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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Nasrallah backs down in face of Lebanese pressure

We mentioned that a speech made by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last Friday caused an uproar in Lebanon. Among other things, Nasrallah accused the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, charged to investigate the murder of former prime minister Hariri, as working for Zionist interests. It is widely assumed that the STL will indict Hebollah members in the plot.

Lebanese politicians slammed Nasrallah for such a slur.

Now, Nasrallah has changed his tune, and says that he knows that "some undisciplined members of Hezbollah may be indicted by STL but not the party."

The plot to kill Hariri was well-planned, and of course Hezbollah had every reason to want to get rid of him. The idea that a rogue Hezbollah group managed to plan and execute the operation without other Hezbollah members knowing is simply ridiculous.

We will see if the tribunal will have the guts to mention Hezbollah, but since something like that could ignite a civil war, they might very well accept this face-saving attempt by Nasrallah as a way out. This way Hezbollah continues its stranglehold on Lebanese politics and military, Lebanon doesn't get sucked into another war and everyone wins.

Except for the Lebanese, of course.