Saturday
Apr072012
Lebanon Feature: Is Hezbollah's Syria Policy A Regional and Domestic Mistake? (Barnard)
Lebanese man with poster of Hezbollah's Sayyid Hassan Nasrullah and Syrian President Assad, 11 January 2012 (Photo: Louai Beshahra/AFP)
Though Hezbollah’s base in Lebanon remains strong, it runs an increasing risk of finding itself isolated, possibly caught up in a sectarian war between its patron, Iran, the region’s Shiite power, and Saudi Arabia, a protector of Sunni interests in the Middle East. Its longtime ally, Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, has distanced itself from the Assad government, moving its headquarters out of Damascus, and Sunni revolutionaries in Syria have explicitly denounced Hezbollah as an enemy. At home, its Lebanese rivals sense a rare opportunity to erode its power.