Death knell for Hezbollah?

You’d think the last thing citizens of a country that suffered decades of civil war would want is an all-out attack by one of the most advanced militaries in the world. But some Lebanese and other Arabs around the region (including the Saudis), while obviously not in favor of the Israeli assault, are seeing this crisis as a death knell for Hezbollah and quietly cheering it on. The WaPo ran an analysis piece on the subject today, and ynetnews.com – the English version of the most widely read Hebrew daily in Israel – also has some analysis. A year after the Lebanese successfully booted most of the Syrian influence out of the government, some are realizing that allowing minority parties, like Hezbollah, to make decisions that affect the entire nation does not make for a functioning state.

To declare war and to make military action must be a decision made by the state and not by a party,” said Nabil de Freige, a [Lebanese] parliament member. “It’s a very simple equation: You have to be a state.”