There will not be any security nor peace in Lebanon as long as Syrian-Iranian controlled armed groups continue to dominate large swaths of Lebanese territory and violate the authority of the Lebanese state. There is no doubt that the terrorists are using safe havens in the Hezbollah security zones and some Palestinian camps to launch their attacks and assassinations against the Lebanese.
They are able to organize, arm, train then launch operations with total impunity under the protection of Hassan Nasrallah. The Lebanese must finally realize that Hezbollah and the Syrian enemy are two faces of the same coin and they are both trying to annihilate us. Hezbollah has no honor and is capable of anything. It has perpetuated the Syrian occupation of our homeland. It has its own army, conducts its own independent foreign policy, manages independent finances, and has launched destructive wars causing thousands of deaths and billions in losses.
The Lebanese have been threatened with war if they move to disarm Hezbollah. Israel has failed to defeat it. The army cannot be relied upon to perform such a mission since about half of the force is Shiite and may sympathize strongly with Hezbollah. Also the suggestion to merge Hezbollah with the Lebanese army is impractical to say the least, if not ludicrous.
For even though it may be possible to fuse them logistically, how do you erase 30 years of Syrian-Iranian fundamentalist indoctrination? How do you make them loyal to Lebanon and ALL its people under the authority of the Lebanese state, and abandon their allegiance to their Syrian-Iranian creators and masters? Chances are that they will dominate the Lebanese army in the fashion the Iranian Revolutionary Guards dominate the Iranian regular army.
Hezbollah has been loud and clear in repetitive declarations that it will not disarm nor dismantle its state within the state. So short of defeating Hezbollah militarily, and without a direct NATO or UN military intervention, and considering the continuing idiotic stands against peace with Israel, the Lebanese have no other choice but Partition.
Two states, a Hezbollah-Syrian-Iranian state, and Free Lebanon. A fundamentalist terrorist state, and a free, democratic, pluralistic, multi-ethnic, and perhaps one day secular state. At least each side will achieve their national aspirations. The scenario of a federated state will not work since it lacks all minimal and essential requirements of such union ; common global identity, common foreign policy, common economic policy, and common defense. We disagree on identity and foreign policy, and we already maintain separate economic infrastructures and separate defense forces. Our land and spirits are already sharply divided, so why not just acknowledge and formalize such reality without hypocrisy, regrets, or guilt.
A partition will bring us security, political stability, social harmony, and rapid economic progress. Partition will allow us to create a powerful military which will truly and ably defend our state against all dangers, rather than staying neutral for fear of divisions. We will be able to move forward in a clear direction. We will quickly achieve prosperity and enhance the living standards of our people with the recognition and help of the whole world. It is high time for the Lebanese politicians to abandon their hypocrisy, their posturing, and state the obvious honestly and clearly.
We need to partition the country and better do it peacefully than through conflict, since we will end up with the same demarcation lines anyway. Perhaps in a generation or two, and after the fall of the Axis of Evil, we may be able to reunite, re-conquer Hezbollahstan, or buy it back, and perhaps not, but at least in the meantime we would have achieved our respective national aspirations without hindering each others.
A mother with her children on a sinking boat will attempt to save some of her children if she cannot save them all.
