Hezbollah is Coming Apart at the Seams

Lebanese of all creeds are growing progressively more dissatisfied with Hezbollah: “Unreported in the Western Media: Hezbollah Is Losing Popular Support in Lebanon,” by Hany Ghoraba, Algemeiner, November 1, 2024:

A major vocal critic of Hezbollah is prominent Lebanese Shia scholar Ali Al-Amin, who is influential amongst the Lebanese Shia population. In statements to Al Arabiya News on Oct 10, Al-Amin stressed the necessity of handing over Hezbollah’s weapons to the Lebanese army. He added, “In light of the presence of weapons other than those of the state, concern remains.”…

In daring to criticize Hezbollah openly, Ali Al-Amin has provided evidence of Hezbollah’s weakness. He’s no longer afraid of the group’s retribution. A year ago, with Nasrallah alive and Hezbollah still riding high, he would never have dared to be so public in his criticism. He insists that Hezbollah must disarm, and hand over its weapons to the Lebanese army, the only military force that the people of Lebanon should allow.

The war has put Lebanon, or those parts where Hezbollah holds sway, in danger. The IDF cannot always and everywhere hit only Hezbollah fighters and buildings; civilians also suffer, despite the best efforts of the IDF to prevent this from happening. And not all the buildings that are hit by the IAF in southern Beirut, or in the Bekaa Valley, belong to Hezbollah. Those whose homes are destroyed and are not Hezbollah sympathizers are furious with Hezbollah for lobbing rockets into Israel and bringing down on their heads the IDF airstrikes in return. Even those who may have once been Hezbollah supporters have under heavy Israeli bombardment begun to denounce the terror group for attacking Israel, when it must have known what kind of reprisals the Jewish state would unleash. Like Hamas, Hezbollah doesn’t worry about civilian casualties; the more of them, the better — for these dead and wounded civilians are put to immediate use in Hezbollah’s propaganda campaign.

The Lebanese Shi’a are becoming ever more furious with Iran for “fighting Israel till the last Shia Muslim in Lebanon.” Iran should fight its own fights, they insist, and not sacrifice Lebanese on the altar of its ambition to destroy the Jewish state. The Lebanese most no longer be Iran’s cannon fodder.

Lebanese Judicial Commissioner Peter Germanos, a Christian, wants the Lebanese Shia, most of whom he thinks have abandoned their allegiance to Hezbollah, to rise up and throw off this yoke. Hezbollah needs to be recognized as a foreign agent, working not for Lebanon’s wellbeing, but for Iran’s geopolitical ambitions.

Mohamed Shoieb is a Lebanese activist and founder of the Southern Independent People Front. His daughter was once kidnapped by Hezbollah, and three commercial stores he owned were shut down by order of Hezbollah. As a Shia resident of southern Lebanon, he is fed up with Hezbollah policies.

“Take it from me and I am responsible for every word I say; more than 95 percent of the southern Lebanon population are objecting to the rule of Hezbollah but they are afraid,” said Shoeib in an interview in September.

Nearly two months after Shoieb gave his interview, insisting that 95% of the population in southern Lebanon are against Hezbollah, but are “afraid” to say so publicly. One must ask: is that fear still as great? I doubt it. Since his interview, the IDF has killed both Nasrallah and his anointed successor, has killed 10 of the 12 members of Hezbollah’s Jihad Council, has killed two dozen of its top commanders, and destroyed 80% of the 50,000 rockets Hezbollah had warehoused for future use, as well as an untold number of drones. It had killed nearly 3,000 Hezbollah combatants by the end of October and, with its “exploding pagers,” had killed dozens and wounded — often severely — another 3,000 members of Hezbollah. After all those losses, Hezbollah does not appear nearly as fearsome as it did just a few months ago. Hence more and more Lebanese, including Shia, have been denouncing the group on social media.

With its every blow against Hezbollah, the IDF is steadily weakening the group. And that is why not just the Christian Peter Germanos, but Shias such as Mohammed Shoieb, Ali Al-Amin, and Hadi Murad now dare to demand that Hezbollah disarm, stop drawing Israeli fire onto Lebanon, and end its role as proxy for the Iranians by sacrificing Lebanese lives and welfare to the demands of a malignant Iran.

Hezbollah’s political and military leaders are being killed, its tunnels into Israel are being blown up, and its warehouse of weapons are being destroyed. And now even those Lebanese Shia who used to support them do so no longer. It can still shoot a few dozen missiles at northern Israel, to remind the world that it exists, but in truth Hezbollah is coming apart at the seams, disintegrating, deliquescing.