Hezbollah makes serious mistakes if it believes it is justified in using outdated methods in the face of major current changes. Its sacrifices could be wasted, and the consequences of its actions could backfire if it tries to undermine the state’s progress again. Ensuring the dignity, rights, and status of its community can only be achieved under the current circumstances by engaging in the path of national recovery. Some of its past heroic actions against the Israeli occupation, which benefited Lebanon and defended the people of the south, could be lost entirely in the face of the fierce storms affecting the region.

Lebanese Consensus

There is a near-universal Lebanese, Arab, and international consensus rejecting the idea of responding to the repercussions of Israeli aggression in Lebanon through a resistance monopolized by Hezbollah. The party’s decisions are tied to Iran and, by its own admission, it does not cooperate with the rescue measures agreed upon for negotiating with Israel on the basis of an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied southern territories, and the return of displaced residents to their homes. Matters such as normalization and other approaches are left for later stages, in line with a unified Arab position rather than Iran’s agenda. The powers that support Lebanon agree on the negative assessment of Iran’s and Hezbollah’s stance, and these actors suffer from near-total isolation in the world, while Lebanon cannot survive within that circle of isolation.

Hezbollah has the right to consider the decision to expel the Iranian ambassador from Lebanon humiliating for the party or its supporting community. However, Lebanese citizens also have the right to remind them that the purpose of the expulsion is not to insult this community at all. It is meant to affirm rejection of the violations carried out by the Revolutionary Guard in Lebanon, such as sending its officers into conflict zones with forged passports, as noted by Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, and the ambassador Reza Shibani began performing his duties and contacts without his credentials being accepted by the President, in clear violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to which both Lebanon and Iran are parties. Lebanon previously expelled the Libyan ambassador in consideration of this principle.

The Party Will Lose the Bet

If Hezbollah decides to confront the Lebanese government in the field, it will place Lebanon in new difficulties and further disrupt the political scene. However, it will lose its bet on avoiding accountability. The factors that favor it, including some sympathy from its community and beneficiaries, are far outweighed by those working against it, particularly the broad local, Arab, and international solidarity with the government’s position. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have both stated that the threat of civil war is no longer intimidating, wisely refraining from disclosing the details that prevent it.

Lebanese citizens are united in moving to a new phase, in which the state alone decides everything related to security, sovereignty, and the management of the country in accordance with the law and through constitutional institutions and official authorities.

It is easy for opponents of order to justify their positions by pointing to ongoing Israeli aggression and its disregard for legal and ethical limits. But Hezbollah is the party that declared its entry into a support war with Iran to retaliate for the attempted assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Hezbollah also agreed to the understandings reached with Israel on November 27, 2024. A position in which it placed its weapons at the disposal of the Lebanese army and suspended its military activities could have removed all the justifications Israel used for its aggression over the past months, which targeted military personnel while the entire Middle East witnessed actions exceeding harassment of Palestinians and Lebanese to affect other regions far beyond its borders.

Israel will not escape accountability for its actions, no matter how strong it believes itself to be, and its occupation of Lebanese land will keep the resistance’s sword pointed against it. The resistance does not have to follow the old, exhausted model tied to foreign powers. The Lebanese are capable of defending themselves. Their unity is a source of strength, supported by the international community, and the power of justice is not subject to the principle of obsolescence.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Annahar