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Louai Beshara / AFP - Getty Images
A Syrian man holds a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon's Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah during a pro-regime rally in Damascus on Jan. 11, 2012.
NEWS ANALYSIS
BEIRUT, Lebanon – On a freshly paved road that runs from Baalbak to Ersal in northern Lebanon stands a towering billboard.
On one half of the billboard is Syrian President Bashar Assad, in military uniform. On the other half is a portrait of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese political and paramilitary organization that has been labeled a terrorist group by Washington.
The conflict in neighboring Syria has put Hezbollah, the staunch regional resistance movement, in a tough spot. Despite praising the Arab Spring democracy movement in many other countries, Hezbollah and its leader Nasrallah are standing by the Assad regime, even as it kills thousands of its own people to preserve power.
While Hezbollah supports Assad’s regime, the broader Lebanese population is divided and hesitant to take sides. Nonetheless, there is growing concern that this distance will be increasingly difficult to maintain as the conflict spirals on.
In fact, both pro- and anti-Assad groups have traded accusations that the other is receiving material support from inside Lebanon
Rivals or bedfellows?
On the surface, Assad and Nasrallah appear to be opposites.
Assad is the president of a country that is increasingly isolated in the international community and is widely unpopular on the Arab street. His government is embattled and his grip on power challenged.
Nasrallah, on the other hands, is the head of a popular Lebanese resistance movement and a domestic political force. He enjoys widespread support on the Arab street, particularly for his staunch resistance to Israel and Western imperialism in the region.
Nasrallah’s organization is considered the strongest non-state actor in the Middle East. It commands respect for its firepower and discipline. Nasrallah’s leadership of Hezbollah is not in doubt. Ideologically, Nasrallah and his organization draw on their Shiite Muslim religious beliefs as the steadfast backbone of their convictions.
In comparison, Assad's Baath party, which rules Syria, is staunchly secular.
But when it comes to understanding why the two men share the same billboard, as well as campaign posters at pro-Assad rallies, there is only one measuring stick, according to a Hezbollah official who spoke on the condition of anonymity: "What is the specific party's proximity to the resistance of Western and Israeli aggressions and occupation in the Middle East?” He added, "Nothing else matters.”
Shared enemy
For years, Syria was a conduit by which Hezbollah was able to acquire support from its main backer Iran (also a close ally of the Syrian regime). Because Syria aided and supported Hezbollah's top priority – perpetuating resistance to Israeli occupation – it was considered an ally despite their differences.
While the organization supports the democratic aspirations of all people in the region, there cannot be a "conflict of priorities.”
Hezbollah’s "only priority is the perpetuation of resistance” to Israel, the official said.
Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters
Syrian protesters step on a poster of Syrian President Basahr al-Assad and Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during a protest against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Saqba, Syria on Jan. 27, 2012.
That helps explain why Assad and Nasrallah are pictured on the billboard and other posters around Lebanon conveying a message of solidarity. The two men are allies because they are celebrated as pillars of Arab resistance and enemies of Israel. It is the classic "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" scenario.
In fact, Nasrallah made a rare public appearance in December to address his followers and make clear his support for the Syrian regime.
"We support the reforms in Syria and we stand with the regime against the resistance movement," Nasrallah said at a rally in Beirut on Dec. 6. He has rarely been seen in public since Hezbollah’s war with Israel in 2006 out of fear of an Israeli assassination attempt.
His appearance was meant to reiterate not only his support for Assad’s regime – but also to diminish any sense that Hezbollah had been weakened by the ongoing conflict in Syria.
It was also meant to thwart what the Hezbollah official said is seen as a major outgrowth of the "Arab awakenings" – inviting more Western influence and interference, if not dominance, in the region. For the Arab revolutions to succeed, he believes, “Western meddling and interference in the region must be rejected and true Arab sovereignty established.”
To Hezbollah, losing Assad means losing an ally; so by their calculation, it is more important to avoid losing their ally Assad than gain a pro-democratic and Western-oriented Syria.
