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Questions About Hezbollah's Role in Lebanese Offensive Lebanon August 27, 2017 11 News & Analysis Lebanon Questions about Hezbollah’s role in Lebanese offensive Sami Moubayed among Lebanese Sunnis and Chris- tians that Hezbollah had become a state within a state, capable of wag- Beirut ing war and peace without waiting for approval from the Lebanese gov- he Lebanese Army has ernment. launched its much-de- Two of Hariri’s cabinet ministers layed offensive against ignored his advice and headed to the last remaining pock- Syria on August 17 to take part in the ets held by the Islamic Damascus International Fair, defy- TState (ISIS) in the town of Ras Baal- ing the official stance of the Leba- bek, near Lebanon’s north-eastern nese government, which formally border with Syria. Reportedly 600 supports neutrality in the Syrian militants have been operating there crisis. The ministers were from Hez- since 2012. bollah and its ally the Amal Move- The military move August 19 ment, and both were given red-car- comes weeks after Hezbollah carried pet treatment in Damascus, making out a similar operation against Jab- Hariri look weak and increasingly hat Fateh al-Sham (formerly known disobeyed within his own cabinet. as al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s affili- The slightest hint of Hezbollah in- ate in Syria) in Arsal in July, which volvement in the Lebanese Army’s aroused the ire of many in Lebanon, offensive would have subjected him especially within the pro-Western to a massive character onslaught. March 14 coalition led by Prime Hariri is walking a tightrope at Minister Saad Hariri. They argued home, accommodating Hezbollah’s that Hezbollah’s task was to liberate political ambitions while abiding by land occupied by the Israelis, not to Lebanon’s Western alliances, espe- support the regime in Damascus or cially with the United States, which eradicate Sunni jihadists at home. he visited last July. During a news Blurred realities. A Hezbollah fighter places a flag of the movement and a Lebanese national flag in a Such attacks by an all-Shia militia conference at the White House, US mountainous area around the Lebanese border town of Arsal. (AFP) backed blatantly by Iran would only President Donald Trump compared inflame Sunni nationalism across Hezbollah to ISIS and Hariri did not the region, endangering the frag- speak out in its defence, causing cluded eight M2A2 Bradley fighting of Qusayr, which the Lebanese group By working with the Lebanese ile sectarian balance in Lebanon. backlash at home among the group’s vehicles and ten armoured field ar- recaptured in 2013. The Pentagon government, the United States is Sources close to Hariri swore this constituency. tillery ammunition supply vehicles. claims that the M113 armoured per- giving de facto recognition to Hez- latest operation had nothing to do Hariri doesn’t hide the fact that he Another 24 Bradleys are to be deliv- sonnel carriers had been captured bollah and its proportionate repre- with Hezbollah, claiming that it was has very little affection for the party ered within the next few months, from the South Lebanon Army, a sentation in Lebanese politics, al- planned and executed by officers in for a multitude of reasons, starting making Lebanon the second Arab proxy of the Israelis during the civil though technically the party ranks the Lebanese Army but Iran-backed with his conviction that it was in- country after Saudi Arabia to receive war that was disbanded by Hezbol- high on the US terrorism list. media insist that it was fully coor- volved in the assassination of his fa- such sophisticated military equip- lah in 2000. Inasmuch as it would have loved dinated with Hezbollah Secretary- ther in 2005 onto its involvement in ment. If the Americans had any serious to see Hariri’s demise, after bringing General Hassan Nasrallah. the Syria war and finally to its fiery The elephant in the room at the doubt that their weapons were end- down his cabinet in 2011, Hezbol- The minute the offensive started, rhetoric against Saudi Arabia, a tradi- airport was Hezbollah, whose offic- ing up with Hezbollah they would lah was forced to deal with him yet Hezbollah and the Syrian Army tional patron of the Lebanese prime ers command the premises and op- have certainly thought twice before again in 2016, agreeing to his return launched a joint attack on the other minister. Hariri’s silence on Trump’s erate a telecommunications network receiving Hariri at the White House to the premiership if its ally, Michel side of the border, targeting ISIS po- remarks earned him $140 million in that Hariri’s allies tried to dismantle in July and refrained from sending Aoun, made it to the presidency. sitions in the western Qalamoun re- military aide for the Lebanese Army. ten years ago, sparking off a mini- weapons to the Lebanese Army. Of- To let its operation pass on Fateh gion of Syria. A