Hezbollah

The current political situation in both Syria and Lebanon reflect a continuing tug of war between both countries and a similar tug of war between pro and anti Syrian currents in Lebanon itself, where national sentiment, within the real sense of the terms is only paper thin, such that it tends to explode whenever subjected to foreign pressure.

The 14th March, 2005 rally, following the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri, gave rise to hope that a Lebanese consciousness, a sense of identity had risen from the ashes. Whether it has in fact been born is a matter for conjecture. Myth or reality, however, is the only possible hope for Lebanon. The alternative is a return to anarchy and foreign domination.

Alas, nothing new has appeared on the horizon. The Dialogue Conference resumed yesterday after a long adjournment. Hands were shaken and kisses were exchanged, but the Presidential issue, one of the main items on the agenda of the Conference remained suspended in mid air without a coherent majority, one way or the other. It now appears that President Lahoud will be allowed to finish his Mandate, which ends in Autumn of 2007.



The next topic on the agenda was the armed wing of Hezbollah (Party of God). The leader of the Party, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah presented a lengthy report over seventy minutes during which he outlined the strategic necessity for Hezbollah to maintain its armed wing, in view of Israeli aggressive territorial ambitions. He stressed the fact that if the Lebanese Army were to be deployed on the Lebanese-Israeli frontier, one sweep of Israel jets would be sufficient to annihilate such deployment, whilst in the case of Hezbollah, its fighters are not recognizable. They melt in the environment as simple peasants and cannot be targeted, in addition to the fact that Hezbollah’s arsenal of long-range missiles was well hidden and cannot be reached by Israel.

The presentation was well and positively received by one and all of the Delegates to the Conference, including Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader himself who went as far as to congratulate Sheik Hassan on his lucid and cartesian presentation of the issue.

Consequently, Hezbollah will retain its armed wing until such time as peace has been signed with Israel, not a likely event in the foreseeable future. U.N. Resolution 1559, like so many others before it will be consigned to the drawers, already full of resolutions relating to Israel which have never been fulfilled.