Hezbollah's Call

Lebanon has accommodated itself to accepting the fact that it has a dual government and military, in a manner of speaking. Well, in all honesty it transcends a simple manner of speaking; it is a visible and dangerous fact. Lebanon has changed enormously from what it once represented in the Middle East, a stable, pluralist, self-respecting society, a beautiful country whose citizens were proud to host international visitors admiring of the country, its geology and botany, its traditions and its welcoming people.

Much has happened to change Lebanon, starting with the influx of Palestinian refugees after 1948 and the eventual entry of the Israeli Forces to attempt to stem violent provocations; their exit and the formation of the terrorist group Hezbollah. Hezbollah simply rid itself of those elite Lebanese officials opposed to its savage rule in a once-prosperous and liberal-secular country. Since raided and occupied by Syria, of which state in tandem with Iran, Hezbollah became a proxy militia.

Hezbollah's fierce rise to prominence and its popularity within the Shia Lebanese segment and the Palestinians, hard won through conflict and targeted assassinations, saw it in a power-sharing arrangement with the country's politicians. Even though it is now integrated in the Lebanese government, however, it has chosen not to surrender its weapons and join its militia to that of the official Lebanese military.

Lebanon's current president is tolerant of Hezbollah to the point where Michel Suleiman is a political ally. But even he views with grave alarm the attacks that have begun to target Lebanon by outside sources, the rebels that have brought civil war to Syria, now overlapping into Lebanon. A country of four million people, Lebanon now has the burden of sustaining a half-million Syrians who have fled the conflict between the Alawite regime and the Opposition.

Mr. Suleiman, claiming that his good relations with Hezbollah remain intact, adds that Hezbollah's chief, Hassan Nasrallah, might have thought more deeply before he committed to "involve the resistance". The Resistance is how Hezbollah is popularly referred to: admired for heroically provoking and 'resisting' the enemy: Israel. Only this time the resistance has turned its forces and its weapons against the Syrian Free Army.

Israel may represent the ultimate enemy, but Sunni Muslims represent the penultimate enemy, one that must be confronted and fought to the death, lest they do the confrontation and the death-delivery to the Shia Muslims of whom Hezbollah is the prime protector under the prodding guidance of Iran. Mr. Suleiman feels it is his duty as Lebanon's president "to correct paths", and Hezbollah is obviously on the wrong path.

"I am against anything preemptive, like the wars of ex-U.S. President George Bush", explained Mr. Suleiman. Denying the utility of Hezbollah's excuse that it confronts the rebels to ensure they don't bring their war over into Lebanon. U.S. foreign policy is not viewed with much affection. Nor is George Bush held up as a hero. And Hezbollah's plans to aid the government of Syria open a front in the Golan Heights is alarming to him.

"Who guarantees that Israel does not attack Lebanon?" Astonishing to think that this game-plan has evaded Mr. Suleiman's consciousness up to now.

Hezbollah fighters are battling the Free Syrian Army militias in the strategic town of Qusair, helping the Syrian regime to claim it from the rebels. Its usefulness as a weapons conduit for both sides is being challenged by each side. It's estimated that almost a thousand people have been wounded, without prospects for medical attention, stranded helplessly in the besieged town.

The rebel Tawheed Brigade in Aleppo has warned the Lebanese government that it must restrain Hezbollah "or else we will be forced to move the battle to Lebanese territory", thus reinforcing Mr. Suleiman's concerns. As it is, the conflict and the deteriorating security prevailing in Lebanon has prompted it to suspend scheduled elections.

"Arab countries are experiencing bloodshed so that they may have elections, and we go and do the opposite? This is not the message that we want to send to the world", Mr. Suleiman said ruefully. "We live in a very dangerous moment in our history. We have little civil wars going on in parts of the country. Logistically, it's not feasible to have elections take place right now", Kamel Wazne, director of the Center for American Strategic Studies in Beirut said.