This has been Hezbollah's position towards the Western-led invasion of Iraq, the Western-backed airstrikes on Libya and it would be the same for any Western action against Iran, the official added.
Not fighting other people's wars
What would Hezbollah do if Iran is attacked by Israel and/or the U.S.? Would it fire back at Israel? Target American or Israeli interests? Remain on the sidelines?
"Constructive ambiguity" is how the Hezbollah official described their approach. "Why would Hezbollah tell its enemies what it will do?"
"We have the right to self-defense.” But he quickly added, “We are a resistance movement that is Lebanese, we don't fight other peoples’ war, we fight to defend ourselves.”
Leave a Comment:
What a crock. Hezbollah claims to support Assad because he's anti-West? Rubbish. So was Gaddafi. It's all about the money. They're as hypocritical as any other power-hungry group.
AG99
What you said may very well be true.
But the underlying theme is this . The entire middle east ( except Israel ) wand all western influence and countries out of their land . We have heard this before , if your enemy comes to your door you must treat him like a guest . So here we have two arch rivals standing together to force out the western influences they see and fear. I still say it is best if we stay home and watch the show from here.
bob
You say they want the west out, but a steady diet of murders, suicide bombings, fatwahs and other atrocities conducted outside "their land" guarantee that the west will remain in their lands as long as it takes.
Keep your murdering, terroristic Islamic excesses at home, and eventually decent people will go home and leave you to it.
This is not news. As the story points out Syria is the conduit of support from Iran thru Syria to Hezbollah. Plus, they do both hate the West and Israel. Interestingly, due to Iran's aggressive pursuit of nukes, more of the Islamic states are seeing Iran, Syria, and non states Hamas and Hezbollah as the enemy and Israel as a friend (the enemy's enemy) to take out Iran's nukes.
As to Syria killing Hezbollah's constituents, Muslims don't care about a few thousand deaths.
The only reason Hezbollah is with Assad is they both take oil money from Iran, their real owner.
@Steve: Well, please tell me who showed up first on the other's land ? I can give you the US involvement in the overthrow of Iran's democratically elected governement in the 50s, I can give you France/Britain/Israel's attack on Egypt because it wanted to nationalize the Suez Canal which is on its own soil.
Please tell me, what had muslims/arabs done to Europe before that ? The last action they had done in Europe was fighting for the allies during WW2 as part of the french troops. There was no arab / muslim terrorism back then, there were barely any arabs or muslims in Europe back then.
Hezbollah, like Assad are Very, Very Rich powerful organizations/people..Hezbollah has migrated through out Iran, Iraq & Syria thus invading Lebanon with their views through out these years..the Arab World has brain washed their lower class people with Muslim Views..All religions have inadvertently did this with their network of ; Families of Clergy & so called Blessed Ones..this is why atheism has rose tremendously, the poor are used & abused in just about every aspect of government & religion..entities as such said, have gotten powerful & wealthy off the poor & common people.. this is Our Reward; pennies from heaven for Us, golden satchels & golden gifts for the CROOKS........
What a poor analysis by Ayman Mohyeldin. What brings Syria and Hezbollah together? their patron bank; Iran.
Both Iran and Syria are willingto fight Israel to the last Palestinian. The Palestinians are to stupid to know when they are being used. Hezbollah get it's money and weapons from Iran and Syria. When momma pays your bills you do what you are told or momma stops paying. Assad knows without the boogieman of Israel he will have to deal with the Shia of Hezbollah or they will topple him and his Alawi secular regime
Turn the plate. al-Qaida, the global Sunni Islamic militant organization is supporting Syrian rebels!
Actually its all about Shi'a Muslims knowing that the terrorist iun Syria are Wahabi Al Qaeda thugs supported by the Wahabi dictatorships backed by the west.
Hello folks, when will we discard our Imperialistic mindset? This is just more war mongering as the U.S. is trying to drum up more support for another war. We’ve caused enough trouble around the world. If you can't see that we are the instigators in most of the world's wars and displacement of millions of people who are fleeing our aggression, than you are in denial and are not paying attention. If you don’t think we have been in Syria covertly arming the rebels you are in denial and forgetting about Libya. We need to stay out of other country’s civil disputes. I hope we aren’t going to go against the United Nations vote earlier this year and unilaterally go into Syria under the pretext that we need to stop the violence like we did in Libya. General Wesley Clark has stated that a Syria invasion has been pre-planned for quite awhile.
