Is Hezbollah in Trouble?
An article, Hezbollah’s Desperate Recruiting in the Bekaa, appearing earlier this month in an internet magazine, NOW, that bills itself as “the online source for news, features, analysis and much more, covering Lebanon, the Lebanese diaspora and the Middle East,” raises the question of whether Hezbollah has dug itself into a hole that it can’t get out of.
The terrorist organization has increasingly taken on the duties of a regular army in defending the failing Assad regime in Syria. The Syrian army, by many accounts, is collapsing. Reports indicate even its Alawite recruitment base is demoralized. This means the Hezbollah has to step in and provide the manpower.
As the article indicates, Hezbollah has no choice but to take on the expanded role demanded of them by the situation. Although, the terrorist group has demonstrated its effectiveness as a fighting force, it is not a national army and will have difficulty conscripting and training sufficient replacements should it begin to suffer the rate of losses experienced by regular armies attempting to hold onto a large territory that includes major cities.
The article claims that Hezbollah has even begun to expand its recruitment outreach to the Lebanese Christian community, who share their fear of the Sunni Jihadis. But even within the Shiite community in Lebanon, there is resistance to joining the fight. Hezbollah is the most forceful, but not the only, political organization within the Lebanese Shiite community.
The war in Syria appears to be heading toward a new phase. If Hezbollah cannot shore up the Assad regime, it may require the direct intervention of ground forces from Iran.
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