Last month’s Lindisfarne Analysis looked at Hezbollah’s stated aims for Lebanon – to become a state like Iran ruled by shari’a. This month we examine the impossible choices faced by Christian politicians as to whether to have nothing to do with Hezbollah, or – despite its stated aims – to work with them in the hope of at least some short-term benefit for the Christian community.  The personal ambition of politicians also sometimes unfortunately clouds out more important issues, as it can do in any country.

Hezbollah and Iran

The 1979 Iranian revolution led to the world’s first radical Islamist state, which aimed to spread the revolution worldwide. Iran’s new constitution gave the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps the duty of both ‘safeguarding’ the revolution at home and spreading it overseas. Within three years it had set up Hezbollah in Lebanon as a jihadist group fighting Isreal, but at the same seeking to create the same radical Islamist state that had been formed in Iran.

Hezbollah’s increasing stranglehold on Lebanon

Lebanon has always been a delicate balance between Christians, Sunni and Shi’a Muslims and a small Druze minority. The balance has been kept by the constitution decreeing that the president must be a Christian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker a Shi’a Muslim.

In the forty or so years since Hezbollah’s formation whilst it has not yet gained complete control over Lebanon, it has managed to exert a stranglehold and a veto over the actions of the Lebanese government.

Because it is militarily stronger than both the Lebanese defence forces and the UN international peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) it has been able to simply ignore UN Security Council resolution 1701 (2006). This ordered the creation of a demilitarised zone in southern Lebanon and the implementation of the Taif agreement which ended the Lebanese civil war and includes the disarmament of all armed groups. Hezbollah subsequently claimed it had an unwritten exemption from this. It has used southern Lebanon as a base from which to fire thousands of missiles at Israel, sometimes by basing itself next to Christian villages.

Hezbollah’s stranglehold on the Lebanese government is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that the country has since October last year not had a president – who constitutionally should be from the Christian community. The Speaker, Nabbi Berri, a Shi’a aligned with Hezbollah, has refused to convene parliament for a presidential election, unless the nominee has been approved in advance by Hezbollah.

In the last three years there have also been a series of acts of intimidation in Christian districts and abductions and murder of Christian politicians, with recently assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at one stage threatening to reignite the Lebanese civil war which occurred a generation ago.

The dangers of Christian political parties

So, to western observers it seems inexplicable that the leaders of some “Christian” political parties have allied themselves with Hezbollah.

During the civil war Beirut was divided by militias from the Sunni Muslim, Shi’a and Christian communities. After the war political parties emerged along these sectarian lines. However, as Hezbollah has become increasingly dominant in Lebanese politics, some – though not all “Christian” political parties have aligned themselves with Hezbollah. A lot of it comes down to short term power politics.

In 2006 Michel Aoun, leader of the “Freedom and Patriotic Party” – the largest “Christian” party signed an agreement with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. It not only gave him Hezbollah’s clout in cracking down on dissent in his own party – but also secured Aoun Hezbollah’s support to become President in 2016. Hezbollah’s leader is reported as saying “Everyone knows our candidate, and his name begins with the letter ‘Michel Aoun’.”  Many Lebanese Christians regarded this as a shabby betrayal, accusing him of providing “Christian cover” for Hezbollah.

Hezbollah themselves have sought to present themselves as defenders of Lebanese Christian communities, particularly to Christian villages on the borders of Syria when the Sunni Islamic State group were threatening to invade Lebanon.

However, many of Lebanon’s Christians have more wisely seen Hezbollah as a tiger in waiting that they are careful not to provoke, rather than an ally and friend who can be trusted.

The bottom line is Lebanon’s Christians know they lack political power.

So how should Christians react?

Politics in the middle east is messy, dark and shabby. Yet Christ told us to be “innocent as doves and wise as snakes” – significantly he said this while telling his disciples that he was sending them out like “sheep among wolves” (Matthew 10:16). Hezbollah undoubtedly sees Lebanon’s Christians as potentially useful short-term allies, while it seeks to gain full control of the country. But its agenda is to transform Lebanon into being like Iran. 

One Christian leader who grasps that – and has sought to steer his flock accordingly is Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch, Bechara Rai. He has repeatedly and carefully warned Christians against allying themselves with “those seeking to destabilise Lebanon” (meaning Hezbollah). A few weeks ago, just before the current Isreal-Hezbollah conflict started to come to a head he warned:

“There are factions in our society that wish for Lebanon to be a vacant land, where they can implement their plans without the interference of a state, laws, or a constitution. They prefer it to be real estate, not a homeland,”

He has not been uncritical of Israel, he recently expressed “profound sorrow over the devastating toll inflicted upon Lebanon by Israeli airstrikes,” describing them as “devoid of humanity,” comments which were interpreted by the Times of Isreal as the voice of a Christian leader who wanted peace with Isreal and sought to be a critical friend.

It is good to remember that there are Christian leaders in the middle east who genuinely seek peace and friendship with those around them, yet when it comes to the agenda of Islamist groups like Hezbollah are as wise as snakes as well as being innocent as doves.

We need to pray for such Christian leaders.