Dissecting The 'Party Of God'

RightBias.com ^ | December 1, 2007 | Stratfor

[rwbusa50]

While the world obsesses this week over whether the ill-fated Annapolis conference will result in the ultimate Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, the real political drama is taking place in Lebanon.

In Beirut, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a renowned Syrian stooge, has stepped down, creating a political vacuum large enough to send the country back to its dark days of civil war. Hezbollah ("the Party of God") stands in the middle of this political battle, aiming to expand its power, ensure its long-term survival as a militant movement and serve Damascus' interests in selecting Lebanon's new president. Hezbollah intends to meet these objectives through force, and it already has plans to launch a government takeover should the pro-Western government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora act unilaterally and appoint a president.

The standoff in Beirut plays into the larger interests of Hezbollah's Syrian and Iranian patrons. Hezbollah was created by the Iranians and has been nurtured by the Syrians since the early 1980s. Though Tehran and Damascus have a deeply rooted strategic alliance, their interests often collide when it comes to deciding how Hezbollah is utilized as a militant proxy. So, while Iran wants Hezbollah to focus on the larger objective of bolstering itself as a model Islamist movement capable of defending Shiite interests in the wider region, Syria uses Hezbollah primarily to score tactical gains in its "Godfather"-like political feuds in Beirut. At the same time, Hezbollah is ...

[rwbusa50]

Sure enough during worldwide focus on the summit at Annapolis this past week something else was going on that will most likely inhibit any progress toward peace and security for Israel and others.

[okie01]

It's so disheartening that the "Cedar Revolution" should revert to this.

We are involved in war with cunning barbarians -- a most unconventional war of worldwide scope. But, with the half the country refusing to acknowledge the fact, we can't fight it as we should.