In May 2008, Hezbollah took up arms to impose a new power-sharing agreement on the Lebanese government. Believing that outside parties were trying to restrain its power, pro-Hezbollah militias took over the capital Beirut. For the first time, the Shiite movement used its weapons not against Israel but against fellow Lebanese. This deadly campaign enabled Hezbollah to gain veto power in a new deal, therefore allowing Syria and Iran to also have asay in Lebanese internal politics, explained Carnegie's Paul Salem to America Abroad Media.

 

“It is in Iran and Syria’s interest to keep supporting Hezbollah as a very effective armed force, using it as a deterrent against any possible Israeli or U.S. attack,” Salem said. In this proxy war, Iran and Syria both have an interest in undermining the work and findings of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, argued Salem. This international jurisdiction, set up after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005, is expected to indict senior Hezbollah members. Having already warned that anyone who would want to arrest a member of Hezbollah “would have his hand cut off”, the party managed to topple the government in last January in order to allow a new one to publicly reject the tribunal.

 

“Usually all that Hezbollah needs is to be left alone but this time it felt it needed to gain more influence to actually blunt the tribunal,” Salem concluded.