❊ Sayyed Nasrallah Wants You To Use The Words “Shiaa” and “Hezbollah” Interchangeably

Yesterday, one of the ideas Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was trying to push in his speech was that March 14 is actively promoting hate against the Shiaa sect in Lebanon. As evidence, he used the Antelias explosion:

After it was determined that the two men were Shiite, Nasrallah added, some March 14 figures said openly that Hezbollah had sent them to plant the explosive charge, “to say that the Shiites were targeting the security and economy of the Christians.”

He also said that the Lassa land dispute (in which Hezbollah was accused of buying land from Christians en mass) was another proof of knee-jerk anti-Shiism from March 14.

Don’t believe any of that. March 14 leaders have always been careful to separate between “Shiaa” and “Hezbollah” in their discourse. They even make an effort to explain the difference. Here’s how Serge Dagher, head of media at the Kataeb, explained the Lassa incident back then:

“If somebody, a Shia individual, buys an apartment or a piece of land, it’s not a problem. Hezbollah is different, it’s obviously strategic. Hezbollah usually buys land in high positions, overseeing roads or strategic objectives, or closing access to some objectives,”

This is not your typical Lebanese coded language where you say one thing (Hezbollah), to mean another thing (Shiaa). This is argumentation based on reason: If militarily strategic assets are being bought en mass, it is likely that the buyer is an organized, armed militia (regardless of their religion).

The same is true for the Antelias bombing. March 14 officials didn’t blame Hezbollah because the assailants were Shiaas from the south (although the probability of such people supporting Hezbollah is high), they blamed Hezbollah because the brother of one of the bombers said that he supported Hezbollah. Oh and plus the minor detail that Hezbollah arranged an official funeral for the two deceased.

Are there supporters of March 14 who see the “Shiaas” as their opponents? Of course, notably some poor Sunnis in the north. But it is not true, as Sayyed Nassrallah implies, that this is somehow an official March 14 strategy. March 14 has always been careful to make this about Hezbollah, not about the Shiaas.

So why is Sayyed Hassan doing this? Here’s ex PM Saad Hariri in a statement today, responding to him:

[It is] as if you are seeking to redirect the accusations made against four party members in the assassination of martyr Rafik Hariri and his comrades toward the entire Shiite sect

In other words, Sayyed Hassan is doing what Lebanese leaders do best when they are in trouble: Hide behind their sect (as an aside, and to be fair, the Future Movement has also often been guilty of that).

Hezbollah has managed to co-opt the word “resistance”. Don’t let them repeat the same trick and also monopolize the word “Shiaa”.