Believe it or not, I just found out that Haigazian university and the Lebanese army have cooperated back in the 1960’s to produce a series of surface-to-surface missiles called “Arz-1”, “Arz-2”, and “Arz-3”.
It all started with a project led by Professor Manoug Manuogian at Haigazian university in 1960 resulting in a single-stage rocket that reached an altitude of 2 kilometers. The Lebanese president at that time, Fouad Chehab, decided to finance the project with 25,000 L.L, which allowed the group to build tw0-stage rockets in summer 1962, and a three-stage rocket later in November 1962. By the end of this year rockets were able to reach an altitude of 20Km!
However, the project was halted shortly after the French President Charles de Gaulle told President Chehab that the Lebanese abilities were proven in the scientific field, but the project might put Lebanon at risk if further researches are done! (WTF!!!) i.e. These missiles are a threat to Israel, and it will not remain silent towards the advancement of the Lebanese army in missile technology!
That’s actually a summary of the article I found on Wikipedia.
If we have worked on this technology back in the 1960’s, and if resistance movements in Palestine are currently using water pipes to produce the Qassam rockets, then we can definitely resume working on the project and come up with much more enhanced versions of Arz to arm the Lebanese army and make it capable of defending our land when necessary. But then again will Israel remain silent about it? This definitely leads us to the defense strategy issue that our buttheads have been discussing since 2006, Israel simply doesn’t accept Lebanon having any means of self defense, so how can we disarm Hezbollah and still be able to protect ourselves against any possible invasion..? Oh wait this isn’t a political blog! END OF POST!
it may not be a political blog but i really liked your post… you uttered the questions loads of people want to avoid. this issue of arming lebanon should be considered in spite of any threat coming from israel or any other country. i’m sad to learn that de gaulle has had this role, it makes me wonder more and more about the past and current position of france on the middle east chessboard.
Thank you didie! Would love to know what other people have to say.
“how can we disarm Hezbollah and still be able to protect ourselves against any possible invasion..?” Well isn’t that the million dollar question?
The creation of these rockets is just a string of technological advancements and scientific achievements that Lebanon could have had in the last decades if it wasn’t for war and political unrest. This has always made me wonder, how developed we as a country could have been today?
Referring to your political question, I think it’s pretty obvious; Currently Lebanon cannot offer a strong military defense without Hezbollah, so all we can hope for is a Lebanese-Israeli peace agreement in the near future. Thereby, ALL political parties can be disarmed and we can focus more on internal issues(which there are a lot of!) 🙂
It’s brilliant that you wrote about this! I’m on a personal quest to find documents on Iskandar Ibrahim Chaoui, the industrial chemist who formulated the missile fuel. Science et Vie also wrote a special edition on that, 1960 or 1963. If any one can find an archived copy, I’d be willing to pay for a scan of it.
Note: these missiles released paper tracts with they hit the ground, as opposed to having a lead head that explodes. They were not a means to make us a belligerent country, they were a demonstration of our scientific aptitude, and yes they could have fuel a string of innovation. Imagine what effect we can still have, if we put the Lebanese Patent office back on its feet, and organized inventor forums!
thanks again for writing about this, I had a high school math teacher in Lebanon who talked about that non-stop!
Lebanese and all other countries in near areas to Lebanese are improving theirself not only in technology and but also in real sufism and friendship. in the past we did. And in the future we will connect each other again and create the best technology and sicence in the world. This is not a predict! This is reality.
Regards from Turkey.