Lebanon’s Voices Rising Against Hezbollah

by Hugh Fitzgerald(Front Page Magazine)

The rapid and nearly bloodless overthrow of Assad in Syria has turned that country from being a firm ally of Hezbollah and Iran into an implacable enemy of both. And inside Lebanon, Hezbollah has been so battered by the IDF that it had to beg for a ceasefire that requires it to withdraw its forces in southern Lebanon north of the Litani River. Now Lebanese of all stripes have been openly denouncing Hezbollah for the ruin it has brought to so much of Lebanon.

Let us consider what has been happening on the Lebanon-Syria border, where the two countries have been trading barbs and bullets amid mutual exclusions. “Syria in diplomatic spat with Lebanon, but everyone agrees that Hezbollah is the problem – and for the first time, the Lebanese are saying this out loud,” Elder of Ziyon, January 6, 2025:

Since Thursday night, Lebanese citizens are almost all banned from entering Syria.

No one knows exactly why, and analysts are making guesses.

France 24 reports that the reason seems to be that there had been an earlier skirmish between Syrians and Lebanese troops at the border:

The Lebanese army said in a statement on X that its soldiers and Syrians had clashed at the border as the armed forces tried to “close an illegal crossing”.

“Syrians attempted to open the crossing using a bulldozer, so army personnel fired warning shots into the air. The Syrians opened fire on army personnel, injuring one of them and provoking a clash”.

“Army units deployed in the sector have taken strict military measures,” the statement added.

Kataeb reports that this was a quid pro quo on severe Lebanese restrictions on Syrians entering their country:

Sources suggest that Syria’s decision was in response to similar Lebanese restrictions on Syrians entering Lebanon. Lebanese authorities currently require Syrians to meet strict entry conditions, including holding valid Lebanese residency permits.

L’Orient Today believes it might be because of fears of Hezbollah trying to re-establish itself.

One explanation offered by Syrian experts is security concerns. “The authorities are afraid of fighters infiltrating Syria from Lebanon, whether from Hezbollah or jihadist groups. This measure has come at a time when the new authorities suspect that some of them are entering Syria,” Rami Abdel Rahman, Executive Director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), told us.

Syria wants to prevent Lebanese from entering the county because it fears that those Lebanese will be Hezbollah members who want to infiltrate Syria and to join forces with Alawites and others who still support Assad, and would like to keep their hold on some parts of Syria, such as Latakia, where the Alawites still hold sway.

At the same time, the Lebanese government doesn’t want Syrians entering the country for the same reason. The Lebanese fear that Hezbollah members and sympathizers may want to flee the new regime in Syria and join forces with Hezbollah inside its home base in Lebanon.

This fear is all the more justified after Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared on Dec. 16 that “the axis of resistance will return to Syria in less than a year,” adding, “The occupied territories in Syria will be liberated by the valiant Syrian youth; have no doubt that this will happen.”…

This may be an empty boast by the Supreme Leader, but it worries the new regime in Syria just the same. The Syrians want to make sure that no Hezbollah fighters arrive from Lebanon to swell the ranks of those who still support the ancien régime in Syria.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah is claiming that they have completely rebuilt their military. Spokesperson Wafiq Safa said, “Our capabilities are fully restored, and we are prepared to face any attack. Hezbollah is now stronger, tougher than steel, and more powerful than ever before” in a statement where he said Hezbollah would veto presidential candidate Samir Geagea.

The Hezbollah spokesman Wafiq Safa is full of braggadoccio, nonsense, and lies. His group is not “stronger, tougher than steel, and more powerful than ever before.” The IDF has killed nearly 5,000 of its operatives, severely wounded thousands more with the “exploding pagers,” and eliminated all of its leaders, including its head Hassan Nasrallah, his successor Hashem Safieddine, the commander and deputy commander of the elite Radwan Forces, and ten of the twelve members of the Jihad Council. The IDF has also destroyed more than 80% of Hezbollah’s prewar arsenal of rockets, missiles, and mortars. It has been so battered by the IDF that it had to plead for a ceasefire, one that requires it to withdraw its forces entirely from southern Lebanon

Hezbollah has lost more than 80% of its arsenal of missiles and rockets, thousands of its fighters have been killed and many thousands more wounded. It has been stripped of its Syrian conduit for Iranian weapons. Militarily it has never been weaker. The fear that the group once installed in Lebanese has clearly dissipated, and its critics have been speaking out as they would not have dared to do even a month ago, before Assad fell. Every charge is being made against the group: “you threatened us, killed us,” “you took refuge in our homes, hiding in our homes and beds,” you “cost us our children, families, hopes, and dreams.” The rebellion against Hezbollah by the Lebanese themselves has now begun in earnest, and it is hard to see how the group will be able to hold on, given that it has been stripped of most of its weapons, deprived of its Syrian ally, and facing a powerful Israel that is ready at any moment, should Hezbollah violate its pledge to leave southern Lebanon, to batter it anew.