Lebanon in conflict: Hezbollah’s “schizophrenia” in the fight against Israel

Lebanon in conflict
Hezbollah’s “schizophrenia” in the fight against Israel

By Andrea Sellmann and Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow
November 30, 2023, 9:00 a.m

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After Hamas’ devastating terrorist attack on Israel, there have been repeated confrontations on the Israeli-Lebanese border with the pro-Iranian Hezbollah militia, which operates from Lebanon. Observers speak of the worst escalation since the second Lebanon war in 2006. How explosive is the situation and what role does Lebanon play in the war between Israel and Hamas? Two Middle East experts discuss this in the new episode of the “Wirtschaft Welt & Weit” podcast.

Ralf Erbel, Lebanon expert at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, analyzes Hezbollah’s way of thinking in this podcast episode – and speaks of “schizophrenia”: On the one hand, the militia is trying to portray the image of a “fearless – in its self-perception – resistance movement against Israel”. On the other hand, she does not want to get involved in further escalation. Because that would risk the destruction of Lebanon. Middle East expert Andreas Böhm sums it up like this: “Israel would paralyze Lebanon’s vital infrastructure. And this threat should be taken seriously.”

So how great is the danger of a spiral of violence that will involve Lebanon even more deeply than before? Host Mary Abdelaziz-Ditzow discusses this with Ralf Erbel and Andreas Böhm in the new podcast episode.

Andreas Böhm is a Middle East expert at the University of St. Gallen and has been working on Lebanon for many years. And the half-Lebanese Ralf Erbel currently heads the MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa department at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Previously, he was responsible for the foundation’s work in Lebanon from the Jordanian capital Amman.