It may be too soon to determine what has trigged the current violence in Beirut. Some analysts have suggested Hezbollah took advantage of a labour strike on Wednesday by using it as a political opportunity and the strike quickly escalated into a flashpoint over Lebanon’s 17-month-old political crisis.
What is more clear is that the Lebanese Government is determined to end Hezbollah’s communications network. This has been interpreted by Hassan Nasrallah as “a declaration of open war.” The government believes Hezbollah is using the equipment to keep tabs on the movement of its opponents in the government.
But Nasrallah has defended Hezbollah’s use of the monitoring equipment, saying it is ‘the right of any militia during war’ and furthermore that ‘a wired network is the most important weapon in the battle’.
More to come.
