When Iran created Hezbollah shortly following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, its goal was to spread political Shiism in the region. It was never “resistance;” rather, resistance was a tool to achieve that goal. Hezbollah’s new mission is simply the next means to achieve the same ends. But for Hezbollah to fulfill its new role, it needs an enemy to fight in order to maintain the support of the Shiite community, as it has lost the aura of heroic resistance it had gained in 2000 and 2006. By fighting this new enemy with such violence and ferocity, Hezbollah became the leading Shiite sectarian militia, working with other regional Shiite groups to kill and terrorize Sunnis, whether Islamists or non-Islamists, militants or civilians. Today, the only way Hezbollah can claim ultimate victory is if it wins against “the Sunnis,” not only in Syria but in the region as a whole. But in the long run, this is an impossible mission. The Party can live on temporary triumphs by winning battles in Qusayr and Yabroud, but it will ultimately lose the war. The longer their campaign in Syria continues, Hezbollah will find itself dragged steadily further into the sectarian mud. More minor victories will only lead to greater hostility, anger, and radicalism among the Sunnis in Syria and Lebanon, setting in motion a regional sectarian war that was foreshadowed in Beirut last week.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 23:18:14 +0000
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