Has Hezbollah Bitten Off More Than It Can Chew?

Beirut, was once called the Paris of the Arab World . A city that was cosmopolitan, vibrant and dynamic. A city that was once renowned for its press, theaters and cultural activities. A city that was the intellectual capital of the Arab world and a major commercial and tourist center until 1975 when civil war broke out. This once jewel is now in flames.

The last time Beirut was in flames was during the Second Lebanese War in 2006. Then the IAF flew hundreds of sorties over Beirut, destroying Hezbollah targets, and causing major damage to Beirut's infrastructure.

This time the destruction is being caused by Hezbollah in an attempt to wrest control of the Lebanese government.

Hezbollah first emerged during the Lebanese Civil War in the early 1980s as a militia of Shia followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini, trained, organized and funded by a contingent of Iranian Revolutionary Guard. In its 1985 manifesto Hezbollah listed its three main goals as the eradication of Western colonialism in Lebanon, the bringing to justice of those who committed atrocities during the war (specifically the Phalangists), and the establishment of an Islamic government in Lebanon.


Hezbollah has popular support in Shi'a Lebanese society and has mobilized demonstrations of hundreds of thousands. Hezbollah receives its financial support mainly from the donations of Lebanese Shi’ites. "According to frequent accounts in the western press, the group also receives considerable support from Iran and Syria", UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says. Syria openly supports and helps Hezbollah.

It was Hezbollah that was responsible for the 1983 US Embassy Bombing in Beirut. A total of 63 people were killed in the bombing: 32 Lebanese employees, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passersby. Of the American dead, eight worked for the Central Intelligence Agency including the CIA's top Middle East analyst and Near East director, Robert Ames, and the entire Middle East contingent of the CIA. An additional 120 or so people were wounded in the bombing.

It was Hezbollah that was responsible for the 1983 Beirut Barracks Bombings. In the attack on the American barracks, the death toll was 241 American servicemen: 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel and 3 Army soldiers. Sixty Americans were injured. In the attack on the French barracks, 58 paratroopers were killed and 15 injured, in the single worst military loss for France since the end of the Algerian war.

Hezbollah was responsible for the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, the 1994 attack on a Jewish Center in Argentina, the hijacking of TWA flight 847 in 1985, numerous kidnappings, torture of prisoners, and attacks on Israel and Israeli civilians.

Hezbollah has not revealed its armed strength. It has been estimated that Hezbollah's military force is made up of about 1,000 full-time Hezbollah members, along with a further 6,000-10,000 volunteers.

Hezbollah organizes extensive social development programs, running hospitals, news services, and educational facilities. Social services have a central role in the party's programs. Most experts believe that Hezbollah's social and health programs are worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Thus they attempt to show to the Muslim population of Lebanon their kinder, gentler side.

Hezbollah was one of the major parties of the March 8 Alliance. This was formed in opposition to the Cedar Revolution that forced the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanon. Hezbollah had joined the new government in 2005. In 2006 it demanded a national unity government in which they demanded early elections and one third of the Cabinet seats; effectively, veto power. When negotiations with the ruling coalition failed, five Cabinet Ministers from Hezbollah and Amal resigned their positions.
Hezbollah operates a satellite television station, al-Manar (The Beacon), a radio station al-Nour (The Light) and its own telephone network.

Now you ask what has caused today's temper tantrum.


A Lebanese government decision to declare Hizbullah's telecommunications network illegal amounts to a "declaration of war," the organization's leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday.

The US-backed government on Tuesday declared the military telecommunications network illegal and said it was a threat to state security. The government also said it would dismiss the security chief of the country's only international airport because he was suspected of ties to Iranian - and Syrian - Hizbullah.

Nasrallah vowed to fight any attempts to disarm Hizbullah members saying: "Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them. Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off."

"The decision is tantamount to a declaration of war ... on the resistance and its weapons in the interest of America and Israel," Nasrallah said.

He offered a way out of latest crisis, saying the "illegitimate" government must revoke its decisions against Hezbollah.

He said the telecommunications network was "the most important part of the weapons of the resistance" and added Hizbullah had a duty to defend those weapons.

"I am not declaring war. I am declaring a decision of self-defense," he said. The government has "crossed all the red lines. We will not be lenient with anyone."

Nasrallah who commands Hezbollah from the safety and security of Damascus, who sends his children to school in England, cries foul when the Lebanese government finally start to crack down on them.

Hezbollah wants one thing. Total control of Lebanon. To create an Islamic Republic of Lebanon. This state would give Hezbollah total control of the Lebanese military. Its tanks, artillery, and planes. It would give Iran a puppet state on Israel's northern border, to match the puppet state now on Israel's southern border in Gaza.

With 2 puppet states so close to Israel, there would be nothing to stop Iran from attacking Israel either directly, through their proxies or both. A nightmare scenario of an nuclear attack from Iran compounded with attacks from both Lebanon and Gaza.

Hezbollah claimed victory after 2006, saying that it defeated Israel and won that war. Israel's response was the Winograd Commission. Its finding shook the IDF to its core and forced the IDF to make drastic changes to its training programs. The IDF of today is not the one that Hezbollah faced in 2006. It has corrected the mistakes it made.

While the upcoming scenario for the next Lebanese/Israeli war is not yet written, this recent outbreak of violence in Lebanon does make it more inevitable if Hezbollah would seize control of the Lebanese government.

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