United States is betting big on Lebanon. Its latest US$230
million aid package, funneled into the army and security forces, comes with one
not-so-hidden agenda: disarm Hezbollah. For Washington, the formula is
simple—dollars for sovereignty. Strengthen the Lebanese Armed Forces, dismantle
weapons caches, tie reconstruction money to compliance, and Hezbollah will
finally be forced under state control.
But Hezbollah is not a street gang waiting to be bought out.
It is Lebanon’s most powerful political and military force, one that commands
loyalty, provides services, and—above all—wields arms that many see as the only
shield against Israel. When bombs fell on Beirut in 2006, it was not the
Lebanese army that stood firm, but Hezbollah. To expect the group to trade
rockets for US money is to misunderstand its very identity.
The US plan hinges on a fragile bargain: Hezbollah hands
over weapons, Israel halts incursions, and Lebanon begins to rebuild. Yet
history says otherwise. Israeli jets still scream across Lebanese skies with
impunity. Promises of restraint ring hollow to a movement born from decades of
occupation and war. In Hezbollah’s calculus, surrendering arms is not reform—it
is suicide.
Washington frames this as state-building. Hezbollah calls it
blackmail. By tying basic recovery—electricity, infrastructure, reconstruction—to
disarmament, the US is accused of holding Lebanon’s survival hostage. Aid, in
this view, is just another weapon of war, designed to weaken “the resistance”
where bombs failed.
The clash is stark: United States believes money can buy
stability; Hezbollah insists weapons guarantee it. In between stands a broken
Lebanon, desperate for relief yet divided over who really protects it.
If Washington thinks $230 million will unravel a militia
that survived wars, sanctions, and sieges, it may soon discover that in
Lebanon, guns are worth more than dollars—and sovereignty is not for sale.
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