Fall with Your Heads
Held High…
If You Can.
Sheikh Qabalan attacked the Lebanese authorities and accused them of treating his community “like slaves.” But the question he and his followers are avoiding is: Who brought the Shiite community to this point? The answer is not the Lebanese state. The answer lies with their own leaders — and their patrons in Tehran.
“Treating us like slaves will not go unpunished, and we will be held accountable…” — This is how Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan launched his fiercest attack on the Lebanese authorities. But the question Qabalan and his followers are avoiding is: Who brought the Shia community to this point? Who turned the South into a battlefield, the southern suburbs into rubble, and the Bekaa into an open front?
The answer is not the Lebanese state, nor the Lebanese people, who have also paid the price for decisions in which they had no say. The answer lies with their own leaders and their patrons in Tehran, who have led them from defeat to collapse. Your Eminence — admitting one’s mistakes is a virtue. Show us a little humility and learn from this.
Last week alone revealed the extent of the defeat and collapse more than two years of war ever did. Hezbollah’s members of parliament and religious figures rushed to portray the collapse in the “Ali Taher” battle as a mere passing incident.
- The platform was destroyed by nearly one hundred tons of explosives — a force that shook the earth. This was not a military battle. It was a declaration.
- Audio recordings broadcast by Al-Hadath TV featured Hezbollah fighters besieged there, pleading for rescue after being abandoned by their leaders — while a deal was struck that allowed Iranian Revolutionary Guard officers to escape while sacrificing the party’s own members.
- Those who transformed the party into an “ideological army” left their fighters to be slaughtered to secure the exit of officers who don’t even hold Lebanese citizenship.
- After days of silence, Hezbollah did not announce its own losses at Ali Taher. The Iranian Fars News Agency took on this task — denying IRGC members were trapped inside, but acknowledging 48 Hezbollah fighters, 8 killed, fate of the rest unclarified.
- A party no longer capable of counting its own dead has left Tehran to speak for it. It has no narrative. Not even the right to mourn its dead in its own voice.
“A party no longer even capable of counting its dead has left Tehran to speak for it — it has no narrative, not even the right to mourn its dead in its own voice.” — Elissa El Hachem · MTV Lebanon · Faith & Freedom News
Even more absurdly, some Hezbollah MPs accused the government of “planning” a war to begin after October 7th — yet it was Hezbollah itself that opened its front against Israel on October 8, 2023, dragging the entire country into a war it did not choose. This is a delusional evasion of responsibility.
Nabih Berri is not a mere spectator. He is a fully complicit partner in what can only be described as the “catastrophe” of the Shiite community in Lebanon. His hands are stained with the blood of every casualty of this senseless war. He is the political cover that legitimized a project that was never Lebanon’s project, but rather Tehran’s project on Lebanese soil.
“Reports circulating suggest a move by Berri, Bassil, Hezbollah, and Jumblatt to topple Nawaf Salam’s government and install Najib Mikati in its place. This is not a mere cosmetic change — it is a return of the issue to the same axis that spent two years defeated on the ground, refused to disarm, and dragged the country into a war it did not choose.”
The choice is not between a flawed government and a better one. It is between a government still capable of leading the country toward salvation and one that will be entirely under Hezbollah’s control.
In a striking development, Berri has begun trying to contain the growing leaks about his role and has publicly distanced himself from this axis — after a visitor to Parliament quoted him as saying that “the government is protected from above,” meaning from abroad. This statement is inherently contradictory: someone seeking to topple a government simultaneously claims it is protected by a decision he himself cannot override.
- Nabatieh is currently under a deadline. Its security is not guaranteed unless the Lebanese army implements the decision to restrict weapons and demonstrates genuine effectiveness.
- Otherwise, its fate — and subsequently that of the Bekaa Valley, Zahrani, and the southern suburbs of Beirut — will be no different from that of Ali Taher, Khiam, and Bint Jbeil: defeat after defeat, collapse after collapse.
- The Iranian project has failed — in Lebanon and throughout the region. And they have failed with it.
Spare your people and all of Lebanon further destruction and bloodshed, and admit your defeat.
The fall began with the “Pager” operation, was confirmed with the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, and was completed with the fall of Ali Taher. The paper giant has fallen. Announce its demise.
Admitting defeat is not shameful. Rather, it requires courage, wisdom, and boldness — qualities you do not yet possess. Fall with honor, and salvage what you can of what you call your “legacy.”
Attacking the government, the state, and the president will not make you victorious. Have some dignity before your constituents. Your only salvation lies in recognizing Lebanon as your homeland — not an alternative one.
Lebanon is now moving towards peace with Israel and the Abraham Accords. Be wise and claim your share of this victory, even if you don’t deserve it.
Be grateful that this regime is unaccountable — otherwise, you would have much to answer for. Not the other way around, Your Eminence Sheikh Qabalan.
Former Regional Media Advisor, U.S. State Department Arabic Regional Media Hub
About The Author
Discover more from Faith & Freedom News - FFN
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
