
Translated
verbatim from Arabic to English
1 Melhim in
Aley
My name is Melhim; I was with some of my friends driving
around the southern eastern part of Alley. We noticed at a
distance that Hezbollah has occupied several hills. We
called using our cell phones and informed the people at the
“markaz”. We also informed Wajdi. We stayed put. But within
minutes, men, young and old, started arriving from all
directions. Immediately the exchange of fire started. We saw
at a distance at least 10 buses downloading Hezbollah
fighters. I would put their number at a few hundred. The
fighting became very intense. Our boys were advancing
without any hesitation. I saw myself being driven at such a
fast pace, I could not feel my legs. They looked like an
army with their fancy equipment but we kept on pushing.
Bullets were flying all over me. But for some weird reason,
I had no fear of the bullets. They looked to me like heavy
rain and I felt as if there is an invisible umbrella
protecting me from the rain. I thought I was almost alone in
my run towards the fire, but I looked around me and found at
least three dozen boys at pace with me. I remembered looking
at Wafic running on my right side with a smile on his face.
“Melhim it is a good day to die, let us keep pressing he
said”. We were firing our guns relentlessly and they were
firing back but we were not dying. I could smell the fear of
Hezbollah boys. At that point I realized that I have already
spent 6 magazines and needed a break to reload. In the
process I saw Druze fighters coming out of the woods in
large numbers. What a beautiful sight, they looked like
ghosts coming out from the trees firing with so much
bravery. It started to turn into a massacre. Hezbollah
fighters, despite their vast numbers, were falling like
leaves. They were not able to pick their dead and wounded
fast enough. Suddenly they started attacking us with
Missiles and 155 cannons, from further points, to slow us
down, and to allow their soldiers to retreat. The missiles
mostly came from the town of
Al-Qmatieh,
A Hezbollah stronghold. That night Aley was hit by more than
500 missiles. They were afraid that we will overtake Al-Qmatieh.
In reality, we could have taken Al-Qmatieh, but we got word
that we are not to do so. Walid Beik said no. I looked at
Wafic as we watched the poor Hezbollah boys run to where
they came from and said” Wafic, I seems we didn’t die today,
there is nothing we can do about it, we have to be patient (Badna
ntawil balna). The funny thing was Wafic’s forearm was
soaked with blood. He was hit with a bullet in the arm and
had no clue. I would have loved to go down to Beirut and
help the Mustaqbal boys. But there is only so few of us and
we need to defend our villages first. What a cowardly
attack. They attacked boys in the streets of Beirut who are
neither armed nor experienced. Nothing can be more
cowardly. When this is over we should train the Mustaqbal
boys. If we can get missiles, and heavy artillery, between,
the Druze, almustaqbal, and alqouwat, we will clean up the
Dahiya in no time. We don’t need America or France we just
need guns similar to what they have. Cowards. I just hate
cowards. They boost standing up to
Israel.
Well this is different. This is not firing laser guided
missiles at a tank 3 kilometers away. Nor is it shelling
katyoushas and then rushing to hide in civilian
neighborhoods under the kitchen sink.
2 Samir in
Baisour
I am Samir from Baisour. We got word that Hezbollah has
taken positions on the hills overlooking Baisour from
Kaifoun’s side (Kaifoun is a Hezbollah town). Well we did
not like it. We didn’t even understand why they were doing
so. We have lived as brothers with our neighbors in Kaifoun
for hundreds of years. Do they think that Baisour has a CIA
or an Israeli post. We just didn’t understand it. Well the
boys got very anxious especially the young ones. They could
not wait; they wanted to start fighting now. I remember
looking at Jamil the son of Mhana, who is barely 16. He was
bouncing up and down, wearing his Brazil football shirt,
holding a machine gun in one hand and a soccer ball in the
other, wanting to rush and fight. As if there was a very
important football game where Brazil is playing and he can
not miss one second. Thanks to cell phones, when people got
the word, they were pouring into the street with their guns.
