Hizbullah: The ‘Annoying’ Partner

By Sami Kleib

Al-Akhbar Daily

Hizbullah didn't withdraw from Syria. However, its opponents sat with it in the government. Hizbullah did not hand over its weapons. However, some of its opponents were obliged to deliver their arms in a security plan, in which Hizbullah is a tuning partner.

Here are the four most important reasons:

The conviction, grows day after day, that the party has become elusive. First on the security level, secondly on the social level, and thirdly on the political level. It accumulated capabilities, expertise and weapons that made it impose a dangerous equation on "Israel", local and regional rivals.

Hizbullah moved from a party accused of "terrorism" by the Atlantic to a contributor to the fight against terrorism. There is no possibility that the Lebanese army succeeds in the current plan and its future plans without the moral or more types of support from the party. There is no possibility to eliminate the terrorist and Takfiri organizations in Syria without Hizbullah. Concerned people in the security intelligence are fully aware of the important role played by the party's organs in detecting bombs and nets that were to plant terror in Lebanon and promote discord. The party and its allies owe a heavy political force that makes it impossible to take any big political decision on the level of the nation against or without it. Presidential election is the best evidence.

Oil exploration in Lebanon will not happen if the drillers were at feud with the party. It can, simply, prevent this under the pretext of protecting the Lebanese interests from "Israel". However, it can make it easier if its interests converged with the international opponents. This would be reinforced if the Iranian- international understanding progressed at its current pace.

Despite all the social calamities ahead and after 2006 victory on "Israel", the party's incubating environment stood firm. It was further happy especially with the re-construction of what had been destroyed by "Israel", better than it was.
The organic alliance between Hizbullah and the Amal Movement did not disintegrate, although there are different views in some cases. Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war didn't affect this environment, despite the continuing fall of the martyrs. Few objections might emerge but they remain minor. The overall view to this environment shows that it still supports the resistance and its Leader.

There is no doubt that Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war harmed at the beginning the party's image on the national and the Arab levels. The propaganda machine against the party was ready to inflame the sectarian strife. Now, the equation changed. There are serious transformations in the Arab public opinion. Many delegations pass by Hizbullah on their way to Syria.
These Includes national, Arabist, Nasiriya, and anti-"Israel" delegations. Even Syrian opposition delegations come in response to the party's role in promoting reconciliation and mitigating the horrors of war.

What about the party's role in the presidency?

In the past two days, US, French, Iranian and Arab's positions emerged calling for the election of a consensual Lebanese president. This comes as the Maronite Patriarch Bshara al-Rair declared his final position: He rejects a President from either March 14 or March 8 camps.

Hizbullah announced its open support to General Michel Aoun. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is determined in this case. However, those who seek a consensual president will, and more than ever, try to persuade the party to change its position. Till now, the doors are closed before any discussion aside from Aoun's name for Presidency.

This position contains much of loyalty than of politics.

The Presidency is important. However, what is more important is that Hizbullah- which some people sought to vanish from the political and security arenas after the belief of an imminent fall of the Syrian regime- found itself today a supreme voter in the Lebanese Presidency.

It has the ability to comply with Amal and the head of the National Struggle Front, Walid Jumblatt, and Aoun bloc and some allies , if Jumblatt is convinced that the interest of the mountain and the relationship with the party requires to do so.
The party has , also , the ability to reach an understanding with its allies and the Future Movement in the direction of a consensual president if it is convinced that Aoun is impossible to become the president . This would happen if Aoun participates in the making of the president [although it is currently impossible].

If, however, the ways were blocked and a President, who is opponent to the resistance is elected, the party is capable of disruption.

Hizbullah strengthened, more than ever, its role as part of a regional and a major international axis. This alliance feels that it has achieved a major strategic milestone in Syria. So does the party feel as well. However, it acts in the Lebanese internal policy in terms of being just a part of a social fabric that requires compatibility. Some view this as a weakness. Those who know are aware that we are the beginning of the regional and international transformations' stage, which is more important than a ministerial statement here or a Presidency there.

Between Beirut, Damascus, Tehran and the Crimean the distance is shortened.