While we lay comfortable in our beds each night at home, our Lebanese Army is left to battle out militants, who may as well have come out of the middle ages, in Lebanon’s northeastern border town of Arsal.
So far 17 soldiers have lost their lives, leaving grieving families, widows and children who will grow older with a broken heart and a broken home.
LBCI | REPORT: Lieutenant Colonel Dani Harb killed in Arsal clashes
And while our ruling class competes for the title of who gets to be the least responsible, terrorism thrives.
Here’s what you can do:
Gather what you can to help the Lebanese Army.
There is a civilian based campaign, titled the “Civil Campaign to Support the Lebanese Army”
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You can volunteer in accordance to your specialty, or otherwise send in goods, that are now in high demand, to soldiers on the ground.
These goods include:
Food items:
Canned food that does need heating (e.g.: Tuna, Sardines, processed cheese, corn, peas, carrots, spam (Ma-Ling, hot dog, and corned beef)
Canned fruits can also be a good treat for soldiers. The sweetness of the syrup will boost their sugar level.
Try to pick out the easy-open cans to make the soldiers’ lives a little bit easier, a minute less opening a can, and eating the contents is a minute better spent.
Coffee (instant or Lebanese), tea, sugar…
Energy drinks (Gatorade, Red Bull etc).
Chocolate, sweets, prepackaged dry fruits.
Bottled mineral water.
Toiletries including Tooth brushes, tooth paste, soap, toilet paper, paper towels etc.
For more information please call these two numbers:
70-00 13 18
70-00 13 19
Blood:
Twitter / yasalebanon: ????? ????? ????? …
Here comes the good part.
Terrorist groups including ISIS, the Al-Nusra front and others have become renowned for their savvy use of social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook.
These groups have spared no effort to frame the Lebanese army as a rogue entity that works in line with Hezbollah’s demands.
Hardliner, fugitive Ahmad Al-Assir regularly uses twitter to vocalize extremist rhetoric against our national military institution dubbing our soldiers murderers and traitors…Please report these accounts on every occasion.
At one point in time, these “people” will realize that they no longer have an audience and seize to waste their time trying to build one.
So there you have it, beating terrorism by showing compassion for our Lebanese Army soldiers in the face of IS and al-Nusra militants who can fulfill their virgin-related agendas elsewhere.
Nadine Mazloum is currently a freelance editor and news producer. She received her Honors in Communication Arts (Media Production) from The University of Western Sydney in 2008