Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Conniving with Hezbollah | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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The crimes committed by Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah against Lebanon and the Lebanese are endless. Yet, regrettably, there are MPs and Lebanese politicians who shy away or fail to even comment on Hezbollah’s actions either out of fear or because they are conniving. The clearest evidence in this respect was the recent downing of a Lebanese army helicopter in south Lebanon.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s militia, which actually occupies Lebanon with the power of arms, is not content with establishing security zones on Lebanese terrain; in actual fact, it has begun to mark out its own airspace. So if Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah has veto power in Lebanese government, its own security zones on the ground and in the air, controls the airport, and has its own communications network, then what is left for Lebanon?

Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah, which occupied Beirut with the power of weapons, something that even Israel has never done, recently downed a Lebanese army helicopter with its weapons, which is also something that Israel has never done before. What other crimes are left for Hezbollah to commit against the Lebanese state and its citizens?

Nasrallah’s party has come to pose more of a threat to the state, unity and citizens of Lebanon than Israel and its weapons, yet in spite of this, Abdul Amir Qabalan, the Vice President of the Higher Islamic Shia Council comes out to say that “infiltrators working on behalf of Israel fired at the helicopter.”

Qabalan’s comments represent nothing but connivance with Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah against the Lebanese state and army. Doesn’t Sheikh Qabalan know − especially considering that there are no secrets whatsoever in Lebanon − that not only did Hezbollah fire at the helicopter, which was hovering at a very low altitude, killing one of its pilots who was shot in the head, in addition, there is information that indicates that the Iranian-affiliated party insisted upon interrogating the other injured pilot before allowing him medical attention.

The crimes of Nasrallah’s party are never-ending and are clearly visible. However, what is regrettable is that some leaders are conniving with Hezbollah against the state and army. We all remember when former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, in reference to the army’s capabilities during the July 2006 Lebanon-Israel war, and in defense of Hezbollah, said that the Lebanese army is not qualified to confront Israel.

It is for a simple reason that we say there is connivance; Hezbollah is nothing but Iran’s shadow that acts under the instructions of the Supreme Leader and not in the interest of Lebanon. Suffice it to mention the recent comments made by Iran that Iran’s Shia allies in the Arab world will respond to any military action against Tehran, and in the past, Hassan Nasrallah has boasted about being a member of Wilayat-e-Faqih.

After all that, there are still some Lebanese who, because of the power struggle, give up Lebanon and the Lebanese as a sacrifice to Iran and its ambitions in the region even though Hezbollah used all its weapons against Lebanon and the Lebanese the day it occupied Beirut and the day it launched its assault against the army, which Nasrallah referred to on numerous occasions as a symbol of Lebanese unity.

But the Sayyed often turns his words upside-down just as he turned Beirut upside-down on May 7!