Hezbollah statement The first batch of American weap- civil war on the streets of Beirut. ficially those arms will not be used al-Sham in Arsal, it had to allow said its troops were fighting “side ons arrived August 21 at Beirut-Rafik They made sure to distance them- in the battles in Ras Baalbek and, of- his operation to materialise against by side” with the Syrian Army but Hariri International Airport and in- selves from the Lebanese Army’s ficially as well, Hezbollah is not part ISIS in Ras Baalbek — silently and made no mention of the Lebanese of- operation in Ras Baalbek ahead of of the present offensive on ISIS. discretely, however, to avoid em- fensive or of any coordinated effort the weapons delivery, wanting the Realities get blurred in Lebanon, barrassing him and its own top in Ras Baalbek. vehicles to reach army headquarters. however, just like elsewhere in the leadership among a rivalling con- This was probably not to further By working with the Over the past ten years, Lebanon Arab world. Hezbollah is officially stituency that has been at daggers embarrass Hariri, who badly need- Lebanese government, has received more than $1 billion part of the Lebanese government drawn against each other since ed this war on ISIS. It had to look the United States is in US military aid and Israel claims that is waging war on ISIS and it 2005. professional, it had to look govern- that some of it found its way into the controls a parliamentary bloc that mental and it had to look 100% in- giving de facto hands of Hezbollah, citing US-made signed off on the operation and did Sami Moubayed is a Syrian dependent from Hezbollah. This recognition to armoured vehicles that showed up at not object to the arrival of US arms historian and author of “Under was crucial to shrug off accusations Hezbollah. a Hezbollah parade in the Syrian city in Beirut. the Black Flag” (IB Tauris, 2015). New political parties challenge Lebanon’s oligarchy ounded just last year, Kamal, and has been grooming modern platform and disclosed supportive of the country’s new Seven is one of Leba- his son Taymour to succeed him. its financial statement. Many of wave. Lebanon’s parliament has non’s newest political Similarly, the Shia leadership has Beirut Madinati’s activists are 128 seats. Hussain Abdul-Hussain parties. Its means been under Nabih Berri, the preparing for another showdown Even though Mrowa is a Shia are innovative; its longest serving parliament with Lebanon’s traditional from southern Lebanon and is a Washington-based specialist language modern. On speaker in the world, and Hezbol- oligarchs in next year’s parlia- stands for everything that in Middle Eastern affairs. Follow its website, the party lah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah, who mentary elections. Hezbollah is not, he prefers to him on Twitter: @hahussain. Fposts its financial statements, has been leading the Party of God Mark Daou is one of Beirut identify himself by his national- showing its sources of income since the mid-1990s. Madinati’s activists who plan to ity rather than his religion, and detailing expenses. The party Under its oligarchy, Lebanon run for election in the spring. speaking about the “National endorses the concepts of good was ranked 136th out of 176 by Daou identifies as secular but for Civil Coalition” that he and the governance and democracy. Transparency International in election purposes is forced to run likes of Daou, Seven and Beirut Ultra-modernity, however, terms of corruption and 99th on for a seat allocated to the religion Madinati have been working to risks opening a gap between the the “World Press Freedom Index” he was born into: Druze. put together. party’s leadership — mostly by Reporters Without Borders. “Competing for parliamentary “We have a dream team of educated, middle-class Lebanese The country carries a debt of seats allocated according to sect candidates that we hope to — and the rest of the population more than $70 billion, making it does not erase your political assemble together,” Mrowa said in whose welfare depends on state the second highest indebted identity or hinder working for a a phone interview. “These are resources, which they receive country in the world (after Japan) civil state,” Daou said. “Each mainly people who are known in through the country’s long-time when compared to its GDP. candidate of ours builds on their fields, such as (former ruling oligarchs. Though the concept behind grass-roots networks in their Christian Minister of Interior) Ziad Vicky Zwein, one of Seven’s Seven, named after the victory native region and electoral Baroud, (media figure) Gisele founders, showcased her group’s sign that reflects the number in district as we all subscribe to a Khoury and (Shia activist) Mustafa principles, most of which seem to the traditional Arabic font, may common platform that is Fahs, among others,” he said.
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