The Legend of Hezbollah ceased to be after it turned its weapon internally on Lebanon. In the wake of [Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan] Nasrallah's speech and after declaring war on Siniora's government; the party and its leader (the architect of the divine victory) have been exposed for what they truly are. Hezbollah is not concerned with a balanced Lebanon and does not care much for a Lebanon for all Lebanese. Lebanon is not for Sunnis or Shia; neither is it for Druze or Christians – Lebanon is for all the Lebanese people.
Lebanon is a state based on diversity, not the state of a supreme guide or an [Baath Party founder] Aflaq party. Hezbollah's hijacking of Beirut, which it has been actually occupying since the famous sit-in, has revealed that the talk about resistance was just a cover and a big lie to which the Arabs have been accustomed repeatedly as well as to believing it.
This lie about Hezbollah's resistance is one we have encountered often in our contemporary history, and we still continue to believe it and argue over it even though we know that it is nothing but a lie.
Lebanon's issue is not the airport or that of an officer who disobeys the state and obeys a party's orders but the principal issue is the lie and believing it, the lie that leads to the destruction of our nations.
A lie we saw in the summer war of 2006. Some believed at the time that Hassan Nasrallah had taught Israel a harsh lesson. But what was the price of this lesson? Of course, a broken Lebanon, a besieged government, ministers under house arrest in a hotel, a state begging for money, and more imperative than all this 1,000 Lebanese killed, sacrificed for Nasrallah.
We are used to lies and have become accustomed to living with lies in the Arab world; how else could Iran be capable of setting up a telecommunications network for Hezbollah that operates outside the state's framework and then have the party consider the communications company part of the resistance weapon, just like the airport and the airport manager - so what remains of Lebanon as a state?
What is happening in Lebanon today is clear evidence that Hezbollah must be disarmed and the state must impose its authority over all Lebanon and it should not be in the hands of Nasrallah, Iran, and Syria. Lebanon must be a state administered by a cabinet, not from secret hideouts.
Therefore when I say we have become accustomed to lies, this is not emotional talk or the targeting of the Shia as a community. Have we forgotten that Sunni Hamas swept over and occupied Gaza and declared a coup? And what is the difference now when we have a party occupying Beirut, a group occupying Gaza, with Iran and Syria's support?
Hezbollah's legend has most certainly ended. But the price of discovering the lie of Hassan Nasrallah and his party is going to be costly for Lebanon and the Lebanese and the Arab world as a whole. We are facing a new chapter that is as bad as the previous one in which the Lebanese citizen will pay a very heavy price and therefore those toying with Lebanon must pay a price that ensures an end to the era of violating Lebanon.