WarSclerotic

Israel’s neighborhood turned even more dangerous this week with the takeover of Lebanon by Hezbollah.

While some people may say the word “takeover” is too strong, let us remind you that Lebanon is not a democratic country. Hezbollah threatened its way to the top. And it anointed the likely prime minister, Najib Mikati.

Hezbollah began making inroads with the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Despite Hezbollah’s claim it had nothing to do with the killing, a U.N. court is expected to rule otherwise any day now.

In preparation for that ruling, Hezbollah last week toppled the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri — the son of the slain leader. Mikati is expected to reject the finding or possibly lose his job.

As Jews we should be worried. Syria and Iran are patrons of Hezbollah. They help to fund the terrorist organization and supply the rockets that are fired at Israel across the border

Israel had feared that a nuclear-armed Iran could fire weapons that would hit the Jewish state within 10 to 12 minutes. But if Lebanon is armed with nuclear weapons, that attack could happen even more quickly.

Israel saw this coming when it attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. But it also found out that fighting militants is a lot different than fighting an army.

Hezbollah fighters are accomplished at disappearing into the background, behind schools, medical facilities and people’s homes. They have no uniforms. But they do have guns, and lots of them. Hezbollah has an arsenal that is said to be four times larger than it was in 2006.

The militant group is as much a threat to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. But there’s little other Arab heads of state can do. They are powerless against Syria and Iran and they are now powerless against Lebanon.

The United States is in no better a position. The former Lebanese government was considered to be pro-Western. But in all honesty, it wasn’t much of a friend to Western powers.

The new Lebanon is not a friend of the West. It poses the same threat as al Qaida does in Afghanistan and Pakistan. And it’s going to divide the people of Lebanon, making it look once again as sharply divided as Iraq.

Some political observers are worried that there could be battles in the streets of Lebanon over who has the right to run the country. But Lebanon has suffered such internecine warfare in the past, and the victor was usually the side with the most fire power.

With this week’s happenings, the Middle East becomes even more unstable. There is good reason to worry that it will only get worse.