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Lebanon's Other Flashpoint: Lebanon's Christians versus Hizbullah

(Jerusalem Center for Foreign Affairs) Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah - Tensions have been rising between the Christian community and Hizbullah since the beginning of the October war between Israel and Hamas. The Christian community has been accusing Hizbullah of dragging Lebanon into a war with Israel without prior consultations with either the state decision-makers or the other parties. Hizbullah's arch-enemy, Samir Geagea, the head of the Lebanese Forces party (LF) and the most vocal critic of Hizbullah's involvement in the Hamas-Israel war, has gained dominance in the Christian camp. Hizbullah's answer came in a survey published by the pro-Hizbullah newspaper Al-Akhbar, claiming that only 15.7% of Lebanon's population is Christian (compared to the 33-35% figure that was accepted as a consensus). Lebanon's Christian community saw the survey as a warning from Hizbullah that the present political status quo agreed in 1990 by all parties to end the civil war is no longer valid. Now, Hizbullah was signaling that the time had come to divest the Christian community of its remaining assets dominating Lebanese politics. Lebanese Forces spokesperson Charles Jabbour contested the survey, claiming, "It's enough to remember that during the parliamentary elections in May 2022, 35% of those who voted were Christian." Already in 1985, Hassan Nasrallah claimed that his goal was to transform Lebanon into an additional province of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Once Hizbullah's war against Israel is over, the next phase of the expansion of the Iranian axis will be to change the political equation in Lebanon. The writer, a special analyst at the Jerusalem Center, was formerly Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence.
2024-09-05 00:00:00
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