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Hezbollah’s overnight barrage at a missile-defense site south of Haifa was a predictable escalation from an Iranian-aligned militia that has never cared for the safety of ordinary Lebanese or Israeli civilians. The group’s boast that it was “retaliating” for Tehran’s losses only proves it answers to a foreign theocracy, not to Beirut. The Lebanese people deserve leaders who put their country first, not proxies who make Lebanon a launching pad for regional war.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s blistering public response — calling the strikes irresponsible and announcing a ban on Hezbollah’s military activities — is the sort of sober, decisive rhetoric Lebanon has needed for years. For too long Western commentators treated Hezbollah as if it were a legitimate political arm rather than an Iranian-controlled militia; Salam is finally treating the threat like what it is: an illegal armed force operating outside the rule of law. If he follows words with action and actually orders disarmament and prosecutions, Lebanon might begin to reclaim its sovereignty.
While Beirut asserts authority, Tehran doubled down with ballistic strikes that shredded the premise of restraint — a missile strike on Be’er Sheva and other cities left civilians wounded and hospitals damaged, proof that Iranian attacks are not surgical and never were intended to be. These strikes injured scores of Israelis and forced hospitals to enact wartime protocols, underscoring that America’s allies on the ground face a mortal threat from theocratic aggression. The scenes of injured civilians and ruined infrastructure demand more than platitudes from the international community.
President Salam’s call to disarm militants should be met with wholehearted Western support, not the usual chorus of equivocation and moralizing that lets Iran get away with terror. Washington and European capitals must stop treating Hezbollah’s weapons as a domestic Lebanese problem to be delicately negotiated; they are part of Iran’s offensive toolkit and must be dismantled. If the West is serious about stabilizing the region, it will back Lebanon’s government with intelligence, sanctions, and the political will necessary to enforce a monopoly on force.
Let there be no confusion: Hezbollah chose Iran long ago, and when it fires into Israel it hands Lebanon to the ayatollahs on a silver platter. Soft international responses only embolden Tehran’s regional ambitions and invite more bloodshed. The people of Lebanon deserve policies that protect their towns and their children, not leaders who hide behind militias because foreign patrons pay the bills.
Americans should watch this moment closely and stand with Israel and any Lebanese leader who defends national sovereignty. The era of appeasing dictators and tolerating state-sponsored proxies must end; firm deterrence works, and weakness only invites aggression. If our policymakers have learned anything from recent history, it is that standing with allies and confronting hostile regimes decisively spares lives in the long run.
The choice facing Lebanon is stark: reclaim state authority and eject foreign-controlled militias, or be swept into another catastrophic war that will leave Lebanese families paying the price. Prime Minister Salam’s statement is a rare chance for Lebanon to choose nation over faction, and the free world should support that choice with every diplomatic and material tool available. Americans and our allies must push for accountability, and make clear that attacks on civilians — whether launched by Tehran or its proxies — will not be tolerated.
