People's Democracy

Lebanon Stands By Hezbollah

Mohd Salim from Beirut

[CPI(M) MP Mohd Salim is on a visit to Beirut as a member of an international delegation. His dispatch from the war-torn capital of Lebanon was published in Ganashakti daily. When Salim sent this dispatch, ceasefire had not yet been declared]

LEBANON counts the hours and the minutes to a cessation of intense hostilities. Israel continues its assault relentlessly. Even after expressing its willingness in the Security Council to accede to the UN-brokered ceasefire, Israel has if anything stepped up its month-long armed attack on Lebanon. There was widespread bombing even on Saturday night [August 12]. The bombs fell on the southern populated area of Lebanon.

On Sunday [August 13], we visited those areas of south Lebanon on which thousands of Israeli bombs had fallen for the past 25 days. Scars of the attacks are to be seen everywhere. Houses and dwelling places have been pounded and flattened. Roads, power units, water supply — have all been bombed into rubbish and rubble. The dead have been accorded mass burial. It is feared that beneath the heaps of rubble lie many more of the Lebanese dead – civilians all – men, women, babies.

CHILDREN ARE MOST AFFECTED

We had dropped into an educational institution. The building is now a shelter for the hapless victims of Israeli aggression. A massive number of people are being treated in the hospitals, and I find it sad, infinitely sad to say that a large percentage of those being treated are children and nursing babies.

We believe that the UN-brokered ceasefire may come into effect on Monday itself (August 14]. The Lebanese government had acceded to the UN proposal. The Lebanese government makes its moves in coordination with the Hezbollah. Even before the Lebanese cabinet had agreed to the proposal for a ceasefire, Hezbollah leader Sayid Hasan Nasarallah had come on the TV and expressed his approval to the plan. 

Every evening at eight, Nasarallah addresses the people on Al Ma’na TV. He had brought his address forward by two-and-a-half hours on Saturday. He said that the UN proposal was not acceptable from all considerations. But, he said, ‘we are willing to give our approval for the sake of interest of national unity. If the Lebanese government approves of the proposal, we would not violate it.’ The Lebanese government took the cue and accorded its willingness to go by the UN offer.

POPULARITY OF HEZBOLLAH

The fact that Hezbollah agreed to the UN proposal has to be found in a feeling of triumph that is apparent among them and indeed among the Lebanese populace. Even after killing and wounding thousands, and even after the massive wreckage it had caused, Israel was not able to achieve its planned aims.

The Israeli army has suffered important setbacks. On Saturday itself, the Hezbollah could destroy no fewer than 27 Israeli tanks. We watched on TV how small children were up on the disabled tanks and dancing up and down in sheer joy. It is reported that Israel had lost 24 men in Saturday’s clashes.

The events have served to consolidate and expand Hezbollah’s popularity across not just Lebanon but the Arab world per se. It is said freely that the Hezbollah represent the only Arab military might that has been able to counter-attack Israeli aggressors, and could effectively burst the invincibility myth making rounds about the Israeli troops.

Israel has in so many words admitted to the setbacks they have suffered at the hands of the numerically inferior Hezbollah fighters. There has been bitter recrimination within Israel over the assault on Lebanon. Israel is now quite isolated internationally.

COMMUNIST PARTY OF LEBANON

We spoke to all the political forces of Lebanon and that of course included the Communist Party. Everybody looks on the Hezbollah as leading a national resistance movement. The Lebanese Communist Party is very much a part of this movement. The Christians of Lebanon who make up more than 40 per cent of the populace support the Hezbollah. Michael Oundlook, leader of the free popular movement supports the Hezbollah.

Hezbollah looks to the future and is keen to solidify this position of unity. That is why they would readily accede to the UN-brokered ceasefire. We had occasion to speak to the Hezbollah leader Professor Ali Fayez who teaches sociology at the university level. He is a theoretician of the Hezbollah. He, too, spoke about the need to maintain national unity in a fragile and splintered society that is Lebanon of today.