Latest Developments with Hizballah
By David Schenker
Last night, Hizballah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah gave a press conference (via satellite) in which he claimed that Israel was responsible for the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri. The conference was held amidst rising speculation that Hizballahis will be indicted by the Special Tribunal on Lebanon for the Hariri assassination.
Nearly all of what Nasrallah laid out as “proof” that Israel was involved in the killing was circumstantial, but he did make an interesting comment suggesting that Hizballah had been able to intercept transmissions from Israeli UAVs operating over Lebanon.
Nasrallah’s gambit to implicate Israel comes amidst increasing tensions on the Lebanese-Israeli border following an incident last week in which an Israeli Lt. Colonel was killed by a Lebanese sniper—whether from the Lebanese Armed Forces or Hizballah. The attack prompted an Israeli retaliation against an LAF outpost. More details on the operation can be found here.
Yesterday, an article of mine ran in The New Republic, discussing Hizballah’s latest campaign in Dahyia to convince women to wear the veil. The campaign suggests that Hizballah’s long-ago articulated goal of transforming Lebanon into a Shiite Islamic State ala Iran is alive and well.