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Hezbollah

Despite their desire to evict sectarianism from their countryโ€™s corrupt government, Lebanese civilians are likely to see increased tensions across religious lines. Iran will continue to back Hezbollah despite its regional weakening, while Turkey and Qatar will play a bigger counterbalancing role by increasing their influence on the Sunni community.
Hezbollah wishes to both maintain and change the status quo vis-ร -vis Israel, a circle it is attempting to square by threatening retaliation while simultaneously doing what it can to avoid escalation. This inherent contradiction has left Hezbollah with few viable options, leading to a series of tactical failures and an increased need to deliver some kind of success, however cosmetic. The result is a greater likelihood of inadvertent escalation along Israelโ€™s northern border.
True to form, liberals are hopeful that the Beirut explosion, Macronโ€™s visit to Lebanon, and the youthful demonstrations against the countryโ€™s Hezbollah-dominated government herald a new popular unity and a better day for all Lebanese citizens. Neither past nor present suggests that such a happy outcome is likely.
On August 4, 2020, a massive explosion occurred at a warehouse on the waterfront of the Port of Beirut, Lebanon. It killed at least 135 people, wounded at least 5,000, left approximately 300,000 people homeless, and devastated the port region of the city, causing damages estimated between $10 billion and $15 billion. The Lebanese authorities are blaming the explosion on mismanagement by port officials, but there is reason to suspect that it was the result of Hezbollah negligence.
The Islamic Republic of Iran established Hezbollah in Lebanon in the early 1980s, funded it, and equipped it with advanced weapons. In the process, it transformed the countryโ€™s Shiite community, which was once insignificant and oppressed, into a highly organized community with a powerful militia. The greater Lebanese Republic, however, is at its lowest point since it gained independence from France in 1943. Lebanon is barred from much international assistance because of the presence on its soil of Hezbollah, which seeks to exploit the countryโ€™s distress to push it once and for all into the arms of the Islamic Republic.
he received wisdom that โ€œmissiles and rockets don't win wars,โ€ always a dubious assertion, is now obsolete and demonstrably false. Modern precision-guided missiles have the same combat effectiveness as fighting aircraft yet are easier to operate and less vulnerable as they donโ€™t rely on huge, immovable, target-rich air bases. Precision-guided missiles and rockets can paralyze the civilian and military infrastructures of entire countries, thus paving the way to their defeat in war. These weapons most certainly can win wars, and Israel should do everything in its power not only to prevent defeat by them but to use them to defeat its enemies.

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