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Hizbullah's Syria Problem
(Fikra Forum) Matthew Levitt - The Syrian regime is increasingly relying on help from Hizbullah to suppress rebel forces and civilian populations. Syrian protestors are protesting not only for the downfall of Assad, but also against Hizbullah. Indeed, it is the group's activities in Syria that have, as a journalist in Lebanon put it, "torn away the party's mask of virtue." According to a senior Syrian defense official who defected from the regime, Syrian security services were unable to handle the uprising on their own. "They didn't have decent snipers or equipment," he explained. "They needed qualified snipers from Hizbullah and Iran." The Party of God has turned its "weapons of resistance" not on Israel, but on fellow Muslims. This now threatens Hizbullah's standing in Lebanon. The writer is director of the Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.