General Wesley Clark: "America will take out 7 countries in 5 years"
According to Former NATO supreme allied commander, former presidential candidate and 4 star US General Wesley Clark that they had received a memo that America is going to take out 7 countries in the Middle East starting with Iraq, Libya, Syria Lebanon Sudan, Somalia, and finally Iran. It is amazing how these things that were planned years ago are being achieved in front of our eyes.
Why is it other countries feel like they have to defend their territory? Could it be that they know we have no problem invading their sovereignty just as we have done to countless other countries. Since World War II, 90% of the casualties of war are unarmed civilians. 1/3 of them children. Our victims have done nothing to us. From Palestine to Afghanistan to Iraq to Somalia to wherever our next target may be, their murders are not collateral damage, they are the nature of modern warfare. They don't hate us because of our freedoms. They hate us because every day we are funding and committing crimes against humanity. The so-called "war on terror" is a cover for our military aggression to gain control of the resources of western Asia.
This is sending the poor of this country to kill the poor of those Muslim countries. This is trading blood for oil. This is genocide, and to most of the world, we are the terrorists. In these times, remaining silent on our responsibility to the world and its future is criminal. And in light of our complicity in the supreme crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ongoing violations of the U.N. Charter in International Law, how dare any American criticize the actions of legitimate resistance to illegal occupation.
We are going into Syria for a couple of reasons (yes we are in Syria with our Drones at a minimum), one, we are trying to dislodge Russia from there because they have a foothold in the Middle East via two military bases in Latakia and Tartus in Syria. Two, Syria is a strong ally of Iran. If we invade Syria we take out a strong ally and maybe incite Iran to assist giving the U.S. the reason they are looking for to attack Iran. The ultimate goal is to surround, weaken and to invade Iran. The petro dollar is at stake as other countries are switching to other forms of currency in buying Iran’s oil.
Since the Russian war in 1828, Iran has never attacked another country. We on the other hand have attacked to name a few:
Libya, Iran, Nicaragua, Haiti, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Angola, Mozambique, Honduras, Chile, Congo, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, Angola, Columbia, Peru, Panama, Yemen, Pakistan, Grenada, Mexico, etc..
Wake up people we are being herded down the Military Industrial Complex gauntlet again to another false war to enrich the greedy Corporations and distract the American people. Did we not learn anything from the Iraq war where we have killed well over 1 million Iraqi people, lost thousands of American lives and God knows how many hundreds of billions of dollars?
Who do you support, humanity or the greedy elite?
Many of our soldiers don't fight for America, they fight for their lives and their buddies beside them, because we put them in a war zone. They're not defending our freedoms, they're laying the foundation for permanent military bases to defend the freedoms of Exxon Mobil and British Petroleum.
Face it we're Imperialists pure and simple. The elite look down on all of us as expendable chattel.
"Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns for foreign policy" Henry Kissinger
I’m not asking you to hate war, but to love peace? War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing!
Vomit...the power of Christ compels you...back to the 60's...
Title of article:
"Why is the resistance group Hezbollah standing beside Syria's dictator?".
The answer is: Hezbollah does not want Western/European style freedom if the resistance fighters win.
Hezbollah desires their kind strict Islamic control and a dominant control of all facets of the nations people.
Freedom of speech scares the living daylights out of Hezbollah.
By the way, Assad can go to Hell. As Radikal said above, "...the power of Christ compels you..."
