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In Baalbek, Hizbullah's Heartland

(London Review of Books) Stefan Tarnowski - For as long as I can remember, Baalbek has been hung with Hizbullah flags and pictures of party leaders, martyrs and militia commanders. Last month, when I went to visit the newly opened Hizbullah museum, many of those flags and posters had been taken down and replaced with Syrian Baath Party flags and portraits of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad. The Hizbullah museum is the latest addition to a portfolio of sites that produce an "Islamic milieu." The most famous and best funded is the Resistance Museum in Mleeta, which opened in 2010. Visitors trek up to the crest of a hill and into a complex of bunkers and tunnels, where they learn about the hardship and discipline required to be a member of Hizbullah. Since 2014, I've done fieldwork with Syrians who live in the Beqaa Valley, forcibly displaced by Assad's forces and their allies. When they describe their experiences at the hands of Hizbullah, it's as brutal as anything committed by an invading army waging a war of aggression: siege, bombardment, massacre, rape. The Lebanese parliament is preparing a law to deport Syrian refugees. But many Syrians, still forcibly displaced after more than a decade, are unable to return to their homes while Assad remains in office, propped up by foreign allies.
2023-10-05 00:00:00
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