Lebanon’s Hezbollah has proven that it is more than a terror militia to dread. It has become a time bomb that threatens to rupture relations between states and aspires to play the role of an uncontrollable regional troublemaker. Hassan Nasrallah has crossed all the red lines on which the actions of this militia, which challenges the national sovereignty of the Lebanese state, can be based.
He is overriding the sovereignty of a Lebanese state that is afraid of its cross-border mercenaries and unable to restrain his readiness to support those who back him with money, weapons and also ideas. I will not argue with Nasrallah’s latest speech and his accusing Saudi Arabia of terrorism. Everyone knows exactly who is running terrorism and who is financing it.
As a Gulf Arab, Nasrallah’s claims and violations bother me less than his alleged Arab-Lebanese identity. This man does not represent Lebanon and “most Lebanese,” as Prime Minister Najib Mikati said. This is a fact, despite all the question marks behind the Lebanese leadership’s attitude toward a man who is toying with the fate of Lebanon and its people.
However, the serious problem remains that he insists on destroying this beautiful country and turning it into a haven of chaos. The main center of gravity of this terrorist party on the Lebanese stage, in my opinion, is its enormous arsenal of weapons. Not its alleged popularity, anyway.
This party has already engaged in bone-breaking battles with all camps on the Lebanese stage. No one could stop their continued plans to turn Lebanon into a huge armory to serve as a forward counter-base against Israel and the Lebanese people themselves.
The world has not seen many political parties that have asserted their influence and power with bullets rather than with programs and policies, with the exception of the bloodthirsty fascist parties that the world has witnessed in previous historical eras.
Today, this phenomenon might be happening again. However, it has returned in the form of sectarian parties. These armed militias have found in politics a suitable platform to achieve their goals, as in the case of the Muslim Brotherhood and the sectarian militias that maintain a political front in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and other countries.
Nasrallah, as he himself admitted in his recent speech, is aware that he is working to sabotage Saudi-Lebanese relations and consolidate the hijacking of the Lebanese state under the threat of the militias’ weapons. On the other hand, he is not aware that his role in the regional theater can be terminated at any time at the request of his “director.”
Perhaps most ironically, Nasrallah refers to Lebanese working in Saudi Arabia as “hostages” in his speech. However, he knows that if the doors of entry were to open, twice or more “hostages” would gladly come to the kingdom. It is clear and simple: societies want a decent life where people live in safety. People will not feed on empty slogans and catchphrases.
They want a decent life earned through work, not hype. A life away from the whims of a ruthless man who can set fire to the earth beneath them and the air above them in wars with internal parties or external powers to quench his bloody thirst for dictatorship.
Perhaps I am not exaggerating - with all due respect to the sincere people of this Arab country - when I say that they are the real hostages threatened at gunpoint by this 100,000-strong armed terrorist party. They are the ones who have to tolerate a terror party in their government and in their state or else face a new episode of destruction.
Nasrallah has gone too far for him to be able to backtrack on his repeated fantasies and tissue of lies. The truth is that the fate of a state and its people in this dangerous situation must not depend on a destructive sectarian mentality. It is inconceivable that state leaders are not yet able to unite and cooperate while sectarian guns are pointed at everyone’s chest.
Just as incredible is the fact that the international community is unable to find solutions to a situation of State hijacking at the mercy of an armed terrorist militia. It is clear that Lebanon cannot stand up with an authoritarian and anti-state hegemony in place. Nasrallah fancies a faux leadership, he is addicted to the spotlight and will not easily shed his paper heroism.
But Nasrallah’s crises are not limited to Lebanon. He reminds everyone in the region and the world of the need to work toward disarming the militias, especially Hezbollah, and eradicating them completely from the Middle East.
Dr. Salem AlKetbi is a UAE political analyst and former Federal National Council candidate.
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