Hezbollah is trying to sabotage Lebanon-Israel talks

A much changed Lebanon

Lebanon, then, was not the Lebanon of today. At that time, the country still commanded Arab and international attention. There also existed a national project that rose above the sects in the face of Hezbollah's own project, namely that of the March 14 Forces. Regrettably, that no longer exists. Today, there are figures and parties that oppose Hezbollah, yet each does so according to its own partisan and sectarian calculations. Lebanon First is no longer the broad, unifying political project it was in 2006.

A few months after the war ended, the opposition alliance of the day, led by Hezbollah, the Amal Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement, erected more than 600 tents and staged a sit-in outside the Grand Serail, the headquarters of the Prime Minister of Lebanon, in a bid to collapse Siniora's government. The sit-in lasted for a whopping 18 months and ended only when Hezbollah's militia and its allies overran Beirut, after which the parties went to Qatar and reached what came to be known as the Doha Agreement.

Today, Hezbollah doesn't have the luxury of time. It is trying to organise moves inside Beirut and outside the Grand Serail to bring down the government of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, over its attempt to enter into direct negotiations with Israel—something the group vehemently opposes. The truth is that Hezbollah wants Lebanon to remain a card on the negotiating table—a card through which Tehran can blackmail the United States and the Arab states.

For its part, Iran, despite all the false claims promoted in the media, accepted a ceasefire in its war with the US and Israel, yet proved incapable of imposing a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Finding its voice

With the Assad regime gone, no longer usurping the will of the Lebanese at the negotiating table, Lebanon can finally speak for itself and negotiate on its own behalf. And it has international backing to do so, with key Western states seizing on the opportunity to ensure Lebanon stays out of Iran's orbit.

But this global backing isn't enough to sustain the momentum to safeguard Lebanon's sovereignty. The country needs a unifying national project that looks after the welfare of its citizens rather than narrow political calculations and sectarian interests.

Instead of admitting defeat after being dealt painful blows to Iran's expansionist project, Hezbollah will stubbornly double down, spread chaos and invite destruction on its own communities.