Lebanese Official: Hizbullah Has Taken Over Army’s Role at Border

Hizbullah dictates Lebanon’s foreign policy and will turn the country into an “axis of resistance,” Sami Gemayel, head of Lebanon’s Kataeb opposition party, said in an exclusive interview with Al-Arabiya, the Saudi-owned news site. Gemayel said that Lebanon today is “aligned with the Iran-Hizbullah-Bashar al-Assad axis”, adding that “Lebanon’s foreign and defensive strategic decision is in the hands of Hizbullah while other parties are concerned with electricity, waste, economic matters, contracting out.” The parliamentarian went on to say that the Iranian-proxy had taken up the role of defending the country’s borders, emphasizing that “there is no country in the world where there is a militia tasked by the state to perform this duty.” The heavily-armed Hizbullah and its political allies won 71 of the Lebanese parliament’s 128 seats in the May 2018 election and controls three of the country’s 30 ministries.  Analysts believe it is the wealthiest terror group in the world, with an estimated annual income of over $1 billion. The US blacklisted it in October 1997 and recently imposed sanctions. On February 25, the United Kingdom followed suit, labeling the Tehran-backed entity a terrorist organization and criminalizing support with a prison sentence of up to 10 years.