Hezbollah endangers Lebanon

With Israel warning of “heavy retaliation” in response to Hezbollah’s rocket onslaught that killed 12 children in the Golan Heights, what passes for government in Beirut should not ignore the dire consequences likely for Lebanon as the operational base for Iran’s “Party of God” proxy. After two years of malevolent interference by Hezbollah in its politics, Lebanon’s parliament has been unable to elect a new president. As a result, “authority” in Beirut, a city once known as the Paris of the Middle East, is almost non-existent. And the economy is in ruins, with 80 per cent of Lebanese in dire poverty.

As The Wall Street Journal reports, Hezbollah’s terrorist army, trained and armed by Iran, is “far stronger” than Lebanon’s US-funded army of 100,000 and 38,000 reservists. Hezbollah, with at least 150,000 rockets supplied by Iran, has more firepower than 95 per cent of the world’s conventional armies. It is, the WSJ reported, “the world’s best-armed non-state militia”, holding seats in the Lebanese parliament. It controls swathes of territory, where it runs security and social services.

These incendiary circumstances have the potential to trigger a conflagration that could engulf the entire Middle East, including Iran. That is why it is vital for “authority”, such as it is in Beirut, to do as much as possible to rein in Hezbollah and halt its attacks launched across Israel’s northern border since Hamas’s slaughter of 1200 Israelis last October. Since then, Hezbollah has rained down more than 6000 rockets on population centres in Israel, causing about 90,000 people to flee their homes. The rockets are only a fraction of its vast arsenal that military analysts believe Israel, even with its Iron Dome defences, would be hard-pressed to combat.

Pleas for restraint by governments across the world, including Australia’s, following Saturday’s unfathomable massacre of the young football players, are understandable. But it is the responsibility of Beirut to rein in Hezbollah and, simultaneously, for the US to expedite supply of the munitions Israel needs to defend itself against the looming threat of full-scale war.

A larger war beyond Gaza would add immeasurably to the dangers of escalation in the Middle East conflict. It would also provide a major additional challenge to the Jewish state. Hezbollah’s potential to wreak havoc should not be underestimated. While its plight is bad already, Lebanon’s situation will be far worse if it fails to compel Hezbollah to stop attacking Israel.