In an April 25, 2015 article, oppositionist Syrian journalist Hassan Al-Kalesh accused Hizbullah of maintaining a double standard, in that, while it invented the concept of resistance against Israel and depicts it as an occupying force that must be opposed, it is currently itself, together with Iran, occupying Syria. In this way, he emphasized, Hizbullah has established itself as a direct enemy of the Syrian people, and therefore Syrians should resist it, under the same principles of resistance to Israel that Hizbullah itself set.
The following are excerpts from the article:[1]
Hassan Al-Kalesh (image: twitter.com/hassanalkalesh)
"Some maintain that Hizbullah's discourse has become disconnected from reality, and [based on] a double standard, while others may believe that this discourse conforms to reality, and even represents it. It is almost certain that Hizbullah's presenting Israel as a model of aggression and as an oppressive war machine while refraining from getting into the essence and details of occupation is deliberate. This would appear to explain why Hizbullah does not address the true meaning of the genuine and unadulterated Iranian occupation of many areas in Syria today. Just as Israel [denies that it occupies Palestine, Hizbullah] denies the occupation [of Syria] and of defining [the situation there] in this way.
SUPPORT OUR WORK
"Syria's occupation [by Iran], and the control of its capital, with all of the weight and symbolism of that, is first and foremost a victory for Iran's [Islamic] Revolution, and a step towards its imperialist illusion. [This move] began even before the 2011 Syrian revolution, in Damascus's Old City, where the manipulation of [the Old City's] social fabric and its architecture were a small-scale reflection of the operations preparing for the occupation [of Syria that was to follow]. This was in addition to the Shi'ite missionary activity, which burgeoned at the start of this century. However, what Hizbullah is disregarding in this state of affairs - or what it is failing to properly grasp - is the reversal of the roles between it and Israel, or, more precisely, the extent to which it is being identified with the image of Israel. This image [of Israel], which [Hizbullah] took part in cultivating and spreading, is of an occupying, corrupt force that must be resisted.
"When Hizbullah changed from a partner in the Assad regime's killing of Syrians to an occupation force that daily tramples the Syrians' national symbols and sacred moral and religious tenets, it set itself up as their direct enemy. [As such,] its own instructions and values regarding resistance and the duty of liberation [from occupation] must also apply to it, on both the national and religious level. It would be no surprise if the same values and principles [of the resistance against Israel] were to be used to motivate the Syrians and to spur them to resist Hizbullah and Iran as an occupying force...
"Ultimately, what Hizbullah is failing to understand is that the Syrians do not need a charismatic leader or a media machine [such as Hizbullah's] to rouse them when enthusiasm for the resistance or for the revolution fades. The Syrian revolution will triumph, even if it tarries, and its triumph will be a triumph of the [Syrian] people."
[1] Al-Hayat (London), April 25, 2015.
