Nasrallah-"It’s the Hizbullah way in Lebanon or else”

Nasrallah’s press conference last Thursday confirms yet again that Hizbullah is kingmaker in Lebanon and its secretary general holds the real power in Lebanon. Although Hizbullah similar to many Islamist groups fairs well in elections, and although elections provide legitimacy they count for nought when you are Hizbullah with an army that can take over the country when it wishes to do so. More importantly is the fact that after the events of May 7 2008 all the other sects are fully aware that Hizbullah can and will flex it's muscles if pushed to do so. The current tension in Lebanon is due to the possible indictment of Hizbullah members in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to find those who were behind the assassination of Rafiq Hariri in 2005.
In July 2006 when Israel launched its war on Hizbullah and Lebanon many in the March 14th alliance backed by the U.S. undoubtedly hoped for the destruction of Hizbullah. After Hizbullah survived and claimed a ‘divine victory’ another plan by March 14th and again prodded and backed by the U.S. to deal with Hizbullah was implemented when it tired to dismantle Hizbullah’s telecommunications network and replace Hizbullah’s chief of security at the airport. This was a red line for Hizbullah which the March 14th alliance was fully aware of but it undoubtedly implemented the plan having confidence in the backing of the U.S. Hizbullah seen this action as a further extension of the war against Hizbullah except this time by political means. This led to forcing Hizbullah’s hand and the events of May 7 2008 when Hizbullah forces took over West Beirut.In fact, the events which were instigated by the U.S. ended up strengthening Hizbullah by leading to a political solution at Doha that gave Hizbullah the veto it had been vying for. Since then support for the March 14th alliance has dwindled from the U.S. and those in the March 14th alliance were left to pick up the pieces and eventually with no choice but to re-align with Syria and Hizbullah exacerbated by the Syrian/Saudi re-approachment. This was reflected initially by Walid Jumblatt breaking from the March 14th alliance and his re-alignment with Hizbullah and Syria. In the absence of continued and consistent U.S. support Jumblatt, a pragmatist, has seen the interests of his small Druze community to be better positioned on the side of Hizbullah and Syria. Said Hariri, helped by the re-approachment of Syria and Saudi Arabia has since visited Damascus and numerous bilateral acccords have been signed between Syria and Lebanon recently.
In Nasrallah’s press conference on the Special Tribunal he demanded March 14th leaders to ‘consider the choices they made’ in reference to events between 2005-2009 when the Cedar Revolution resulted in the forced departure of Syria from Lebanon and a political stand off between the March 14th western backed alliance and the March 8th Alliance led by Hizbullah. Nasrallah's last comment indicated the fate of those who don’t side with Hizbullah. “Those who conspire against the Resistance and against Lebanon are the ones who should worry. I would like to tell some people, who always miscalculated, to make the correct calculations this time.”
After numerous assassinations carried out against members of the March 14th alliance between 2005-2007 including Antoine Ghanem in Sept 2007 politicians are well aware what Nasrallah refers to when he says they should worry.In the absence of a coherent and consistent U.S. policy in Lebanon and the presence of the Islamist group Hizbullah those left within the March 14th Alliance have little choice but to concede to Hizbullah in what they consider to be the temporary best interests of their sects and national unity as Hizbullah continues the successful process of directing Lebanon according to its agenda within Lebanon and in the region.