Leiya,
Bingo! ... right on the money, so to speak :)
BS. This is a fictional number. Iraq Body Count puts the number of dead civilians (over 70% of them killed by terrorists, NOT Americans) at 105,721 - 115,476. This excludes any militants killed, but if you're own statistic that "90% of the casualties of war are unarmed civilians" then that means we only killed 10,572 - 11,547 additional Iraqis, for a grand total (again, using your statistic, which is made up by the way) of just 116,293 - 127,023 dead. That's just barely over 1/10th of the "1 million dead Iraqis." Meanwhile, under Saddam, it is estimated that during his reign somewhere around 900,000 Iraqis died due to violence instigated or perpetrated by his regime-- so just who are you trying to fool?
You make some good points, but your lack of factual evidence damages your position. You don't need to exaggerate to get your point across, Trust.
See more here:
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
and here:
The only solution is for the US to step back and allow the various Islamic factions to conduct business in their own style an get over the human rights nonsense. Hezbollah is in Syria for the same reason that it is in Lebanon. Everyone knows that Lebanon is so much better of after a few bombs here and there. If and when the Assad administration starts to disassemble, Hezbollah can step in with a whole new solution to the rebel cause.
trust verify - we were involved in several actions on the behalf of humanity. We aided the people of Panama. Yugoslav was in a bloodbath we did not precipitate that. Korea why did you not mention that? Congo -refresh memeory , after US and Belguim left - look at what splendid job the crop of leaders have done there. Total chaos.
Vietnam was a mistake , that was an internal civil war -never should have been there.
Grenada was rescue. Libya was mostly supported by Europeans. Yes there are cases where we should have stayed out of and I will agree Syria is one.
As for the poor of this country fighting our wars you are totally off base. The military of today is not a draftee. I served not because I needed food and shelter but because I felt it was needed. You have no idea the level of the military today , many are college students or those who see the military as a way to finance their future education. Also combat soldiers are volunteers, most people who serve are in a support function ( food, transportation, supply, medical , administration. For every soldier in the field there is probably 15 or more in a support service.
@ TrustVerify,
Bravo Sir! You have my respect! The only question is...what do we do now???
Excellent, I could not have said it better. Why is it so few of us grasp this simple truth. It's a plain as can be.
Hello Star, I believe we as a nation have to wake up to the reality of how the world operates and many people are doing exactly that. I would begin by moving the control of our currency back to the United States from the Federal Reserve. If we control our own money we control how or if wars get funded.
We need to change the Federal Reserve Notes into United States Notes. We need to educate the citizens so they can actively get involved in the decision making process that is being done in our names. First we have to identify the problems that are repressing the people. Some of those are:
We allow a foreign entity (Federal Reserve, neither federal nor a reserve, a group of mostly European banksters) to control our currency! This system is why you, I, economies and nations are debt slaves! The Fed and even the European ECB can print money, but how can they create wealth by letting bankers use it for speculation (derivatives market), greater consolidation, and big bonuses.
We let Wall Street run our government! Wall Street is Washington and Washington is Wall Street! We have a two headed one party system serving their masters Wall Street and the Federal Reserve!
Our presidential politicians in both parties are going to spend approximately 1 billion dollars each on their campaigns this year, yet we are laying off fire fighters, teachers and policemen. Two billion dollars on presidential campaigns, is that insane or what? Then, we allow the Super Pac’s with little regulation and full anonymity to influence our American elections through the sheer volume of money that will most likely be used for negative advertising to elect a corporate candidate or pass a corporate sponsored bill!
Our congress is bought and paid for by lobbyists and are involved with insider trading, doing the bidding for those who put the most money in their pockets! They get rich while we the “freeloaders” get cuts to Medicare and Social Security all the while they receive a tax payer salary and health benefits for life for themselves and their family compliments of the “freeloaders”.
We've legalized Corporations (Citizen's United) as people! They can now buy any election they want to, from sheriff to president! They don't even have to be American corporations! Corporations have severed their moral contract with America. It used to be you worked hard and helped them gain success and you shared in their success through better wages and benefits, all you get now is a pink slip.
The BP Corporation will likely not be charged with any criminal malfeasance in the largest natural disaster in history. The oil leak continues to flow and there are reports Corexit is still being used without any oversight by the U.S.. Many scientists claim the gulf loop current has been broken as a result of the leak. If you want evidence of the leak just talk to the residents and oil spill workers living along the gulf from Texas to Florida.
