Der Tag danach im Libanon: Wird das Land den Krieg mit Israel überleben?

[SS from essay by Maha Yahya, Director of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center.]

On October 8, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the Lebanese people to rise up against Hezbollah, giving them a stark choice: “Stand up and take your country,” he said, “before it falls into the abyss of a long war that will lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza.”

Shortly before [Netanyahu](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/tags/benjamin-netanyahu) spoke, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had visited Lebanon in an effort to shore up Hezbollah’s morale. In the week since Israel began its full assault in late September, the group’s leadership and rank and file had been decimated by successive military operations. Thousands of Lebanese had been killed or injured and more than a million had been displaced by Israel’s heavy bombardment, including in Beirut itself, and the country’s politicians were pushing for a cease-fire. But Araghchi’s visit seemed to have scuttled those efforts. A few weeks later, Iran’s speaker of Parliament, Mohammad Galibaf, declared in an interview with the French press that Iran would negotiate with France on behalf of Lebanon for a cease-fire. Hezbollah is Iran’s protégé, and it is the most powerful actor within Lebanon—more powerful than Lebanon’s own armed forces. Both Araghchi and Galibaf made clear that the fighting would not end until Iran said so.

Half the article is like most commentary on Israel right now an attempt to avoid aknwoledging at any cost that Nasrallah openly started a war with Israel as he commented upon in his speeches, flagrantly violated UN resolutions and the fact the UNFIL and the international community on the whole did little to force Hezebelloh to disarm.  It also acts like Israel getting a deal that gives security to northern communities would be easy while also saying Hezebelloh isn’t actually that badly beaten, a pretty clear contradiction in my book.  The other half is a pipe dream of an inclusive goverment and a strong Lebanese state, something Lebanon couldn’t achieve while not at war with Israel and ceriantly won’t achieve with it or post it.  

Also worth adding as somewhat of a tangent that everyone thought Hezebelloh would be devastating central Israel right now. 

Unfortunately the cancer Hezbollah must be removed before the country can return to its former glory. They need to once again establish a Christian government and Muslim leadership need to do some severe soul searching because all they produced was destruction and failure.

Isn’t Hezbollah a militant separatist group separate from the normal Lebanese government?