The Syrians Who Celebrate Israel’s Attacks on Hezbollah

Not all Muslim Arabs are sorry to see the IDF devastating Hezbollah and killing its leaders, from Hassan Nasrallan and Fuad Shukr on down. Many remember what Hezbollah did to them during the Syrian Civil War, when the Lebanese group entered Syria to fight on the side of Bashar al-Assad. More on those who had suffered from Hezbollah then, and are celebrating now, can be found here: “Hezbollah Massacred Syrians; They Are Glad for Israel’s Help,” by Alana Schetzer, Algemeiner, October 21, 2024:

Israel’s assassination of the senior leaders of the Hezbollah terror group, including its chief, Hassan Nasrallah, was mourned by many Shiite Muslims and celebrated by even larger numbers of Sunni Arabs.

But for one group of people in the small mountain town of Madaya, Syria, the elimination of Hezbollah’s senior leadership was especially important.  

Madaya is located about 40km north-west of Syria’s capital, Damascus, and about 52km from the Lebanon border. During the Syrian civil war, the town was the site of one of Hezbollah’s cruelest and most vicious attacks.

Between July 2015 and April 2017, Madaya was besieged by Hezbollah. Hezbollah sent thousands of its fighters from Lebanon to support Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in his battle to defeat anti-regime forces opposed to his authoritarian regime. 

This campaign to was characterized by widespread violence, including massacres, and inhuman acts of cruelty against civilians.

By October 2016, one million Syrians were actively under siege according to news reports, while some 4.5 million were in need of humanitarian aid.

Hezbollah planted some 12,000 landmines around Madaya, and created 65 checkpoints manned by snipers to stop food, fuel, and medicine being delivered to the town, and prevent residents from leaving. 

According to survivor testimony, Hezbollah killed children, raped women, and buried people alive….

And many Syrians, Lebanese, and others, whether or not they are able to say so publicly, will be rooting for Israel to finish the job of demolishing Hezbollah,  a central part of Iran’s “Ring of Fire.”

The residents of Madaya may be especially joyful at the news of Hezbollah’s slow-motion destruction, its command-and-control centers flattened, two-thirds of its vast storehouse of missiles and rockets reduced to rubble, its leaders killed, thousands of its combatants “neutralized” so far by airstrikes, tank shells, snipers, and exploding pagers. But they are not alone. All over Syria, the Sunni Arabs who fought against the Assad despotism, and were crushed not only by the Syrian army but also by Hezbollah, are handing out sweets and shouting their delight. And in Lebanon, too, the Christians and the Sunnis are relieved that Hezbollah is progressively being weakened, so that its hold over the country is steadily loosening. In both Syria and Lebanon the IDF has its Arab fans, happy to cheer on its dismantling of Hezbollah. But not a word about them has appeared in the mainstream media. Why is that, I wonder.