Though Lebanon is always drawn to the heart of the action in the region, it rarely makes international news. When it does it’s usually when Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hizbollah, decides to make a televised address.
Writing in the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat, Joyce Karam noted that there seemed to be a lack of vision in Hizbollah's strategy in Syria, where the Iranian-backed group is fighting ISIL and Jabhat Al Nusra. This was accompanied by "the decline of the Syrian regime due to an increase in logistical and fighting costs".
She remarked that Mr Nasrallah had evoked a “general mobilisation” and confirmed the many mistakes that accompanied the group’s intervention in Syria.
“The war is far from over, as the group’s leaders mentioned to their Lebanese allies more than once, and the victories in Qusai, Homs and Qalamoun did not strategically succeed in ... turning the winds in favour of the Assad regime,” she wrote.
She said pragmatists within Hizbollah must understand that their prospects of saving the regime of Syria’s Bashar Al Assad are unrealistic and that their efforts to do so had now reached a political and military dead end.
“The fourth year of Hizbollah in Syria may be the most difficult one for the party as its options diminish and the capabilities of the opposition increase. Moving to a Plan B so as not to drown with the regime may become a strategic necessity, should there be no exit and should ‘divine victories’ fail to happen,” Karam concluded.
Also writing in Al Hayat, Hazem Saghieh said that Mr Nasrallah's address "reflects that Hizbollah stands at the dawn of a new era, a difficult and strenuous stage where the voice of the battle abroad may prevail over every internal voice. Heads may fall, as may towns and villages, in the name of taking control of the plains."
The writer noted that “takfir” – declaring other Muslims apostate – was being used as an excuse for slaughter.
In the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, Iyad Abu Chaqra observed that "a year has gone by and the presidential vacuum persists in Lebanon, accompanied by a vacuum of minds that are capable of realising the depth of the crisis".
On the subject of Mr Nasrallah’s declaration of a “general mobilisation”, the writer said “Hizbollah has a definitive strategy that awaits no one’s permission, not even the state’s.
“Should one of the Lebanese parties object to such a strategy, it will be accused and convicted on charges of sectarianism, intolerance and terrorism, to the extent of causing civil strife and division.”
* Translated by Carla Mirza
CMirza@thenational.ae
