Why Does Hezbollah Outperform the Occupying Entity? ..  How Does It Surpass Its Lebanese and Arab Rivals?

October 15, 2024

Nasser Kandil

• In the ongoing confrontation at Lebanon’s southern border between Hezbollah and the army of the occupying entity, there are truths, illusions, dreams, and realities. Among these truths is the fact that Hezbollah has engaged with far less of the strength it possesses, despite its overwhelming sense of power. Its ideological and religious commitment obliges it to do everything to prevent the massacre of Gaza’s people, a duty that would logically involve deploying its surplus strength in the field. Hezbollah also understands that the occupying army will likely turn its attention to Lebanon once its war on Gaza concludes, making it a strategic deterrence to act preemptively. And yet, Hezbollah realised that escalating to its full might would neither stop the war on Gaza nor prevent a subsequent war on Lebanon. Instead, it would ignite an unprecedented mobilisation in the West to defend the occupying entity and create an exceptional internal cohesion within it, escalating into a global war against the resistance in both Gaza and Lebanon.

Hezbollah calculated that enduring the pain of a limited engagement on the front would gradually expose the entity’s barbarity and criminality. By consistently adopting the banner of halting the war on Gaza, Hezbollah and the resistance in Gaza would reveal that the war was driven solely by cruelty, void of any legitimate cause, thereby weakening global support for the occupying entity. On the contrary, Hezbollah gained legitimacy, while the entity lost it, as this legitimacy grows daily with the ongoing crimes committed by the occupying army. This legitimacy now snowballs, enhancing the moral standing of the resistance as it emphasises the defensive nature of its fight.

• Some argue that Hezbollah could have avoided the targeted attacks it faced, including the assassination of its most important leader, had it used its surplus strength earlier. They claim that delaying the display of this strength was perceived as weakness by the occupying entity, emboldening it to escalate further. However, Hezbollah’s experience shows that it cannot justify Machiavellian escalation; it must be morally driven. The current international and Arab context, tainted by a desire to see Gaza quietly crushed, does not grant Hezbollah the legitimacy to plunge Lebanon into a major war unless it is defensive – triggered by the occupying entity’s aggression. Though costly, Hezbollah has maintained this position from the start.

• What we see from Hezbollah today is not a reaction to a shock or a correction of delayed action, but rather a meticulously planned strategy. As the occupying entity escalates its war and commits atrocities, Hezbollah gradually begins to deploy its full strength, grounded in a foundation of legitimacy and morality. This moral strength, often underestimated, is Hezbollah’s secret weapon that has led it to victory time and time again. While its adversaries anticipated celebrating Hezbollah’s downfall, they now find themselves facing an indomitable force, likened to the phoenix rising from the ashes. The occupying entity, even when it tries to escalate, finds itself doing less than before, while Hezbollah, even if it seeks to restrain itself, is doing far more than it ever did. The trajectory of the war is now clear: Hezbollah is the ascending power, delivering calculated blows, while the occupying entity flails, landing clumsy strikes amidst painful retaliations.

• Today’s equation between Hezbollah and the occupying entity reveals that Hezbollah has won the war of added value – morally and strategically – without exhausting its surplus strength. Meanwhile, the entity has squandered its global sympathy and consumed its extraordinary strength in acts of brutality and aggression. Hezbollah now enters this phase of the war with a wealth of moral high ground and untapped power, while the occupying entity fights on, having depleted all the advantages it once dreamed of possessing.

• Hezbollah’s silence towards its Arab adversaries speaks volumes. While they accuse it of being merely an extension of Iran or of serving sectarian interests, Hezbollah’s presence at the forefront of the battle for Palestine shatters these claims. At a time when they cannot deny that this is the hour of Palestine, of the Arabs, and of Islam, Hezbollah stands tall, exposing their treachery and their disgrace. Their anger is not truly directed at Hezbollah, but rather at their own failure and shame. Hezbollah’s smile, however, is filled with scorn. “There is room for all on this battlefield”, it says, “for Palestine, for the Arabs, and for Islam. Better late than never”. And as Hezbollah prepares its victory speech, it will be addressed to the entire nation, declaring that the occupying entity’s savagery would have enslaved the region if left unchecked.

• In facing its Lebanese rivals, Hezbollah understands that some oppose it because they seek power, believing that opposing Hezbollah will attract support from its enemies in Washington and Tel Aviv. Others bear grudges against Hezbollah for defending Syria, thinking that, without Hezbollah’s intervention, their plans for Syria’s downfall would have succeeded. Still others are internally resentful because Hezbollah did not support their political ambitions or backed rival candidates. Despite these tensions, Hezbollah has framed its current battle within a framework of national responsibility, activating the southern front only under the banner of “end the war on Gaza”. This restraint has forced the occupying entity to reveal its premeditated plans for a broader war, much like the 2006 war was preplanned, forcing Hezbollah to face it with readiness and resolve.

• Hezbollah has outmanoeuvred its Lebanese rivals in two significant ways. First, it successfully spared Lebanon from a broader war for over a year – a war that would have inevitably followed the one on Gaza had Gaza been left to fight alone. Second, while its rivals echoed the occupying entity’s calls for disarming the resistance, the entire Lebanese population rallied behind the priority of ending the war, as voiced by leaders like Nabih Berri, Najib Mikati, and Walid Jumblatt, with Hezbollah’s endorsement.

• Hezbollah outperforms its adversaries morally, strategically, and tactically. It wins its wars, stands more Arab than the Arabs, more Muslim than the Muslims, and more Lebanese than the Lebanese.