Ali Al-Amin: Shiite feelings about the danger of Hezbollah’s policies are increasing

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At a time when official Lebanon confirms the implementation of the decision to limit arms and extend state authority over all Lebanese territory, in exchange for Hezbollah’s intransigence in handing over its weapons to the state, linking this to agreeing on a national security strategy after Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories, an opinion poll conducted by the “Statistics Lebanon” Foundation showed that 66.4% of participants from the Shiite community in Lebanon support handing over Hezbollah’s weapons to the state, compared to 29.6% who prefer the party to keep its weapons according to the situation. Al-Qaim, in results that opened the discussion about the positions within the Shiite environment regarding the future of weapons and the role of the military party.

While the well-known Lebanese scholar, Mr. Ali Al-Amin, said, “This poll shows that the Shiite community has increased its sense of the danger of the policy adopted by Hezbollah and its allies after the support war, and new voices have begun to appear calling for reform and changing this policy, which has harmed the Lebanese in general and the sect in particular, especially its homeland, Lebanon, and its Arab surroundings.”

The moderate Shiite religious authority also considered, in statements to Al-Arabiya.net/Al-Hadath.net, that “the translation of this poll on the ground of political reality depends on the politicians...they are the ones who are asked to establish a relationship with those who demand the state project and its sole reference in issues of peace and war, and all the issues that states undertake for their people and their countries.”

He explained, "The other Shiite opinion rejecting the policy of Hezbollah and its allies has been present since the eighties of the last century, and it was and still is calling for the establishment of the Lebanese state and the rise of the Lebanese army to the south, and the rejection of Iranian and other external interference. However, the Lebanese state did not embrace the other opinion defending it and demanding it."

Al-Amin pointed out, "Hezbollah's connection to the Iranian vision from its founding until today is what prevents it from responding to the increasing popular demands to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state, and its leadership declares the connection and its return to the Guardian Jurist in matters of religion and worldly affairs."

In addition, Al-Amin, who is known for his opposition to Hezbollah’s policy, considered that “the party has entered Lebanon into a war of support without the permission of the state and the people, and therefore the size of its influential presence inside and outside its environment is constantly declining, but what is required of the state is to work to fill the void with its presence.”

He stressed that he was and still is an advocate of the authority of the state of institutions and law, the lack of parties’ connection to external projects, and the rejection of the exclusive agency of the Shiite community within the state and its institutions with those who dragged Lebanon into internal conflicts and unequal wars.

He also considered that what is required of the state, which must work to extend its authority and sovereignty over its territory, is to play a role that allows the plurality of opinions, their endorsement and protection.

These statements came as criticism in the Lebanese street of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah increased, amid accusations by many Lebanese of implicating the country in two brutal wars in which there was no question or sentence. In 2023, Hezbollah opened the Lebanon front, in support of Hamas in Gaza, and last March it also got involved in the war by launching missiles towards Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Iranian guide Ali Khamenei, amid the conflict that broke out between America and Israel on the one hand and Iran on the other. The Israeli forces responded with violent attacks and raids on various Lebanese territories, from the south, through the Bekaa, all the way to Beirut.

While hundreds of thousands were displaced from their homes in the south, most of them are still in temporary homes or shelters, while many of them lost their livelihoods and jobs, which exacerbated the resentment of many of them against the party’s policies.