If one were to rely on the Western media for an assessment of the degree of support among the Lebanese population for Hezbollah, it would be easy to draw the totally erroneous conclusion that the diverse Lebanese ethnic groups have all rallied around Hezbollah. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the Christians to the Druze, and from the Sunnis to the dominant Shi’ites, there is a massive revulsion being expressed against the Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah that had bullied its way towards becoming a mafia-like state within a state.
For the first time in more than four decades, Hezbollah appears frail. After the elimination of senior leader Hassan Nasrallah by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut on Sept. 27, the halo around its invulnerable strength against Israel and other regional rivals faded rapidly. Now the group is facing local disgruntlement, adding to its diminishing ability to get involved in area military conflicts, including Syria and Yemen.
The terrorist organization, once considered to be one of the richest in the world thanks to the influx of narcotics money, Hezbollah is currently suffering its worst crisis and is no longer perceived by the Lebanese public eye as a defender of their land.
Even before the death of Nasrallah, the Shia population showed disdain towards Hezbollah and its leader for hijacking their lives and having been forced to obey its Iranian-affiliated command or face dire consequences or death.
Shia Muslim dissidence towards Hezbollah and Iran
A major vocal critic of Hezbollah is prominent Lebanese Shia scholar Ali Al-Amin, who is influential among the Lebanese Shia population. In statements to Al Arabiya News on Oct. 10, Al-Amin stressed the necessity of handing over Hezbollah’s weapons to the Lebanese army. He added, “In light of the presence of weapons other than those of the state, concern remains.”
“We expressed our opinion on this war after it broke out, and we said that it was not beneficial for Gaza and would harm Lebanon and put it in danger. As for saying that the Israeli threats were a clear justification for entering the war, this is an incorrect statement because these threats existed before Oct. 7, 2023, so why didn’t Hezbollah declare war because of them?” said Al-Amin.
Lebanese Shia leaders, including Al-Amin, blame Hezbollah for the demise of Lebanon and the hardships that Lebanese people are suffering from there. Most importantly, the Shia opinions and anger towards both Hezbollah and Iran are dramatically increasing in Lebanon with many accusing the Islamic Republic of throwing Lebanon under the bus through its agent Nasrallah.
Real anger against Hezbollah openly expressed in the media
Furthermore, the level of anger among average Shia Muslim Lebanese citizens, who were harmed by the terrorist group’s decision to go to war, runs deeper.
“Our building is destroyed, orders were issued that we can’t go back and bring our clothes, OK, just give [us] some clothes and furniture. They tell us, that’s your problem work it out! We don’t have money to eat, they respond that this is a decision from the security and anyone who goes back home will be shot at. They want to take decisions on our homes on our behalf,” said one desperate Lebanese citizen from Beirut’s southern district, a Hezbollah’s stronghold, in an Oct. 17 viral video.
“This is not some confiscated money brother, this is my money, I should be [able to] go back to my home whenever I want, if I want I will die inside,” said the citizen. “They should remove their munition storage from underneath our homes, all day they are going up and down from them (munition storage) till everything was over. Let them remove their storages from underneath the building, which they are keeping inside.”
But the disdain towards Hezbollah is not just emitting from Lebanese Shia scholars but it far extends into the Shia Muslim population in the country. One of the more vocal voices against Hezbollah and the Iranian control of the country is political analyst Hadi Murad.
A disgruntled Shia Muslim analyst, Murad believes that the Lebanese Shia are being sent to be slaughtered like sheep in favor of the Iranian regime’s mullahs.
“This Iranian expansion is calling for fighting till the last Shia Muslim in Lebanon, who is this Iranian to ask the Lebanese from the Speaker of the House Berri that we would fight for him in the war till the last Shia person. The Iranian is not welcome to give us orders from above and below so we would fight for him and he is sitting on the negotiation table” said Murad in a short video posted for the Lebanese network Al Mashad.
