By: Shahriar Kia (Political analyst)
The waning power of Iran and Hezbollah
The recent resignation of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri dealt a serious blow to the Lebanese Hezbollah and its Iranian masters.
Hariri, who declared the decision in Riyadh last Saturday, cited Iranian influence across the region and threats to his life if he remained at the helm of the government. His resignation came on the heels on a thwarted assassination attempt against him in Beirut. Hariri’s father, Rafiq, was assassinated by the Hezbollah in 2005.
This will put an end to a year-long campaign that had seen the Iranian regime further its evil ends through Hezbollah and its political clout.
Quite unsurprisingly, the Iranian regime reacted by calling Hariri’s resignation a Saudi-backed plot and accused Riyadh of having taken the Lebanese Premier as hostage, which is ironic coming from a state that has taken the entire Lebanese politics hostage for the past year.
11 months ago, after two years of impasse, a government was assembled in Lebanon which granted premiership to Hariri but effectively gave political and military sway to Hezbollah.
This had given Iran a seemingly legitimate political façade to increase its violent meddling in the country and to boost its intervention in neighboring Syria, where it has been propping up the Assad regime against democratic opposition forces.
Without Hariri, the entire Iran-backed government loses its legitimacy and its real nature becomes clear to everyone.
But what makes this especially significant is that it takes place against the backdrop of other setbacks Tehran is facing on the international front, it will put a serious strain on the regime’s plots in the region.
The U.S. Congress recently ratified three measures against Hezbollah by voice vote and without opposition. The US Congress passed resolutions slap sanctions against the group for its use of defenseless civilians as human shields and target Hezbollah’s international financial sources.
A third resolution calls on the European Union to designate Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist entity. The U.S. placed the Hezbollah in its list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1997.
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