1-Mar-13: Analysis: About a third of the Hezbollah terrorist force is now inside Syria

Hasan Nasrallah, Bashar al-Assad, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dining together in Damascus in January 2010 [Image Source]. The BBC's report neglects to say what was cooked up by or for them. The tens of thousands of Arabs killed in their respective areas of operation since this snap was shot are testimony to the sharp focus of the dinner conversation.

Here's an extract from a striking piece of analysis by Zvi Bar'el writing yesterday (Thursday) in Haaretz. The article is entitled "What's troubling Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah?"

At the beginning of the rebellion in Syria, Nasrallah was as smug as President Bashar Assad. He announced that the Syrian Army would soon quash the uprising and that Syria needed no help from Hezbollah. But as the Syrian Army deteriorated, Iran decided it was time to mobilize Hezbollah for war. About one third of Hezbollah’s troops are now in Syria, according to some estimates. This reflects a strategic decision on Iran’s part not to let Syria fall into the hands of radical Sunnis, the Muslim Brotherhood, or organizations affiliated with Al-Qaida, even if Assad’s regime falls.
Iran’s goal is to maintain its status in Syria, and hence in Lebanon as well, even after the regime falls. To this end Iran has abandoned another strategic position − that Hezbollah was intended to protect Lebanon from Israel, but mainly to be a power base for Iran in in Lebanon...
The political front in Lebanon is not a cause for too much concern for Nasrallah, whose political allies have not abandoned him and whose rivals are presently unable to undermine his influence. However, he could get into trouble on the civilian front. The civilian abductions, loss of personal safety in Beirut and northern cities, the hundreds of thousands of refugees flooding the country, violent clashes between Sunnis and Shi’ites in the Sunni Tripoli region − all these enflame the civilian resistance to involvement in Syria.
It is hard to predict if and when a civilian rebellion will break out in Lebanon, but signs of it are bubbling under the surface, and Nasrallah may lose control if such an uprising does take place.

Related: Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper is running a major story today about the Hezbollah's Hasan Nasrallah coming under some fierce criticism from parliamentarians from Sidon in Lebanon who don't entirely adhere to Nasrallah's Islamist, terrorist line.

The MPs slammed Nasrallah's “veiled threats” - and some not so veiled - complaining that they reflect a Hezbollah plan to execute an armed attack against the city of Sidon. Sidon lies 48 kilometers south of Beirut, and has a population of more than 200,000 living in its metropolitan area:

“The remarks by Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, which included veiled threats to use force by saying, ‘don’t make any miscalculations with us,’ are unacceptable and condemned... The comments reflect arrogance, provocation along and preparations to carry out an armed attack against the city and its people under made up pretexts... No one has the right to make threats or exclude others under any pretext. No one has the right to take the law into his own hands and impose the law of jungle..." 

Law of the jungle sounds like a highly apt term for what Nasrallah and his armed-to-the-teeth men and jihadist aspirations have delivered to the region in the name of their Iranian lords and masters.