Hizbollah’s policy has started to backfire

What the Arabic press is saying about the policy of Hizbollah

Supporters of Hezbollah carry the coffin of Jihad Imad Mughniyeh, son of late Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh, during his funeral, in a suburb of Beirut. Nabil Mounzer / EPA

The war that Hizbollah is waging in Syria alongside the Syrian regime has taken a toll on the militia, with Iran vowing to go ahead with negotiations on its nuclear plans. The Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s recent statements were condemned by the GCC countries, which found the militia’s interference in Bahrain’s internal affairs unacceptable.

In the pan-Arab daily Al Hayat, Abdullah Nasser Al Otaibi remarked that one of the problems faced by the Gulf countries over Lebanese matters is that they feel the compulsion to “go with the flow when it comes to Lebanon and its future, even if they may not be fully convinced with the way the Lebanese manage their own crises”.

“Gulf countries agree that Hizbollah is a terrorist organisation that pursues a foreign agenda of annihilation of the Lebanese state by replacing it with an Arab branch of the Iranian empire”, he wrote.

Al Otaibi observed that though Hizbollah’s allegiance to Iran is no secret, “GCC countries cannot impose the exclusion of the party from the Lebanese political scene, because that is up to the Lebanese alone.

“A few days ago, Nasrallah returned to his old ways, perhaps driven by the effects of the declining oil prices on the Iranian economy, and started to mess again with political stability in the Gulf by trying to incite people to stand against their rulers,” he wrote, asking what the GCC would do about it.

“Gulf countries cannot afford to ignore the threat voiced by Nasrallah for two reasons. First, Hizbollah has full legitimacy in Lebanon, where it is represented in the parliament. There are also a number of ministers in the Lebanese cabinet. Second, some Gulf countries are willing to turn this threat into a reality.”

He said that the GCC countries can “neither cut their ties with the Lebanese government [ ...], nor can they fully embrace Lebanon because that may create a number of complications”.

In the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat, Tariq Al Hameed wrote that “a few days ago, Nasrallah made hostile statements, asserting that the axis of resistance formed by Iran, Bashar Al Assad and Hizbollah will not remain indifferent to the Israeli strikes on it or the Syrian regime”.

“Nasrallah faces a substantial problem that has nothing to do with being shamed by Israel before the Arab people. However, it has everything to do with being shamed before his own men, especially after the recent Israeli strike on Golan Heights in Syria that resulted in the death of the son of late Hizbollah military leader Imad Moughniyah and five others”.

In Al Hayat newspaper, Joyce Karam observed that “the Israeli attack on a Hizbollah convoy in Syria reflects a new equation in the conflict between both parties, whereas the Golan is considered a ‘red line’ for Israel”.

She noted that the operation that follows the statements of Nasrallah calls for a response, as “Hizbollah will find the compulsion to preserve its credibility and contain the anger of its followers without risking an all-out war, whereas the Syrian war, Iran’s nuclear negotiations and the upcoming elections in Israel are no prognostics of a comprehensive war between the two parties”.

* Translated by Carla Mirza