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How Lebanon Can Dismantle Hizbullah without Destroying Itself
(Al Arabiya-Saudi Arabia) Makram Rabah - How does one dismantle Hizbullah? Not by sending the Lebanese army door to door in search of hidden weapons. That is a fantasy that guarantees civil war. Instead, Lebanon must learn how to eat the elephant. As the African proverb goes, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Hizbullah is that elephant: too large, too entrenched, and too dangerous to confront head-on. But not immune to gradual, systematic erosion. Hizbullah's influence within state institutions is what allows it to operate with impunity. Cleaning these institutions is the foundation of any serious strategy. Officers loyal to Hizbullah, or to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards, must be removed. Hizbullah has benefited from political cover, most notably from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. Berri's role has been to normalize Hizbullah, to present it as just another political actor rather than an armed entity operating outside the state. This must end. Hizbullah thrives on the narrative that it represents and protects Lebanon's Shia community. The Lebanese state must reclaim its role as the sole guarantor of all citizens, including, and especially, Shias. This is about inclusion. When citizens feel protected by the state, they no longer need protection from militias. There is no single moment where Hizbullah "falls." What there can be is a gradual stripping away of its power, its legitimacy, its cover, its reach, until its weapons become politically irrelevant and, eventually, operationally unsustainable. Eating the elephant requires patience, discipline, and political courage. But it is the only path that avoids both surrender and self-destruction. The writer is an Assistant Professor of History at the American University of Beirut.