Iranian built and assembled in Lebanon

By Tariq Alhomayed / www.asharq-e.com

The above title is a quote from the leader of Hezbollah, whose party claimed responsibility for launching a drone into Israeli airspace, with Nasrallah describing the unmanned aircraft as: "Iranian built and assembled in Lebanon". The fact is that this is a most accurate description not of the drone, but of Hezbollah itself, for what is this party other than "Iranian built and assembled in Lebanon"?

In Nasrallah’s speech - at a time when the Syrians are being subjected to the most heinous crimes, not at the hands of Israel, but rather at the hands of Nasrallah’s ally Bashar al-Assad - he warned elements of the Syrian opposition not to try to intimidate his party, for threats make no difference to Hezbollah as it has 30 years of experience! This is the crux of the matter; Hezbollah is 30 years old while Lebanon, Syria and the region as a whole are much older than that. More importantly, the party built in Iran and assembled in Lebanon now wants to commit a new crime against Lebanon and the region. When I say a new crime, this is not because Hezbollah has breached Israeli airspace; the story is bigger than that. Nasrallah is trying to drag Lebanon and the region into another unjustified war with Israel, without the knowledge of the Lebanese state, just as it did in 2006. Nasrallah himself admitted at the time that if he had known that the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers would have led to the war then he wouldn’t have done it, which confirms it was a miscalculated adventure. Yet here Hezbollah is again daring to repeat the adventure for a second time, even though Nasrallah, at the time of the 2006 war, begged for all those who “loved” Lebanon to intervene to put a stop to the conflict!

So why is Nasrallah doing all this now, at a time when everyone is trying to stop the al-Assad killing machine? The simple answer is that Nasrallah wants to reshuffle the cards in order to ease the pressure on al-Assad (whose forces have so far killed nearly 35,000 Syrians), and to serve the Iranian nuclear project. Hezbollah is doing all this at the expense of Syrian blood, and at the expense of the Lebanese state, which may soon find itself in an unequal and hopeless war. However, it is interesting to note here that with regards to some of those who have spoken of their fear of the Syrian situation spreading to Lebanon, we have not heard any criticism of Hezbollah launching a drone towards Israel, even though this may drag Lebanon into a war purely aimed at serving Iranian interests. Is there anything more hypocritical than this?

In conclusion, Nasrallah’s latest words are only further evidence of the danger of his party, built in Iran and assembled in Lebanon, and likewise they are a continuation of a series of major errors committed by Hezbollah since the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. These errors reveal the party’s true intentions and objectives, whereby Nasrallah wants to drag Lebanon and the wider region into a new war, only to serve Iran and protect al-Assad!

So if some truly believe, in a delusional manner or otherwise, that Hassan Nasrallah is a friend, they should recall the famous saying: With friends like these, who needs enemies?