are the people of lebanon responsible for their hezbollah citizens? do the have a responsibility to evict them

I have studied Lebanon for years and I will tell you that the majority of people in Lebanon are against Hezbollah. Forget what you see on CNN, they were only interviewing people in Hezbollah territories at the beginning of the attacks because they had to ensure that viewers would not to feel sorry for Lebanese civilians and be concerned by their rising death toll. Watch some of the European channels, you'll get a completely different perspective.

The fact is, Hezbollah has no true loyalty to Lebanon or it would have surrendered its weapons and allowed for diplomacy to solve the issues with Shebaa farms, etc. It's loyalty lies with Iran's religious leaders because Hezbollah is a Shiite Muslim group and Lebanon's Shiites were brought in from Iran during the Crusades to form a barrier between Europeans and Lebanon's Maronite Christians who supported them. While Shiites identify themselves as Lebanese now, they still consider Iran their motherland. Politically and socially, this created a large rift between them and Lebanon's Christians, Druze, and Sunni Muslims who have a more ingrained connection to Lebanon either religiously, politically, or traditionally. The rift has only increased with time and after Lebanon's war and Israel's withdrawal, tensions rose regularly but everyone restrained from action or risked reigniting the civil war.

Back to present day... unfortunately, Hezbollah is armed to the teeth and has support from Syria and Iran while the Lebanese government has support from no one (beyond empty words). So how could it possibly stop Hezbollah? It was working slowly to reach some kind of national agreement to end Hezbollah's militant wing and have it surrender its weapons, but it was treading on egg shells because the government risked beginning another civil war since most Shiites in Lebanon support Hezbollah while the remaining sects oppose it either quietly or silently. Even with all of Israel's military might, it couldn't destroy Hezbollah in the 17 years between when Hezbollah began and when Israel withdrew from the buffer zone it occupied in southern Lebanon in 2000. The Lebanese government definitely needed more time to do it diplomatically. Diplomacy is not as fast as military action, but the results are always more predictable, whereas military strategy can just as easily backfire with the slightest misstep.

The scary part of this is that the current campaign is strengthening the voices of militants around the Middle East. Moderates, who tend to be peaceful, are forced to stay quiet or face the wrath of a violent minority. Hezbollah had no right to enter Israel, kill soldiers, and kidnap others. Israel has no right to bomb Lebanon's infrastructure instead of Hezbollah itself. Hezbollah has no right to target civilian territories in Israel.

I am just confounded that it took Israel three days before they hit Hezbollah's headquarters and Nasrallah's residence. That was plenty of time for the important members of Hezbollah to disappear. They should have hit those targets from the first second. Instead, they have done wave after wave of bombings on Beirut's $500 million airport. It was already useless after the runways were bombarded, why continue? If Israel's war is with Hezbollah, then Israel should only target them. Instead, targeting the infrastructure has only caused those who oppose Hezbollah to become completely and utterly helpless. If a cease fire is reached without Hezbollah being destroyed, the Lebanese who oppose them will then have to face them. And how will they do that when Syria and Iran have a large sum of money and the Lebanese government will be broke. Who will pay for the destruction caused by Israel? The U.S.? Israel? Saudi Arabia? Iran? Syria?

The Phoenix, the mythical bird that dies and is reborn, was named by the ancient Greeks for the Phoenicians, the ancestors of the Lebanese for their uncanny ability to rebuild after their cities were destroyed. The issue is, if Israel fails to eliminate Hezbollah, will the Phoenician remnants of Lebanon be destroyed after this campaign? If that occurs, then this war is a beginning of a genocide. I have always noted that Lebanon was too small and insignificant to have friends. I hope I am proven wrong.

The people of Lebanon, for the most part, should not be held accountable and should not be punished for the actions of Hezbollah.

Lebanon was once a peaceful country in which many different nationalities and religious loyalties lived in harmony. When Palestinians displaced by the Israelis began immigrating to Lebanon after 1948, this balance was lost. Plagued by subsequent civil wars and Israeli invasions, Iran soon found a great opportunity and sent its Revolutionary Guard to "assist" the Lebanese. Hezbollah was created as an extension of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who help push terrorism with revolutionary zeal throughout the world. On the other hand, it is somewhat questionable if Hezbollah fits in the "terrorist" category since it has for the most part intentionally targeted the Israeli military (individual definitions of terrorism is very broad, so to some, it is and to others it isn't).