We invade a different country every year! Killing and displacing millions of people and spending trillions of dollars to enrich the Oil, Banking, and Corporate cartels!
The Census Department of the American Federal Government recently reported that “50% of the nation’s population were living below the poverty line”.
50 million people can't go to a doctor because they don't have health care!
47 million people need food stamps just to feed themselves!
25 million people are unemployed or underemployed!
15 million people's mortgages are worth more than their homes!
Our national debt is 15.3 trillion soon to go close to 17 trillion dollars! We pay off our debt with more debt! That is like putting gas on the fire! They tell the U.S. citizens it is their fault because they don't live within their means! They fail to mention it has everything to do with corrupt business and political leaders and the Federal Reserve and their fractional reserve banking system!
The worlds GDP is 65 trillion and the derivatives market is estimated at 1.4 quadrillion. If Greece defaults at 100% and If the ISDA (International Swaps and Derivative Association) labels this credit event a default, our 5 largest banks who own 97% of world’s derivatives will crash. They can’t pay on the credit default swaps owed associated with Greece! But that’s ok, we’ll bail them out again! You know their motto, privatize profits and socialize losses! QE3 has already started with the currency swaps.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac the flagships of our housing bubble that has burst! The housing market used to be what was fueling the middle class as manufacturing was being outsourced to foreign countries, it got over leveraged like our banks and stock markets and there is no resolution in site! The mortgage settlement just signed is just another small fine and in reality a bailout for the banks for what they are truly liable for.
They tell us social safety nets, Medicare and Social Security that you and I paid into is Socialism when the largest recipients of social welfare in the history of the world are our “Capitalist, Free Market” banking and financial institutions! Remember the bailouts? We keep bailing out the banks to the tune of tens of trillions and we're told it's because they are too big to fail and all the while we allow them to get bigger! We are witnessing the biggest bank robbery in history and the banks and financial institutions are doing the robbing!
Our media (presstitutes) are bought and paid for by corporations and treat us like mushrooms! Reuters and the Associated Press try to tell us what to believe and think, such as unemployment is at 8.3% and falling, freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength, war is peace, they hate us for our freedom, the terrorists are out to get you, the economy is great, borrow and spend! etc…
Our constitution, our most sacred document as a country is meaningless!
We have lost most of our civil liberties through the passage of the Patriot Act and National Defense and Authorization Act! They have authorized the use of spy drones in American skies! You can be surveilled by any number of Federal agencies, have your phone and computer tapped, bank, medical, and private records accessed! You can be arrested without gaining access to an attorney or a trial. We are molested at the airports or radiated for “security” etc…!
NYPD’s aggressive street policing program, called “stop-and-frisk,” which predominantly targets low-income minority neighborhoods. In 2011, the program stopped and searched more than 500,000 New Yorkers, 85 percent of them black or Latino. This program is moving to a city near you!
We have created another cartel the “Prison Industrial Complex”! We have outsourced our incarceration of United States citizens which consists of over 6 million prisoners! This exceeds the number of prisoners held in the gulags of the former Soviet Union at any point in history! All objectivity of prison reform has flown out the window in exchange for profits! No prisoners no profits! Are there prison lobbyists? You bet and loaded with cash compliments of you and me!
The Military Industrial Complex is King, our defense budget is larger than the rest of the world’s combined! We are the enforcement arm of all the world’s cartels! The policeman of the world! In our countries short history we have bombed over 60 different countries! The outsourcing of our security to private military companies like XE (formerly Blackwater) is increasing dramatically!
The phony war on drugs! While our military protect the poppy fields in Afghanistan, Wells Fargo has been caught laundering money for the Mexican drug cartel in the United States (look it up). The use of drugs in the health care industry is over a 100 billion dollar a year scam. There's no profit in the cure only in the treatment. You are not allowed to buy the same manufactured prescription drugs from other countries at a cheaper price because the drug lobby has had congress pass laws against it to protect their profits.
We let the elite divide us so that they can keep us in fear, distracted, and divided to the theft going on right in front of our eyes each and every second of the day! The theft of our civil liberties, money and property!
