Israel Matzav: Lebanon: Hezbullah will defend us

Lebanon: Hezbullah will defend us

On Wednesday afternoon, as our group of bloggers stood in a windy observation post at Misgav Am overlooking the Lebanese border, the IDF spokesperson for the northern Galilee asked what we thought the IDF should do if there was a 60-year old woman in the neighboring village who had 6,000 rockets stored in her basement. I responded that under international law, there is little doubt the IDF would have the right (and indeed the duty) to blow up that house. She responded yes, but how would the world view it?

Well, clearly the answer to that is that the world would condemn us. But as we discovered during Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin, during the Second Lebanon War and during Operation Cast Lead, the world will condemn us regardless of what we do. So maybe the time has come to ignore the world's condemnations so long as we are obeying the letter of international law.

These issues are coming more and more into focus in Lebanon. While Hezbullah was barely defeated in this past summer's elections, Lebanon now has a government that is one third Hezbullah and in which Hezbullah has veto power over all major decisions. That government has already decided to permit Hezbullah to retain its arms in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. And now that government's Defense Minister, Elias Murr, has announced that Lebanon will depend on Hezbullah to defend it.

Defense Minister Elias Murr told the official government National News Agency Tuesday, "The role of the army is to cooperate with the UNIFIL in order to implement the resolution 1701, which calls for disarming Hizbullah." Murr then added, “The Lebanese army will defend the country against any Israeli aggression, the resistance [Hizbullah] will do that too; everyone has the right to defend the country."

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Murr’s declaration goes further than previous statements that Lebanon will allow Hizbullah to remain armed, a foregone conclusion since UNIFIL officers said at the outset of the ceasefire resolution in 2006 that they would not carry out the mandate to disarm the terrorist group.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned last month that Hizbullah in effect is Lebanon’s army, stating that "the Lebanese government and Hizbullah are becoming interwoven in each other.”

The government has a diplomatic excuse for ostensibly defying the U.N. resolution, which forbids arms to all "foreign armies” not authorized by the government. Formally adopting Hizbullah as a defense force effectively neutralizes the resolution at the same time Beirut promises to enforce it.

Lebanon is Hezbullah and Hezbullah is Lebanon. In the next war - which may be coming soon - Israel will have to deal with Lebanon as the enemy.

Israel Matzav: Lebanon: Hezbullah will defend us