Hezbollah Drags Lebanon Into Iran’s Conflict
3/2/2026 7:50:09 AM
Hezbollah refrained from responding to Israeli attacks for a year and a half. Children were killed, villages were reduced to rubble, and its own fighters fell, yet it chose not to act. It decided to respond only when Tehran was struck, rushing to its defense just as it had previously rushed to defend Gaza.
Hezbollah now stands in open confrontation with a broad segment of the Lebanese people. It bears responsibility for those killed last night in the Israeli retaliation that followed its rocket fire. It misled the public and deceived its own base by assuring them it would not intervene, just as it had reassured Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. It misled Berri, misled the President and the government, and has entangled Lebanon in a war that is not its own.
As of the night of March 2, the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces must confront Hezbollah as an armed group operating outside the authority of the state. Failing that, the authorities should step down immediately, for a government unable to protect its people forfeits its legitimacy.
Hezbollah now stands in open confrontation with a broad segment of the Lebanese people. It bears responsibility for those killed last night in the Israeli retaliation that followed its rocket fire. It misled the public and deceived its own base by assuring them it would not intervene, just as it had reassured Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. It misled Berri, misled the President and the government, and has entangled Lebanon in a war that is not its own.
As of the night of March 2, the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces must confront Hezbollah as an armed group operating outside the authority of the state. Failing that, the authorities should step down immediately, for a government unable to protect its people forfeits its legitimacy.