What is wrong with this picture and what does it say about us that we allow this to take place? We have lost our moral compass and our priorities as a country and need to get them back! We have plenty to take care of here, let’s concentrate on fixing America for awhile!
You're making me ill, bozo. Go put your peace-sign shirt and flowered necklace back on, sing Kumbayah and smoke some dope.
Syria has become one (Iran is the other one) of the battle fields between the Sunni Saudi Islamic radicals and their militants like al-Qaida and Shiites Syria, Iran and Hezbollah and co!
If the two mad Islamic religious beasts are doing their religious battles or jihads, what roles do most hated infidels have?
Nasrallah and Hezbollah "stands with" Assad only for appearance's sake, as the article makes clear, due to the shared enemies the West and Israel. However, as Assad's continued killing of his own people mounts not even Hezbollah can stand by and give tacit support to Assad's national homicide.
Hezbollah will 'stand with', but do little more, with the situation in Syria, however, should Israel go after Iran they will not sit idly by. The solution with Iran may well be the solution with Hezbollah (another front).
80 percent of worlds' Islamic radicalism and terrorism problems are due to oil rich Sunni Saudi & co promoted Salaffi and Wahhabi versions and their mosques.
Hezbollah is limited to Lebanon and Israel.
Here al-Qaida one of the Sunni Islamic militant wings is supporting Syrian rebels.
Why should we jump when Saudis and Israel jump on Syria and Iran as in Iraq?
Even Israel should have some patience.
Unfortunately, Israel's Netanyaho and some right-wing Jewish leaders are as mad as Sunni and Shiites mad rulers and religious leaders.
Let Sunnis and Shiites do their jihads to their hearts content.
Then Israel's Netanyaho and Jewish right-wingers can jump all over!
hezbollah popularity is already suffering for supporting genecidal regime. they claim to be revolutionary who protect people from isreal but in reality people starting see they nothing but pawn of iran because once isreal does air strike on IRAn how will hezbollah explain that they only for self defense but they will attack isreal on iran command and that is not defense thats being slave to another nation. Hezbollah will be hated for being destruction back to lebanon if they attack isreal out of iran command. But hamas wont do it though they wont side with assad
What is headline writing standing beside editor?
Why is the resistance group Hezbollah standing beside Syria's dictator?
Oh...this is a tough one....Because they are a terrorist group who will stand by any Muslim murderer.
No- it's because of money. Get real.
New day, new pile of muslim @!$%#.
New day, new prejudices.
Because even Hezbollah knows that the real crazy terrorists are the Saudi backed Wahabi Sunni's and Hez is Shiite. You do know that the one's currently fighting against Assad's regime, have no enlightened sense of pluralism and justice for all, just religion.
There are two majoe reasons Hezbollah supports the Syrian regime. Iran supports Hezbollah with money and weapons, Syria is a threat to Israel and an access point to the Mediterranean that Iran may want to exploit (note the recent visits of Iranian Navy vessels to Syria). Any instability in the region plays into Iranian hands as either propaganda against Israel or a distraction for Israel to have to factor into Israel's plans about its security. It's a cheap proxy war that involves a cut-out group (Hezbollah) that Iran can disavow at anytime yet continue to use as long as it suits their purposes. So...Hezbollah is doing Iran's bidding.
The second reason is that Hezbollah needs continued support from Syria to maintain its position in Lebanon. Without Assad's support Hezbollah would collapse, the pressure from the Israelis and the Lebanese would be overpowering.
"Without Assad's support Hezbollah would collapse, the pressure from the Israelis and the Lebanese would be overpowering."
I don't see that at all.First,its very much an open question as to Assad falling.Second,Assad and Iran aren't what keeps Hezbollah going.They help granted,but the support from the Lebanese Shia,is their main overwhelming support.And many other non-Shia Lebanese,that may not support Hezbollah on everything,support them in their resistance to Israel.
Nasrallah and Assad's religious and political agenda's may differ but they are blood brothers when it comes to being anti-human and anti-freedom.
