The cancellation of the Saudi financial donation to the Lebanese Army is -whatever are the reasons- a strategic setback for Lebanon, at a time a large Arab coalition is rising and widening. In our assessment and as our US and Saudi sources have reported, the cancellation was caused by several factors. One was the general control by Hezbollah of the national security apparatus in the country. Two was the alignment of t...he Government diplomacy with Tehran against Riyadh and the Gulf. Three, which was according to our sources, the triggering point for the decision, was the last Presidential election fiasco as March 14 leaders selected politicians from the pro-Hezbollah March 8 axis, for the Presidency of Lebanon. This last double move, regardless of how Lebanese politicians argue about it, cannot be accepted by the Arab coalition. A source in Washington told me "how can Arab Gulf send billions to a country which could be ruled by a pro-Iranian President. It is not going to happen."
 

Twenty six years later, it is time to reexamine a benchmark date in the history of the Christian community of Lebanon. It was January 31, 1990, when the two most powerful forces in the then-called "East Beirut enclave," which was in reality the last free zone of Lebanon since 1975, clashed, precipitating a destructive war that flamed for the following ten months, after which the "last zone of freedom" collapsed and a quarter of a century of occupation and terror ensued. That day should be part of historians' work now, but too many questions obstruct a clear and calm discussion of that tragic day and the months that followed to allow for academic analysis.