When Hezbollah reached a power-sharing agreement with Lebanon's U.S.-supported government last week, the State Department called it "a really welcome development." But the public displays of enthusiasm will likely become less frequent in the face of remarks from Hezbollah's leader that he is "siding with the resistance in Iraq."
In a Monday speech to supporters, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said insurgents in Iraq are capable of pushing U.S. forces out of the country, just as Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah mounted a successful insurgency against the Israeli Defense Forces in southern Lebanon.
To be sure, Hezbollah, long on the U.S. government's list of terror organizations, has never been an ally of the Bush administration's military campaign in Iraq. The Pentagon has even accused the Shiite party of contributing to IED attacks against U.S. soldiers in Iraq, a claim which Hezbollah denies. Nevertheless, the party's leaders have historically stopped short of voicing full-throated support for the insurgent movement in Iraq. Instead, Hezbollah has vaguely cautioned Iraqi citizens to be wary of the "American project" in their country.
Nasrallah's Monday remarks went one step further, according to Tuesday editions of Arabic newspapers. The Palestinian owned, UK-based Al-Quds al-Arabi called the Iraq section of Nasrallah's speech every bit as important as the inside baseball portions dealing with Lebanon's complex internal politics.
Meanwhile, an editorial in Jordan's Al-Arab al-Yawm daily noted that Hezbollah's new support for Iraqi fighters was sect-blind, extending to both Shiite and Sunni factions. The author cheered this development, writing: "Nasrallah started his speech by manifesting a courageous, principled and decisive stance towards the Iraqi issue, which eliminated all doubts."
The publishing arm of a leading pro-U.S. faction in Lebanon took Nasrallah to task, however, for "ruin[ing] the celebration of civil peace" in Lebanon following recent clashes, and for Hezbollah's suggestion that it may not seek consensus among all Lebanese before taking on Israel in the future. The party's surprise capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12, 2006 set off a destructive 33-day war in which Israel tried and failed to significantly impair Hezbollah's ability to coordinate attacks.
Lebanon's paralyzed central government has since had a difficult time reconstructing the parts of the country demolished during the war. Debate over how to resolve the question of Hezbollah's arms, which are independent of the state, led to an 18-month stalemate that was provisionally resolved by the power-sharing arrangement reached last week in Doha. As part of that accord, Hezbollah-allied members of the country's next cabinet will have effective veto power over government decisions.