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In Lebanon and Iraq: Iran’s sway is opposed

Oct 29,2019 - Last updated at Oct 29,2019

Anti-government protests have returned to Iraq less than a month after demonstrations broke out across the country, and again unarmed civilians were targeted. At least 60 Iraqis were killed last weekend following the publication of a report that exonerated the government from the murder of no less than, 160 people during the mass protests that broke out earlier this month. Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi promised a series of reforms back then, but little has changed and public mood remains tense amid accusations that Iranian-backed militias continue to target the protestors.

In Lebanon, anti-regime protests spread to Hizbollah-controlled cities and towns in the south in spite of stern warnings by Hassan Nassrallah, who rejected demands that the government be sacked and that early elections be held. Nassrallah went further to accuse the protestors of carrying out a foreign agenda and warned of a civil war in an attempt to intimidate a defiant public.

The contrasts between what is happening in Iraq and Lebanon are many and so are the similarities. Protestors in both countries are fed up with sectarian divisions, institutional corruption and poor public services. While Lebanon’s revolt has been largely peaceful and festive-like, Iraq’s has been bloody and violent. In both cases, the public is demanding the departure of a discredited political class. 

But one common denominator is the Iranian influence, if not hegemony, over domestic politics. In Lebanon, Hizbollah is not shy of its Iranian connections and overall dependence on Tehran’s financial and military backing. Over the past decade, Hizbollah has become the main power broker in Lebanon, and today it holds influence over the president, the cabinet and parliament. It has become a state within the state and a proxy of Iran, not only in Lebanon but in Syria, Iraq and Yemen as well.

By entering into alliances with President Michel Aoun and other parties and movements, Hizbollah has kept the sectarian-based political system alive. But in the process, it has allowed the state’s institutions to implode, resulting in mass corruption, cronyism, high unemployment, poverty and failing public services across Lebanon. Most of the ruling political class was busy looting the country, while citizens across sectarian and ethnic lines were left to suffer. Today, Lebanon’s disenfranchised youth have become the powerhouse for popular discontent. They are the ones who have challenged the dysfunctional system and taken to the streets.

Lebanon’s Shiite citizens have suffered under Hizbollah’s ironclad rule as well. Hundreds of the militia’s fighters have lost their lives in Syria defending a ruthless regime on behalf of Iran. While Hizbollah was beefing up its arsenal and spending millions in Syria, it neglected its Shiite followers, especially in Lebanon’s deprived south. Nassrallah’s miscalculation in July of 2006 resulted in a month-long war with Israel that killed more than 1,300 Lebanese, displaced over a million in southern Lebanon and severely damaged the country’s infrastructure.

It is no wonder that Hizbollah has been rattled by the ongoing mass protests that have spread to southern Lebanese towns. Giving in to public demands would disrupt the current political alliances and thus weaken the militia’s grip on the country. But Nassrallah’s options are limited. His goons have tried to intimidate protestors in Beirut, Tyre, Sidon and Nabatieh without success. 

The collapse of sectarianism would limit Hizbollah’s influence and by extension that of Iran. The fact that Iran is suffering under US sanctions has affected Hizbollah’s finances as well. Its ability to buy people’s loyalty has been curtailed.

In Iraq, Iran’s proxies present a major challenge to the sectarian based ethno-confessional system. Mass corruption, poverty, unemployment and lack of public services have driven people to the streets across the country, but especially in the Shiite-majority southern governorates. Anti-Iranian slogans echoed in Karbala, Najaf and Basra among others and the offices of pro-Iranian political parties were torched by protestors.

The Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), comprised of tens of armed Shiite militias, has targeted protestors in Baghdad and southern towns. As in Lebanon, Iran now faces a popular backlash against its deep and messy intervention in Iraq’s political system. Any attempt to reform that system would undercut Tehran’s sway in Iraq. Both in Lebanon and Iraq it is Iran and its proxies that oppose any change to the status quo.

The challenges facing Lebanon and Iraq are existential in nature. Abandoning a sectarian system that has benefitted the few and allowed a foreign power to manipulate it from within will not be easy. But people’s soft power will not be subdued by force. No one really knows how things will turn out in Lebanon and Iraq, but one thing is clear: The deep state in both countries is on the defensive and it will not give up the reins of power easily or without a fight. 

 

Osama Al Sharif is a journalist and political commentator based in Amman

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