The shattered image of Lebanon’s Hezbollah

Accusations that Hezbollah is responsible for the siege of Madaya in Syria and the starving to death of dozens of children prompted the Lebanese group to issue a statement: “The goals of this campaign and those behind it have become known, they aim to distort the ‘image of the resistance’ and exploit civilians in a losing political manoeuvre.” It is clear from the statement that the “image of the resistance” is what preoccupies the Hezbollah leadership.

Whoever wrote the group’s statement accusing armed individuals of being responsible for killing the starving children by taking them hostage from Madaya acknowledges the siege itself and admits that food enters through checkpoints controlled by Hezbollah and the regime. This confirms that the regime and Hezbollah are indeed responsible for the siege, during which dozens of children have starved to death. Furthermore, according to the press release issued by Hezbollah, military conflicts oblige the conflicting sides to protect civilians, and it is illogical to sacrifice the lives of 40,000 civilians in Madaya in order to tighten the grip on 600 fighters using civilians as shields.

If Hezbollah was keen on preserving the lives of Syrian civilians — who welcomed the militia during the Israeli aggression in 2006 against Al-Qaseer, Al-Zabadani, Madaya, Damascus and Aleppo, and who displayed pictures of Hassan Nasrallah in their homes and waved Hezbollah flags in the streets — then it should have taken responsibility for making sure that food was delivered to the civilians, even if dropped by aircraft. They could have dropped food packages instead of barrel bombs.

Hezbollah’s morals did not allow it to kill Zionist settlers who were categorised internationally as “civilians” during its battles with the Israeli army; it should, therefore, have been even keener on protecting Muslim civilians in Syria. This would have prevented the image of Hezbollah from being stained with the blood of Madaya’s children.

At this time, we have to say that the once heroic image of Hezbollah has been damaged as far as Sunni Muslims are concerned; although I do not like to use doctrinal or sectarian terminology, in this instance I must. When Hezbollah was engaged with the Israeli occupation, their weapons were a source of pride for all Arabs and Muslims. Seeing its fighters kill Muslims in Damascus, Homs and Aleppo produces very different emotions, regardless of the political or operational justifications used by Hezbollah to defend its presence in Syria.

If Palestine is considered to be one of the main, inviolable issues, then Hezbollah knows very well that its image has also been broken in the eyes of most Palestinians. They feel the pain of the Syrian people who now join them in their displacement, hunger, cold and loss of a homeland.

The blood of the Syrians has been shed, even though they always supported Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) in their struggle against occupation. They are the people who also welcomed Palestinian, Iraqi and Lebanese refugees and opened their homes to every Arab and foreigner. The image now is not the image of the Hezbollah that resisted the Israeli occupation, but the Hezbollah that has shed the blood of Muslims. That it was the blood of the Syrians makes it doubly and deeply disturbing.

Translated from Alkhaleejonline, 9 January, 2016.

Also read:

• Madaya: A huge concentration camp where Hezbollah starves people to death.
• France condemns Assad’s siege on Madaya.
• Hezbollah-Assad siege forces Madaya residents to eat grass to survive.
• 31 civilians die in Syrian regime siege.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.