The final card of the Syrian regime in Lebanon

Lebanese know the seriousness of  the Syrian crisis on their small homeland.  It was natural for the Lebanese to unite in solidarity, regardless of their sectarian or regional affiliations, in support of the Shiite citizens who were abducted in Syria on their return home through Syria and Turkey after visiting Iran. What is more, it is beneficial, at least for now, that Hezbollah calls for calm and restraint in response to the kidnapping  near Aleppo in Syria. What is important now that the abductees have returned to Beirut in an aircraft provided by Saad Hariri, is that all Lebanese, including Hezbollah, whose loyalty is to the "religious leader” in the first place and then to the Iranian-Syrian axis, as it considers itself an extension of thiis axis, should understand that the Syrian regime is seeking to transfer its crisis to Lebanon even at the expense of the Shiites. Certainly Hezbollah was not and will not be able to make the shift that it should have done a long time ago, which is to prove that it is not an Iranian stoodge. Hezbollah was supposed to show that its task following the assassination of Rafiq Hariri and his companions, and the subsequent withdrawal of the Syrian army, is not just limited to filling the security vacuum created as a result of this withdrawal for the benefit of Iran. This would have helped, to some extent, answer the charges directed at some of its prominent leaders, regarding the assassination of Rafiq Hariri and other crimes which followed this crisis. In any case, the Lebanese have once again shown that they know only too well what is being plotted against them. They know particularly that the Syrian regime does not change and that all its efforts now are focussed on waging their internal wars in Lebanon thinking that this would help. The Syrian regime does not realise that these kinds of games have become outdated and have nothing to do with what is going on in Lebanon, as it will be on Syrian land, not Lebanese, that will seal the  fate of the Syrian regime which will be decided in the near future. The destiny is known, it is just a matter of time. If there was a sectarian and factional crisis, this crisis is in Syria before it is Lebanon. Therefore, the Syrian regime will not gain any mileage from stirring a sectarian crisis in Lebanon through deepening the Sunni-Shiite rift which Hezbollah has manufactured since the day it decided to direct its weapons to the war chests of the other Lebanese. Will Hezbollah continue playing the Syrian game forever, or will the abduction of the Lebanese in Syria prompt it to reconsider its entire strategy, and to reject being  used in an operation that only serves to  stir the sectarian instinct which will come back to haunt it one day? This is the big question hanging in the air in  the wake of the abduction of the Lebanese in Syria. Obviously, the Syrian regime has used most of its cards in dealing with the people’s revolution which has now permeated the entire country. Until a short time ago, the regime was claiming that Aleppo had not  joined the revolution. It is clear today that Aleppo is now its heart, likewise Damascus, and the regime has no options except to leave, no matter how large the Iranian or Russian support is, and regardless of whatever was released by Tehran and Moscow with claims that have nothing to do with what is actually happening on the ground. The Syrian regime has failed in its attempts to cover over the crimes it committed in Lebanon. It has failed particularly in convincing the Lebanese that the current government led by Najib Mikati is nothing but Hezbollah’s government, which has no other aim except to humiliate Sunnis and Christians. The Lebanese, especially the people from Akkar and Tripoli, have proven that they are more aware than many may think despite the oppression they have been exposed to. In the end, no one can ignore that Hezbollah  members are also members of the Lebanese community and that the respectable Shiite sect is a large and deeply-rooted sect in Lebanon, and that this sect includes exceptional figures such as Hussein al-Husseini for example. The fact that there are real independent figures inside the sect is something to be optimistic about and that Hezbollah may hesitate in going through to the endgame of the Syrian plot. In plain words, there is hope, even  if just a small one, that Hezbollah will refrain from helping the Syrian regime in stirring up its Sunni-Shiite conflict in Lebanon. Such a conflict which the regime is counting on as its final card, will not benefit this regime in the least… The Syiran regime cannot succeed in Lebanon or anywhere. Its problem lies fair and square within Syria itself. In addition, there is a wide alliance that includes most of the Arab states, as well as Turkey, who want it out.  What is certain is that defeating Lebanon by inflaming problems inside it, including the Sunni-Shiite conflict, would not lead to defeating the Syrian people or defeating the regional alliance that rejects the regime which has done nothing since its establishment, except for exporting terrorism and other problems to neighbouring countries, while the Golan Heights  is the calmest it has ever been since 1974!