Hizbollah's folly

The conflict in Lebanon has shown once again that terrorists are not only evil; they are also foolish.

A month ago, Hizbollah was in control of Southern Lebanon. They had a strong popular base, plenty of money, an efficient organisation and two ministers in the government cabinet. The Israeli army was safely behind its own borders and Hezbollah had total freedom of action. They could have used all this to improve the lives of their countrymen and help bring prosperity to the area. True to form however, they had to go and throw it all away.

Some idiot (sorry but there is no better way to describe him) thought it would be a good idea to go and kill a few Israeli soldiers and kidnap a couple of others to exchange them for thousands (sic) of Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.

We all know the outcome of this reckless and dangerous adventure. Lebanon has been devastated, more than a thousand persons, Israelis and Lebanese, have died, apart from an unspecified number of Hizbollah members, and Israel found it necessary to again invade and occupy large tracts of the country.

The UN Resolution forming the basis of the truce requires Hizbollah to give up its weapons and forbids anyone (read Syria and Iran) from arming them again; if it is implemented they will never be able to fire another rocket into Israel. Moreover, although the resolution does not specify who is to disarm the terrorists, there is international agreement that the onus falls on the Lebanese army, with all the risks of renewed civil strife that it implies. The resolution also stresses the need for the "unconditional release of the abducted Israeli soldiers" (that is, no prisoner exchange).

A foreign UN army of up to 15,000 soldiers will be stationed on Lebanese soil for an indefinite period in spite of the fact that Lebanon had originally insisted they should be based in Israel.

Interestingly, Israel itself is not called upon to withdraw its forces unconditionally (as the Lebanese government had wanted) but only when other troops - UN and regular Lebanese - are deployed. No space is given for Hizbollah to reoccupy any territory it has lost.

On top of it all, not one single Lebanese prisoner will be freed as part of the ceasefire deal. The UN Resolution simply encourages efforts to solve this "sensitive issue".

In conclusion, one cannot help asking: what was this all about and what exactly has Hizbollah achieved? They have allegedly become more popular among their own diehard supporters - though this backing may rather be a figment of the media's collective imagination - but this is a very small consolation for the extremely high price paid by Lebanon and by Hizbollah itself.