Other non-Shia Lebanese citizens called upon the Shia population in Lebanon to seize this crisis as an opportunity to rise against the dominance of Hezbollah and Iran. Lebanese Judicial Commissioner Peter Germanos did just that in an Oct. 10 interview for Al Hadath Network.
“This is an opportunity for the esteemed Shia sector in Lebanon. We know as Lebanese who have a lot of friends that many Shia advocates don’t support Hezbollah and many others who used to sympathize with Hezbollah and today, they realized that Iran exploited that situation and there is an Iranian betrayal and that is apparent,” said Germanos. He added, “All factions are requested [to] not accept the presence of Hezbollah but also separating between Hezbollah and the Shia sector. Hezbollah is one thing and the Shia sect is another.”
Germanos went on to call for an uprising by Lebanese Shia against Iran.
“What is required now is a Shia uprising, the key to the solution for this [crisis] is a genuine Shia uprising for Shias [to] not have their sons killed for the sake of the Iranian nuclear program,” he said.
“We know that the Iranian arms are stretched in the region whether they are Popular Mobilization Force (Iraq), Syrian militias or Hezbollah or Houthis (Yemen), they are an extension of the Iranian empire or the Khomeini Republic they don’t take decisions,” he added. “When the pagers exploded in Lebanon … one of them exploded in the hands of the Iranian ambassador, which means that Iran practically leads the operations in Lebanon.”
Germanos went on, “When (former President) Michel Aoun, who was Tehran’s man in Lebanon was elected during what was called the ‘presidential settlement’ and the rest of the faction leaders signed on this ominous presidential settlement, Hezbollah infiltrated the Lebanese deep state entirely.”
New exposés of Hezbollah operations and its use of human shields
The “Lebanese Survivor” YouTube channel, which is operated by former Lebanese army general, Tabet Tabet, has been exposing Hezbollah’s secret operations for years. A report from Oct. 17 said, “What Hezbollah leaders, media and politicians used to say that if you (Israel) attack us, we will attack you and march on Galilee and Jerusalem, but the fact today is that when you (Israel) hits us, we run away. And yesterday, we had Mohammad Raad (a Hezbollah-affiliated minister of parliament) and Wafiq Safa (Hezbollah’s coordination and liaison officer) shamelessly hide among civilians in Beirut.”
“You have Hezbollah storing its weapons and munitions inside civilian homes,” said the report.
Mohamed Shoieb is a Lebanese activist and founder of the Southern Independent People Front. His daughter was once kidnapped by Hezbollah and three commercial stores he owned were shut down by order of Hezbollah. As a Shia resident of Southern Lebanon, he is fed up with Hezbollah policies.
“Take it from me and I am responsible for every word I say; more than 95% of the southern Lebanon population are objecting the rule of Hezbollah but they are afraid,” said Shoeib in an interview.
“I am one person whom they (Hezbollah agents) circulated a ban on my store for years and they close down three of my stores,” added Shoeib. They stuck posters of Nasrallah on them and told him “The payback is near.”
“The people of Palestine should liberate Palestine, why we as Lebanon would carry this burden and Arab states are just observing,” he said. “I said it before the opening of the southern (Lebanon) front (against Israel) was to let Iran on the negotiating table.”
At this stage, even though Hezbollah has taken a beating by the Israelis, it is far too premature to announce the permanent demise of Iran’s most-favored terrorist proxy in the Middle East. For years, few dared to criticize Hezbollah for fear of losing their lives. Hezbollah had no qualms about executing Lebanon’s leaders, journalists, Christians and Druze, nor for that matter, as demonstrated by their savagery in Syria, killing tens of thousands of Palestinians at the order of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Still, the open criticism of Hezbollah’s reign of terror by leading Lebanese from all religious backgrounds signals the possibility that Iran’s chokehold over Lebanon may finally be coming to an end. Is this the beginning of the end for Hezbollah?