Habitat for Hezbollah

In the days since the cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, Hezbollah has apparently transitioned seamlessly into an aid organization, doling out cash, medical supplies, and promises of a new Lebanon rebuilt on its (or Iran’s) dime. In a new Foreign Policy.com exclusive, Melani Cammett, a professor at Brown who just returned from Lebanon, argues that one of Hezbollah’s primary efforts at gaining popular support has always been providing social services: schooling, healthcare, loans, rebuilding homes. And their efforts for the last 20 yeasrs haven’t been limited to Shia Lebanese. Now, she argues, “playing a visible role in the relief and reconstruction efforts gives Hezbollah an opportunity to regain whatever credibility it lost” by providing a pretext for Israel’s attack. Check it out.