Lebanon Detains Syrian Financier: 'Terrorism,' Unless It's Our Terrorism
The New Arab reports Lebanon has detained a Syrian helping finance pro-Assad fighters, framing it as stopping destabilization. (Right, because stability is something the region is known for, thanks to some foreign actors.) It’s always fascinating how certain financiers are deemed existential threats while others, like the myriad groups funneling billions into various proxy wars across the Middle
East for decades, are just 'strategic partners' or 'freedom fighters.' Funny, that. One might wonder if the Lebanese authorities are equally diligent in tracking contributions from, say, Gulf states to various Lebanese factions, or perhaps the hundreds of millions in 'aid' that mysteriously ends up in the hands of armed groups not quite aligned with peace treaties. But then, such scrutiny might
expose how the narrative of 'terrorist funding' is less about stopping terror and more about controlling who gets to fund their preferred brand of regional mayhem. The difference, it seems, is whose interests get advanced.