Hezballah backs down

NY Times:

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, said Wednesday that Lebanon’s opposition movement had decided to stop short of toppling the government of Fouad Siniora, fearing civil strife. He warned, though, that Hezbollah and its allies would continue to ratchet up the pressure on Mr. Siniora in coming weeks and vowed not to back down on their demands.

“The opposition has the political, popular and organizational strength to bring down the unconstitutional government today or tomorrow,” Sheik Nasrallah told worshipers commemorating the Shiite holiday of Ashura in Beirut’s southern suburbs. “What has so far prevented the fall of the government that is clinging to power is not international support but the patriotic feelings of the opposition and its desire to preserve civil peace.”

The speech followed a crippling and violent strike on Tuesday that brought life to a virtual standstill in Lebanon.

Sheik Nasrallah blamed what he called the “government of militias” for Tuesday’s violence, insisting that the opposition had respected the rule of law in its protest.

“The war in July showed how many weapons we have,” he said. “But we did not resort to those weapons yesterday. Those who insist they have none, however, did use weapons.”

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Nasrallah is bigger on spin than on results. He lost a war with Israel that he started and thinks that makes him deserving of a greater share of government in Lebanon. His folly cost Lebanon dearly in the destruction that it wrought. I suspect that if he does not get more power in the government he fears that he will lose even more. He has already been unable to perform on his promise to rebuild the Shia areas in the south that bore the brunt of Israeli attacks because Hezballah hid weapons among civilian homes. Eventually this failure is going to weaken him further. Time does not appear to be on his side and his Iranian buddies are also running out of time and money.