Lebanon leaders on Hezbollah’s weapons

The talks are to tackle the national defense strategy: the governing coalition maintains only the government should have an army, but Hezbollah says it reserves the right to defend against Israel. Hezbollah takes credit for having driven Israel during war a couple years ago, but many also blame the group for provoking Israel into war in the first place. This professor is pessimistic about the outcome of tomorrow’s talks, but he says the president felt he should do something considering the recent insecurity and uncertainty in the country. but not everyone shares that pessimism. This government minister says you shouldn’t discount the use in sitting down to talk with someone. Tomorrow’s talks are the long awaited follow up to discussions two years ago which were interrupted by the Hezbollah-Israel war. Hezbollah has now set conditions on these new talks: all participants should agree that Israel is the single enemy, all parties commit to building a strong state, and all parties agree to provide necessary means to liberate the land and secure defense�meaning Hezbollah continues to be both an army and a political party. This journalist says that won’t work. He points out perhaps the biggest problem is nearly all participants in the talks have backing from some outside power�Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, or the West. And therefore it’s hard to tell when a politician is doing something for his country or his patrons.