Some even came with hunting rifles. We tried to slow them
down, but really we couldn’t; especially after Hezbollah
starting firing at our village. What was most notable is
that some elderly people from Kaifoun suddenly showed up and
said. “We want you to know that we in Kaifoun are against
what the Hizb is doing. We told them that we are family with
the people of Baissour and we don’t want any problems. But
they don’t listen to us. They come from other places with
orders and there is nothing we can do about it”.
We were all moved with what this man had to say. We felt
sorry for him. But we told him that we appreciate his
gesture but Hezbollah need to leave.”
We got word that Hezbollah in Aley have lost more than 50
fighters and that they are shelling Alley with Missiles to
slow our fighters down. We don’t have any missiles or any
cannons. We gave it all to the Lebanese Army. All we have is
machine guns and RPG’s. The attack started. Druze fighters
from all over the mountain were pouring into Baisour. It was
a beautiful sight, a majestic sight of fervor and bravery.
They rushed to the battle front chanting and singing as if
going to a wedding. It was so meditative, so rhythmic, so
Druze.
And we poured on them like a bolt of lightning. They kept
on bringing more and more enforcements but we will not stop.
Suddenly they starting shelling us with missiles and 155
canon shells. They hit Ghazi Aridi’s house. Fortunately his
wife and his kids were evacuated earlier. Our commanders
starting coordinating with the Aley commanders and they have
decided to take over the Hezbollah towns of Al-Qmatieh and
Kaifoun. Before the offensive can start, it was ordered off.
We were also asked to stop shooting and give them a chance
to retreat. It is a miracle we have lost only two fighters
and they have lost more than twenty. A miracle.
----------------------
3 Mama said no name, I am 16 from Aitat
My mother said I am not allowed to give you my name. Yes I
was in the battle of Aitat. I am 16 years old. Well nothing
much to it really. We are a small village, you know, and
not a match for Hezbollah army. They can kill us all but not
before we destroy most of their army. So we hit them as
they approached the center of the village. We were firing at
them from the woods above and from the north side. They were
trapped and became lost. Trying to find an escape route but
couldn’t. We kept firing until it was over. My mother
doesn’t like me to mention how many we killed. She said it
is nothing to be proud of. She says it is sad because these
people also have mothers, sons and wives. I just wish they
did not come to our village. This way no one would have
died. That is all. As I said, there isn’t much to it
really. I hope this war will stop soon so I can go back to
school. I want to become an engineer and work in Dubai.
----------------------
4 Sami – Sleiman’s son;
hold the onions mama
I am Sami the son of Sleiman. I heard my father say that
Hezbollah has sneaked into the shouf from the backside. From
Machghara in the Bakaa and places that I don’t know. The
people in my village started talking and calling each other.
They said that they entered from the barouk side and are
close to Botmy and Neeha (Shouf villages). Men started
organizing. My father said we need to prepare ourselves for
battle. We are going to defend our mountain. My father took
out the two klashins we have and started getting them ready.
I was afraid that my father will go without me. So I grabbed
one of the guns. My mother looked at my dad and he said to
her. He is 17 he is a man now. My mother did not utter a
single word. She just went to the kitchen and started
preparing mjadara. Mjadara is my favorite dish. She wanted
to make sure that I will have mjadara and basal as my zawady.
But I knew I was not going to eat the basal because If I
died, I did not want to die smelling of basal. I could see
her cry as she was preparing our food. My father looked at
her and said. “What happened to your beliefs (wane ymanik ya
mara). No one will die one hour before his time. If it is
our time, so be it. We will be back in the next life”. We
took our guns our bullet magazines and off we went. The
streets of the shouf were busy with men of all ages carrying
guns and collecting themselves in groups and going to
different fronts.
I
even saw women. Yes women with guns. Could you believe that. One of them was
carrying an RPG. She had a nice military outfit. She must be
from the hizb-al-ishtiraki. I wish I had an RPG.
