Hezbollah In Libya?

U.S. intelligence on the Libyan rebel force marching toward Libya's capital of Tripoli to oust dictator Col. Gadhafi reports that some rebel elements include the Lebanese party-cum-militia Hezbollah (designated a terrorist organization by the American State Department) and even al-Qai'dah.

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It is not clear to what extent these two groups are involved in the rebel force. And the intelligence report describes their presence as merely "flickers". It is unlikely that either Hezbollah and even less al-Qai'dah has the capability to offer many fighters to the Libyan rebel force. al-Qai'dah is a movement with dozens, or at most hundreds, of active followers and Hezbollah can ill afford to send forces aboard as it is constantly on alert for an Israeli attack.

Certain things are clear. The rebel force is an indigneous largely secular group of defected military units and volunteers who are seeking to overthrow a brutal dictator and establish a democracy with the principle of separation between religion and state. Most Libyans want nothing to do with the religious fundamentalism of both groups, and the atrocious terrorism and suicide-cult that is al-Qai'dah.

The rebel force only became so after Gadhafi made a peaceful revolution, a la Tunisia and Egypt, impossible when he used fighter jets, amongst other novelties, against his own people. The rebels now have the support of the United Nations Security Council and the active support of NATO as the rebels make gains under the protection of Western jets, and may soon be armed by the West as well.

The rebels are worthy of our support in building a new free Libya. The elements from al-Qai'dah are likely nothing more than ex-al-Qai'dah fighters in Afghanistan or Iraq of Libyan nationality who returned home awhile back and suddenly found a revolution at their door and decided to join it. This is what The Economist previously reported. So it is not an organized al-Qai'dah presence or that the fanatical terrorist group has hijacked the cause or coordinating anything (it does not even possess the capability for such action), but merely the droll presence of a few fighters who past associations with the fanatical group. So nothing to discredit the rebels or cause alarm over the eventual turn of the revolution.

And as for Hezbollah. In this case the group may actually be playing an organized and official role managed by its leaders. Why? Because Hezbollah, and most Shiites, detest Gadhafi above and beyond for being a brutal dictator but also because he killed a revered senior Shiite cleric years back when the cleric visited Libya and never returned. So pious Shiites have had it out for Gadhafi since then and the Hezbollah al-Manar TV has been giddily reporting on Gadhafi's slow demise. So Hezbollah may indeed by offering some sort of logistics for, say, battlefield operations or even some weapons or even a few commanders to lead the poorly equipped and untrained volunteers. There may be a marginal Hezbollah role in offer support and coordination to the fighters in a delayed vendetta against Gadhafi, who, by the way, did not visit Lebanon at attend the Arab League conference years back for fear of a Hezbollah attack against his life. So Hezbollah could be playing a role, but it is trivial, not a leading role, does not shape the direction and spirit of the rebel force, and inconsequential for the eventually establish of a post-Gadhafi Libya. And Hezbollah does not harbor any assumptions otherwise since it is a Shiite fundamentalist organization and knows it can not influence in ideology an exclusively Sunni nation, nor does it have the capability to do so. Hezbollah simply wants to attack Gadhafi for the sake in having a role in his demise for questions of revenge and honor. But it is an organization whose ideology discredits it in playing any post-revolutionary role and cannot afford any long-term distractions from the Lebanese theater. So this association is also inconsequential and should not discredit the rebels.

The rebel force represent the best of the ideals of freedom and dignity, and are worthy of Western support.