Hezbollah is not a part of the Lebanese government (though it can infiltrate the institution), therefore it would be unfair to target the people of Lebanon for the actions of the terrorist group.

Though a state is supposed to have the monopoly over violence thanks to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 (when the modern state concept was formed), most of history has seen no monopolies on violence but rather filled with non-state actors fighting for different reasons. The war is increasingly becoming returning to the way it was fought prior to the 1648 (by the way, the Peace of Westphalia and the notion of monopoly over war has for the most part applied only to the West, not the East) and as can be seen in Afghanistan and Iraq (fighting Al-Qaeda, a non-state actor), states have a difficult time fighting non-state actors.

If the Lebanese government cannot bring the aspirations of Hezbollah under control, then their government should still be legitimate as long as the people continues to wish to be governed by their politicians and political system. After all, if one were to say that a government is illegitimate because they cannot control a non-state actor, then one would have to say that the United States government is not legitimate because we cannot control the aspirations of non-state actors such as multinational corporations or gangs (ie MS-13) or mafias (Russian, Italian, etc). I agree that Hezbollah (and in general, all militias) needs to be reigned in, but who can force them to do so? The Israelis? The Lebanese government (with its country devastated by around 50 years of conflict)?

One must remember that the Israelis invaded Lebanon at least 3 times now and each time their forces were unable to rid of Hezbollah. This goes to show how hard it is to defeat a non-state actor. I agree that the Israelis have a right to destroy Hezbollah (which includes invading Lebanon to do so, since the Lebanese government can't do anything or doesn't want to stop Hezbollah), since Hezbollah's purpose is to destroy Israel. Every country has a right to self-preservation. The method the Israelis use, unfortunately, is too kinetic. Mainly using conventional firepower to pound the enemy into submission is a very old but ineffective strategy for this conflict, which has been proven by history (3 invasions and the Israelis have been unable to destroy Hezbollah). Killing innocent people with firepower only assists Hezbollah's public image and strengthens them with volunteers who want to rid of the Israelis and gain revenge (in essence, a side that loses the moral level in any conflict will eventually lose the war, because its what keeps people fighting with conviction). Israel will have to find another way to deal with this problem, and sadly, it is not alone in its trials... every state in this world will have to deal with it, sooner or later.

its not their citizens, but rather a terrorist group from the cabinet down that runs everything. the lebanese government and military are scared of them. they use the citizens like all terrorist cowards do to hide behind as they fire into isreal. many people don't know that when the hezbollah came over isreal's borders to kill the eight soldiers and kidnap two, they fired a barrage of rockets over the border to sneak in which was a act of war.

I help Israel protecting itself 1st off. As for the Lebanese human beings helping Hezbollah. i'm quite no longer positive there's a good purchase they could do to eliminate them. Lebanon doesn't have some thing consisting of a protection rigidity there authorities is corrupt. and that i'll quite say if i became one in each and every of those human beings stuck there for in spite of the reason and that i lost a chum to an Israeli bomb. i am going to actual see me taking up palms adverse to them for revenge. so as I said before I do help one hundred% Isreal's protecting itself. in spite of the indisputable fact that I quite do not believe even there protection rigidity may will end the violence there. those bombings will purely encourage better terriost. Thats the biggest problem with combating terriost. you could't negotiate with them and in case you conflict them militarily it only breeds better terriost. Dammed in case you do Dammed in case you do not.

Yes, all the Lebanon people are responsible for any thing that going on in their country. If there is a terriorist in my town I will sure do some thing to stop them.

Mr. Moosty need some knowledge on reality that Sharon is not prime minister of Israel any more.

Hopefully the people of Lebanon who oppose having their country controlled by these Islamic cultists (bankrolled by Iran and Syria) would rise up against them.

One Lebanese woman's view: "Thank you, Israel"

http://www.arutzsheva.com/article.php3?id=6387

Yes they are responsible; if not as much as the American people who voted for Bush or the Israeli's who voted for Sharon !

Addition: I did not say Sharon is prime minister NOW "Mr. kunjaldp"

I can add our (Turkish) prime minister Erdogan also to the list if that will comfort you.