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Some people are champions of self-flagellation, Hezbollah is unquestionably one. Hezbollah leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, forgetting the results of his 2006 incursion into violence in the region, reiterated and talked about arms and militia and venom. He spoke to the crowd in a rare public appearance during a rally to mark the Muslim holy day of Ashoura, in the Hezbollah stronghold of south Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday Dec. 6, 2011. Hezbollah is an armed 'state' within the state of Lebanon. What Ashoura needed was not more venom but a different sermon of love!
Severe self-administered physical punishment, used as an act of penance during Ashoura, often in the form of beatings or floggings has also become part of political strategy. Once in a while customary self thrashing is considered as ritualistic cleansing of sins ordained by Allah. Hezbollah forces invite upon the Lebanese nation by a strange mix of religious vigour and political provocation the wrath of Lebanon's northern neighbour. Hezbollah acts as a proxy of Iran and Syria. Middle East Syrian-Iran axis based politics impacts Hezbollah fortunes directly. The fall of the Assad regime will change the nature of Lebanon completely. Iran will be unable to find the geographical leverage of proximity to the ultimate hotspot of Middle East.
Nasrallah has rarely been seen in public since his Shiite Muslim group battled Israel in a month long war in 2006, fearing Israeli assassination. Nasrallah's emergence on Ashoura that marks the anniversary of the death in the seventh century of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Imam Hussein. His death in a battle outside of the Iraqi city of Karbala sealed Islam's historical Sunni-Shiite gash, which is still a continual source of problems in the Middle East. Ashoura is one of the holiest days of the Muslim Shiite calendar. Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah was "here to stay" and would never compromise on its weapons. Nasrallah's unexpected manifestation defying shadows of Israeli assassination attempt may also be tied to stem the deteriorating morale of his people as the reality of declining fate of Assad in Syria sets in.
Nasrallah said. "And for those who are betting that our weapons are rusting, we say that our weapons are being renewed." I wish he grasps that rusting weapons are good if wits of nation is not rusting; he is leading the collective corrosion of the mind of his nation. He said that his militant group is acquiring additional weapons and militant members. He then left the podium, smiling and telling tens of thousands of supporters he will reappear in few minutes on a giant screen for a longer speech. He was probably worried about a launch from Israel.
"We are growing in numbers, our training is getting better and our weapons are increasing." I wished he would have said that his nation is growing in knowledge and research, leading the word of innovation and reconstruction of mankind's edifice. No, he had no such thing to say. What he said was more arms, more destruction, more death! In his public appearance, he said, this is a message to those who believe they can "threaten us," as many in the crowds shouted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Nasrallah reiterated his support for Assad's regime on Tuesday, accusing the United States of seeking to destroy Syria "to make up for its defeat in Iraq."
Syrians and Arabs gave prominence to Nasrallah and raised him to the status of a nationalist hero after his guerrillas' 2006 war with Israel. Now Syrian masses have set free their resentment at Hezbollah over its direct support for the regime of President Bashar Assad. Syrians recently have set fire to the yellow flag of Hezbollah and pictures of Nasrallah. Syrian and Hezbollah Nexus is considered by many as the cabal that eliminated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Rafik Hariri's liquidation was a classical Regicide a la Baath. The concept of regicide sits deep in the conscious of the cliché that rules Syria. Hariri, as a popular leader, was the king of hearts. Syrian bare proxy, Hezbollah, is suspected of carrying out the orders. Lebanon is deeply divided over the U.N.-backed tribunal investigating who was behind the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Hariri. Hezbollah and its allies reject the probe as biased.
Assad alignment with Iran and total reliance on Nasrallah and Ahmadinejad is at the risk of being toppled. The 'troika of instability' so far had a great nuisance value, too much political capital was wasted and too much destruction achieved with no results. The populace of the region caught in this conflict of ideological pre-eminence, after great wars, are still unsure as to the benefits of sacrifices of their houses and villages. The claims of neutralising the might of the Israeli Army is quite shallow when contrasted to the ruins of Lebanon.
Hezbollah conscience and Hamas's political pragmatism should take lessons from 1948, 1967 and 1973. All wars have only helped in making Israel a bigger and stronger nation and left them to live in squalid conditions. Palestinians and Lebanese do not deserve it. And what does Iran have to do with it? Iran is only using the Palestinians and the Shiites in Southern Lebanon for harbouring their own agenda in the Persian Gulf.
I crave that Sheik Hassan Nasrallah recognizes for the good of his nation that destiny of his people can only improve if they accrue knowledge and ingenuousness, not weapons and ragtag militias. Locked and rationally closed nations are a disconnect with the popular conventional wisdom that rules the world, lamentably closed minds will only lead to more destruction and a journey backwards in time.
What Ashoura needed was a sermon of intellect and a commencement address like 'Stay Foolish Stay Hungry Lebanon,' go and conquer the world with your knowledge. That hope was deferred by the Sheikh to life after death. Alas, like all Ashouras, the emphasis was on martyrdom, self immolation and self killing so that the next world becomes an everlasting perpetual heavenly hangabout. Last time in 2006, such words of bigotry and collection of arms and militias resulted in the following:
http://www.iranian.com/IqbalLatif/2006/July/Hezbollah/index.html
