Hezbollah could face armed resistance from within Lebanon as Christian groups are “threatening to take arms” against them, a former Israeli intelligence official tells the Daily Express.
The group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah raged at Israel as it blamed the country’s forces for the explosion of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah personnel on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Nasrallah said the attack “could be called a declaration of war” as he accused Israel of “violating red lines.”
Israel and Hezbollah have been teetering on the edge of war since Hamas’ October 7 attack, which saw 1,200 Israelis killed and hundreds more being kidnapped.
But Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official, says Hezbollah’s aggression against Israel in recent months has angered some within Lebanon, and could lead to armed resistance.
He said: “A war with Israel means the end of Lebanon, and what we could see is a violent disintegration of Lebanon.
“The Christian-affiliated forces are already threatening to take weapons into their hands because they are fed up with Hezbollah’s rule.
“So this is a scenario that Hezbollah and Iran would not like to see. There are many calculations involved in terms of all-out war with Israel. One thing I can say about Iran and Hezbollah is that they are very sophisticated and take their time, they calculate their moves. They rarely act spontaneously, and I think we will see the same here.”
Christian-affiliated groups have posed the most significant opposition to Hezbollah inside Lebanon.
In May, the leader of a main Christian political party in Lebanon hit out at Hezbollah for escalating the conflict with Israel.
Samir Geagea of the Lebanese Forces Party added: “No one has the right to control the fate of a country and people on its own. Hezbollah is not the government in Lebanon. There is a government in Lebanon in which Hezbollah is represented.”
In January, a far-right Christian group called Soldiers of God hacked the announcement screens at Beirut’s international airport to make them display anti-Hezbollah material.
One message read: “Hassan Nasrallah, you will no longer have supporters if you curse Lebanon with a war for which you will bear responsibility and consequences.”
The militia has ramped up their opposition against Hezbollah, sparking fears that a civil war like the one seen from 1975-1990 could be seen again in Lebanon.
But Mr Melamed added that Hezbollah is trying to use the conflict with Israel to rally the Lebanese people behind its cause.
He added: “On the one hand there is a lot of resentment and animosity towards Hezbollah from the Lebanese across the world.
“The Lebanese are crying, saying to the world ‘help us, we are occupied by Iranian Hezbollah.’ But Hezbollah is trying to create a fusion between Hezbollah and the Lebanese people to make them compliant and fine with the fact that the group is in power.
“It will be interesting to see if they can try and turn this recent attack into a cause for national unity.”