We formed a caravan and we drove up to the hills. Different
people were going to different fronts. I had no idea where
we were going. We rode in Wajdi’s pick up and we joined
eight other cars. It was dark already we could hear the
bullets and the explosions. My father said ”you only do what
I say”. We come from a religious house, we joined other
people like us. My father is very brave, I have never felt
any safer being close to him. After the cars were parked, we
joined another group. The commanders, one of witch is my
father, held a meeting and starting planning for our battle.
I thought, they will have maps, but they didn’t. They were
drawing the terrain maps and the ridges and the peaks on
pieces of paper. The locals know every stone and every tree
of their hills. They divided us into smaller groups. Each
small group had a leader and each four leaders reported to a
commander. There were about 60 of us. The shooting was
getting louder. You could see the flashing of guns and the
RPG rockets exploding all over the place. It seems there
were several fronts. Hezbollah must have hundreds of men.
Bullets were coming from all over the place. My father said
we should outflank them. We split into two groups of about
30 each. My father took our group down into the valley (wady)
and around the mountain. The plan is to have amou Abo
Akram’s group engage them heavily so they will partially
retreat for shelter around the mountain where our group will
be waiting.
As we slowely and quietly moved, ( we were asked to leave
behind any equipment that might make noise). After a while.
My father chooses a spot above the ridge. He wanted all of
us to remain as close to the ground as possible totally out
of sight. He choose a spot for each one of us and gave each
his own set of instructions. And said no one will move or
open fire regardless how close they get until I say so. As
we positioned ourselves firmly. We started getting
flashlight signals from the other side of the ridge. It
seems that the boys from an adjacent village had the same
idea and positioned themselves on the other side of the
ridge. My father responded with his flash light and the two
were communicating. Don’t ask me how but it seems that they
totally understood each other (I learnt later that this
light communication method was inherited from the days of
Amir Fakherdine, when they used to use fire to communicate
with other fighters from one hill to the other. Nothing has
changed except technology). My father then quickly changed
our position so that we will not end up being in each
other’s line of fire (meaning with the other group). We
waited and waited and then started hearing heavy shooting
and RPG explosions from Amou Abu Akram’s side. In less than
five minutes we started spotting them from the other side.
It seems the plan was working. We stayed put and waited
until most of them were in our range. My heart was beating
so fast, I thought it might explode. And yet my dad is not
giving the signal. Few minutes later, he shouts “ YA ABOU
IBRAHIM” and opens fire. Within a second both our groups
were firing on them. It was a brilliant plan, just
brilliant. We were hunting them like birds. Then we charged
and so did the group from the other ridge. I felt like an
eagle with wings nothing can stop me. We routed them
completely. Then my father made us all stop. He wanted to
give them a chance to simply retreat. We could have had at
least ten more of them, but my father would not allow it.
They are no longer a threat. We fight with honor. I wanted
to go down and pick up one of the RGP’s they left behind.
But my father said no. “Don’t worry Abu Akram’s team will
collect their guns. It is time to pray and go home.”
It seems all the Shouf battles were victorious, we started
hearing similar stories from other groups. They surrendered
their positions to the Lebanese army and withdrew from the
Chouf. I don’t know much about politics or about the leaders
in
Beirut. I was told that Walid beik did not
want Hezbollah to be humiliated in the Chouf especially
after the humiliation in Alley. So he ordered Hizb Al-ishtiraki
to always give them a chance to withdraw and not entrap
them. I don’t go to
Beirut. I have no business in
Beirut. We like the mountain. Our financial
situation is very modest. I am still in school. But I help
my father in taking care of the orchards especially during
the olive picking season. I love to hunt and I love
Lebanon
and the Chouf mountain. They say Iran wants to come and take
over
Lebanon.
But I say why do they want to do that. We are not hurting
anyone. We have some land and few heads of lambs and we make
and sell olive oil. We just mind our own business. We are
not bothering anybody. |