Ron Paul the only solution for the usa. Obummer keeps getting in deeper and deeper. A new taste of power for this dirtbag. The US military he can't wait to use it...........
Stick a fork in Mr Paul - as always, he's done.
Assad is their sugar-daddy. He bankrolls all of their fun and games.
Why, because they are worthless @!$%#ers just like him.
There is trouble on the horizon for the rat faced vermin.
This article is total bull. Hamas is just as anti-Israel as Hezbollah and they stopped supporting Assad and moved out of Syria.
Hamas is not directly bankrolled by Iran, hence their motivation is different. Hamas is a Palestinian radical Islamic group, whereas Hezbollah is an Iranian radically-Islamic group. Both are vehemently opposed to Israel (and hence they are opposed to the US). Hezbollah and Hamas don't care for each other much either, so divergent agendas make sense when you think about it (sorta a like Republicans and Democrats).
As trustverify puts it ,we are the ones stirring things up in the middle east.Our convert ops are involved .
The only thing that worries me is ,an outright show of our military presence.I'm not resistant to convert ops ,so long as it stays in that mode.After all we were attacked by them on several occasions ,9/11 was simply the pinacle of their affront .Let them defeat themselves and use up their resources and personnel---not ours.
Hezbollah didn't just pop our of nowhere... nor is it an artificial Iranian creation. Iran took advantage of a grass roots feeling that Israel is an occupying entity that must be destroyed... at all costs... and used that popular feeling to shape Hezbollah. Remember what the year was when Hezbollah became a really focused movement-1982 when Israel invaded Lebanon. The local narrative about Israel-that it is an invasive entity-was totally backed up by events. Hezbollah does control some of Lebanon now... but it is close to Israel and very vulnerable. Hezbollah NEEDS a rear area for logistics, training and leadership safety. Lebanon is far to porous and insecure for those needs. I don't think Hezbollah "loves" Assad. But if they abandon him... they will look like weak politicians who pander and manuver for advantage. Besides... Assad has the heavy artillery and air force. What are the chances he survives this rebellion? Good. Besides-Tehran butters Hezbollah's bread... and they have no intention of alienating the Persians and fellow @!$%#es. However, I think Hezbollah knows it is in trouble. Instead of being a vanguard for Iran next to Israel-Hezbollah is being severly buffeted by historical forces of change in the region. Washington would be wise to open a channel of communication to them now. They might be ripe for picking off from Iran's mantle under certain conditions.
Wow...really sharp summation there Chris.
tiggerooh...conspiracy theories carry no weight with reasoned people, it's a throwback to the 18th century. Anybody with a cool handle like tiggerooh should be a little sharper than that...great handle man.
Why does Hezbollah stand by Assad?
Because both can be described by the first 3 letters of Assad's name. And that is being charitable.
(Apologies to those offended... Namely all of the donkeys in the world)
How else will they keep amassing weapons.
Evil people embrace each other.
Next they will say its the fault of the west. They did? I never would have thought.
That photo looks a little photo shop enhanced to me and the frame with the men inside looks like it was cut and pasted.
Nasrallah "Click,Click,BOOM" The sounds you won't hear.
Why would a terrorist group support a nation that supplies arms to them? It doesn't take a jounalist's knowledge to point out the reason. Everybody knows that terrorists around the world support their providers. Trouble is that those providers are nations other than the obvious ones that we believe to be true. Yet, we treat those wealthy providers as if they were our allies. Just look at the origin of most of those arms that Hesbollah uses.
Because that group is no better than what the syrian govt. or for that matter Iran either, there all terrists and murders, and hope one day karma comes around and takes all these mental case country's off the face of the earth.
Mark my words, this will eventually turn into an all and all out war between the religions in the end. May not be for many years yet but it will happen......And everyone says no, our religion is a religion of peace....you just keep thinking that...there is NO religion of peace!!!!!
I dunno... I haven't heard of any Unitarians blowing things up lately, have you? Some religions are more peaceful than others, Dad.
The Mormons and Buddhists seem pretty chill.
Quakers