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Hizbullah's Escalation Puts Jerusalem and Beirut on the Same Side
(Ha'aretz) Zvi Bar'el - Hizbullah's decision to "join the fray" has reopened the Lebanese front with full force. Once again, tens of thousands of residents of south Lebanon have been forced to evacuate their homes and move north of the Litani River. On Monday, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam announced that Hizbullah's military activity is illegal and forbidden. He ordered the Lebanese army to prevent any fire from Lebanese territory toward Israel and to arrest anyone attempting to initiate such an attack. Public criticism of Hizbullah's actions is emerging among its Shi'ite support base, and Shi'ite political frameworks opposing it have begun to appear. Now, with the continued stability of the Iranian regime itself under threat, Hizbullah must reassess. Will it continue serving as the spearhead of Iran's "ring of fire" strategy to ease pressure on Tehran, or shift course and seek a political path that could at least ensure its survival? Hizbullah's attacks inside Israel do not reduce the scale of the IDF's and the U.S. military's operations against Iran, and its Iranian funding sources have dwindled. Even now, Hizbullah is far from meeting the compensation expectations of Shi'ite residents of south Lebanon whose homes were damaged, further eroding its public support. Inside Lebanon, Hizbullah now faces a determined government backed by a parliamentary majority and growing public support, one that denies it any military legitimacy.