It is plausible that there are attempts being made towards disarming Hezbollah by exploiting the current Lebanese uprising that erupted underneath the current administration. It is also plausible that there are US, Israeli, and perhaps international demands that focus on Hezbollah’s strategic missiles that are said to be present on Lebanese soils. This is according to many US and Israeli officials including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natenyahu who addressed this issue two years ago during the UN general assembly. Meanwhile, secretary general of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah denies the existence of a strategic missile industrial complex while he maintains that Hezbollah have countless missiles in Lebanon at their disposal.
Read More: Why the Hezbollah Military Trembles in the Face of a Revolution
Hezbollah are worried by the uprising
Perhaps Hezbollah may have avoided these concerns had they not been a leading part and often at the helm of the authority. Demonstrators took to the streets protesting the authority’s policies. Their demands were clear and relating to financial and economic policies as well as the rampant corruption inside governmental institutions and administrations. They came out to protest the systematic looting of governmental resources as well as the wealth of the people. They protested the rise of unemployment, the continuously shrinking opportunities of maintaining a decent living including the dwindling prospects of immigration that are not available as was before due to changing policies around the world such as Europe, the Gulf, and other countries.
These living demands can be overlooked as much as one can the light of day. demonstrators took to the streets from every corner of Lebanon representing all areas and all doctrines and religions, and they were united in repeating one unifying cry: “We are Lebanese people not people of different sects and areas.” This cry resonated throughout the entire country as well as the world. It was an excellent political statement which affirmed that this system that was governing the interests of the Lebanese people has failed, and it has lead the country to the verge of disaster. It has caused the administration to be a separate entity from its people. The administration transformed into a burden rather than a solution for the people through its incapability of meeting any of their demands of improving policies or public administration.
A revolution that changed the rules of the game
The uprising was revolutionary in a sense that it moved from surrendering to the rules of sectarian game that has been the administrations tool to demanding its change through the universal call of forming a competent cabinet composed of qualified and independent people from outside the political establishment. Changing the rules of the game is not limited to the government or the upcoming elections, namely towards the adoption of a new law that establishes true judiciary independence in a time when political influence has overrun the justice system costing it its reputation as an independent authority.
In parallel, the Lebanese in general were besieged by an epidemic of activities produced by the Authority, with laws, decrees and decisions revealing the size of the parties involved in corruption, from electricity, to importing fuel and gasoline, diesel, and gas through fuel import monopolies, to customs in Beirut port, to tax evasion, garbage collection failures, tobacco importation mismanagement, and so on and so forth. These files are widespread and almost endless. They reveal that corruption has become more than just an exception but have become the norm of how the administration handles its business.
The purpose of the militia’s weapons
The protestors of Lebanon marched to demand their rights armed with a bevy of experiences they gained in the long years under this administration. It had become too difficult to believe their lies and trust their promises. The people did not march out of comfort, or against militia arms; unless they were a tool to protect the administration.
The question today becomes one that Hezbollah must answer and no one else: “Does Hezbollah’s military role include protecting the corrupt administration?”. If the answer was no, can a definition of this role be outlined? Are these weapons’ purpose to protect Lebanon? And shouldn’t they be within the hands of the army and security forces?
Claiming that Hezbollah’s weapons are the arms of the resistance requires these weapons to be truly in the hands of the Lebanese resistance fighters, not under the control of foreign powers no matter how good of a relationship we have with them. Resistance against occupation must come from within the country and by the people. They are the ones who pay the heavy costs and suffer the burdens of the struggle against occupation. The fruits of victory are also primarily to be shared by the people; these are the promotion of justice and freedom as well as consolidating a strong and just government.
This is what a true resistance aims to achieve, and if it didn’t then it is anything but a people’s resistance.
A revolution is an act of resistance
Consequently, what the rebellion is doing against the powers of corruption and social and economic oppression is an act of resistance, and an attempt to reclaim the resistance in its true form which has been distorted and vulgarized by many. Those people turned it into a weapon and pointed it inwards against people and the whole of society.
Resistance, in its broad and true sense, is a motive for further breaking the constraints on freedom and justice in constitutions and laws, and for respecting and consolidating human and civil rights. Resistance is an act of renewal of life and lifting man from slavery and despair.
Resistance cannot be compatible with ignorance or motivated by sectarianism, and it is not resistance at all when it runs along with corruption. The means of a resistance whose goal is freedom and justice cannot belong to or be a part of injustice, slavery, and corruption.
