Welcoming the peace but fearing continued war because of the Hezbollah in Lebanon

Everyone will be relieved to have news that a ceasefire has been agreed for Monday, when Lebanese and UN forces should start moving into Hezbollah-dominated areas of southern Lebanon.

However, the attitude of the Hezbollah leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, is worrying.

According to the story on Reuters, he has said that "Hizbollah would abide by the U.N. resolution and cooperate with the U.N. and Lebanese troops, but would carry on confronting any Israeli soldiers on Lebanese soil....As long as there is Israeli military movement, Israeli field aggression and Israeli soldiers occupying our land ... it is our natural right to confront them, fight them and defend our land, our homes, and ourselves," Nasrallah said.

In other words, Nasrallah still does not recognise that confronting any foreign forces is not the job of the Hezbollah but of the Lebanese army.

And he also wants the Israelis to move out *before* will order a stop to the violence from his side: "his fighters would abide by it once Israeli forces also adhered to it".

Sadly, this game of who should stop first and who should move out first is unlikely to produce peace.

I continue to fear that violence will continue, though as I said in my last post on the subject, I very much hope that I am wrong. Sphere: Related Content