Nothing affects Hezbollah. Nothing. Its blacklisting by the European Union as a terrorist organization, the similar GCC decision, the hundreds of coffins for its fighters who are dying in Syria and its security exposure are all part of a media campaign which deserves nothing but mockery and enigmatic smiles. But there is a justification to this arrogance. Indeed, ever since its establishment, the party has been hiding behind two parapets. The first is its role as a regional tool for the Syrian-Iranian axis, which moves it based on its own strategy that does not usually take into account Lebanese national interests. The second is its representation of a large bloc of the Shiite sect in the Lebanese equation. And any quiver at the level of one of these two tasks is handled by the party by focusing on the other. This is what happened in the July 2006 war when it resorted to Israel's deterrence as a pretext to impose its hegemony on the domestic arena, and what it did again in May 2008 when it occupied Beirut "in defense of the resistance weapons that are directed against Israel." This strategy, which is similar to a two-storey building, grants the party the ability to distance itself from the internal Lebanese requirements. Hence, whenever the situation deteriorates in the lower Lebanese floor, the party moves to the resisting top floor. And whenever the party is faced with Arab and international objections surrounding its resisting role in Syria for example, it goes down to the first floor and assures it has a veto power over all the Lebanese political equations, considering it is a main sectarian power among no less sectarian forces that do not however enjoy even a small portion of its strength and might. This unique characteristic enjoyed by the party gives it the right to be arrogant toward the others and mock them, and allows its loyalist writers to describe the remaining Lebanese as being ignorant and incapable of understanding the secrets behind the party's strength and its doctrine that is wrapped in a religious discourse, which is open to others at times and features rituals that are extremely opposed to anyone who is different at others. The iron party, which can mobilize hundreds of thousands of armed men with two words from its secretary general – as the latter personally announced – has managed to isolate itself from many Lebanese factors and revealed an undeniable superiority in managing its interests, in comparison with a futile political class that has limited prospects and lacks imagination on one hand, and is deprived of any influential foreign cover on the other. But what the party is refusing to see lies behind the border and beyond the Lebanese equations and policies. And the storm which the party's supporters say it can overcome and beat, just like it beat all the previous ones, is forming on multiple fronts. Consequently, what is happening in Lebanon becomes unimportant compared to what is going on in the Arab region, knowing that Hezbollah has made up its mind and placed its bets on the side it believes will win at the end of the ongoing bloody game. And it might be right in the short run. However, the party and those applauding it failed to pay attention to issues which might not be of interest to them, namely the loss of the general Arab respect toward its current role – if not its past – and its acceptance to stand alongside the Iraqi sectarian militias in the war against the Syrian people, under the pretext of "defending Syria," although the party's command knows that this is not true. When looking closely into the two-storey building, it is clear that it is positioned at the intersection of two hurricanes racing towards Lebanon, i.e. either a Sunni-Shiite war which will not spare anyone, or an Israeli attack that will destroy the building over everyone's heads. But the iron party that does not err seems reassured towards both possibilities.
