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Hizbullah's Future in Lebanon

[ Wall Street Journal] Fouad Ajami - It is doubtful that the Shiites will always follow Nasrallah to the barricades, and those who do so will expect material sustenance from Hizbullah. There are estimates that Hizbullah provides employment for 40,000 of its wards and schooling for 100,000 children. This is no small burden, even for a movement sustained by Iranian subsidies. Nor is it the case that the majority of the Shiites want the strictures and the rigor of Qom and Tehran dominating their world. Hizbullah will not be able to run away with Lebanon. Already the Sunnis have been stirred up by Hizbullah's power. Sunni jihadists have made their presence felt in the northern town of Tripoli, and in the dozen or so Palestinian refugee camps on the outskirts of the principal cities. Nor do the Christians want Hizbullah's utopia. The Christians have been weakened by emigration, but they, too, will fight for their place in the country if forced to do so. The writer teaches at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
2008-07-23 01:00:00
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