Foreign Policy Blogs

Talking with Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah

A while ago I met Ayatollah Fadlallah. Definitely, an interesting experience.

 After the Khomeini revolution in Iran, the Shia and other Islamic parties supported the revolution extensively since it represented the fall of the American policy with the fall of the Shah. This doesn't mean that the Shia outside Iran are linked to Iran in such a way that they would follow the political lines that Iran dictates. Not all the Shia support the Faqih regime; there are those who support Iran's political line and those who don't. For example, some of the Shia in Iraq support Iran's political line and some don't. This goes for the Shia in Lebanon and other countries in the world; they might not have the same political views as Iran although they meet on the religious level.

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Therefore, the Lebanese history is a history of differences which is close to the coexistence among the Lebanese confessions. The problem of Lebanon is that it is the scene where all the regional and international intelligence services meet and where there are attempts to implement international projects in the conflicts among countries, like the conflict led by the United States and some European countries against Syria and Iran and organizations which are fighting Israel and which reject the US policy.

The Lebanese army doesn't have the capacity regarding the quality of the arms to confront any Israeli aggression, doesn't have the needed equipment like aircrafts or missiles or anti-raids missiles etc. Therefore, the army cannot face a future Israeli aggression or liberate the occupied territories like Shebaa Farms and plains of Kfar Shouba with its existing capacity. We know that the Army Commander and now President General Michel Sulayman while leading the battle of Naher al Bared asked for the help of Syria in providing ammunition and arms to the Lebanese army, which lacked all of this military equipment.

On the other hand, if the army wanted to start a war with another army, it should have the power to confront its enemy. We are aware that Israeli military power far exceeds that in Lebanon, but the resistance represents a street war and it's natural for Israel to weaken in front of this kind of fight, whereas it wouldn't in front of another army. Therefore, the Israeli power defeated the Arab armies but it got defeated by the resistance.
More you can find here.