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As Lebanon Disintegrates, Nasrallah Incites War

(Arab News-Saudi Arabia) Baria Alamuddin - In recent days, a rash of angry demonstrations have torn across Lebanon's urban centers, with banks the focus of particular outrage after the lira lost 98% of its value. With this background, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah made a televised address on Feb. 16, 2023, to praise the Iranian people's "massive participation" in nationwide rallies celebrating the Islamic Revolution's anniversary, disregarding the civil disorder in his own nation and the continuing anti-regime protests across Iran. Nasrallah revealed that all of Lebanon's travails are the fault of the "Great Satan," thundering: "I tell the American government that if they want to sow chaos in Lebanon, you will lose everything. If you push Lebanon into chaos, we are ready to use our arms against your protege, Israel....We are ready to resort to the option of war." But at a time when most Lebanese citizens are consumed by trying to ward off starvation for their families, such warmongering is grotesque. Lebanon has undergone one of the most severe economic implosions of any nation in modern history. Does Nasrallah seriously believe that it is in any shape for embroilment in a wholesale conflict with the amassed armies of America, Israel and the remainder of the Western world? In Lebanon's current reality, even the middle classes have been reduced to considering sending their children to orphanages for their own survival, while people die due to a lack of medication for preventable diseases. Meanwhile, Hizbullah commanders - with their luxury SUVs, access to dollars and foreign goods - having grown fat on narcotics smuggling revenues, are insulated from economic ruination. But their opulent lifestyle in upmarket Beirut neighborhoods will abruptly end if war were really to reach Lebanon's shores.
2023-02-23 00:00:00
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