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Posted on 05/09/2026 7:07:53 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie
As Hezbollah’s grip weakens and war fatigue deepens, a growing number of Lebanese are beginning to see peace with Israel not as betrayal but as necessity
For Hanin Ghaddar, returning to Lebanon would mean more than just going home. It would signal that something once unthinkable may finally be within reach: a country loosening itself from Iran’s grip and edging, however cautiously, toward peace with Israel.
A veteran Lebanese journalist from a Shi’ite family in a village in southern Lebanon, Ghaddar was targeted by Hezbollah and forced to leave her homeland in 2016. And despite growing up with her country being at war with Israel, she is optimistic about the prospect of peace.
“I believe a peace agreement will be signed. We are on our way there,” Ghaddar, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told The Jerusalem Report in a recent interview.
“It will not happen immediately,” she said. “It will take time and will be accompanied by difficulties, particularly over the issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament. But in the end, there is a good chance there will be peace between the two countries.”
Shift beneath the surface
Her optimism endures despite – or perhaps because of – her experience with Hezbollah. After leaving Lebanon for the United States, Ghaddar was sentenced in absentia by a Lebanese military court to six months in prison for “defaming the Lebanese army.”
The charge stemmed from remarks she made during a panel discussion in Washington, where she spoke out about the growing power of the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, describing how the Lebanese military clamped down on Sunni groups while showing preference to Shi’ite groups such as Hezbollah.
Hezbollah launched a media campaign against her, and the ruling drew widespread attention from human rights groups and journalists. It was later overturned after her appeal, aided by American pressure.
As Israel and Lebanon have recently begun holding historic diplomatic talks, Ghaddar noted that support for – or opposition to – peace with Israel cuts across sectarian lines in Lebanese society.
Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar is optimistic about the prospects for peace with Israel. Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar is optimistic about the prospects for peace with Israel. (credit: WASHINGTON INSTITUTE) “In every community – Shia, Sunni, Christian, or Druze – you’ll find people who want peace and others who reject it,” she said. “Belonging to a particular religious or ethnic group doesn’t define your view on peace with Israel. Even within the same community, opinions can be divided. It’s mixed.”
What matters more, she explained, is ideology.
“Typically, those who oppose peace with Israel fall into two main groups: Hezbollah affiliates, and what we call in Lebanon the ‘leftists’ – those who are usually anti-Israel and see it as an enemy. Among them are also pro-Palestinian voices.”
War fatigue
In recent years – and especially after the October 7 massacre, when Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into a new war with Israel – a shift has begun to emerge within Lebanon’s Shi’ite community, Ghaddar said.
Some Shi’ites no longer want their future tied to Hezbollah and the “resistance,” which for them has come to mean endless wars.
“People don’t want wars anymore,” she explained. “They’ve seen the toll it has taken on their lives – so many losses, so many families displaced – and they don’t want to keep paying the price for wars that have nothing to do with them.”
Another factor behind the shift, Ghaddar said, is a growing sense that the idea of “resistance” has failed.
“People have realized that the concept of resistance has completely failed. They now see that Hezbollah has been serving Iran and trying all that time to protect it rather than the state of Lebanon. That has caused damage and suffering both to individuals and to the country as a whole,” she added.
Still, even among those who support peace with Israel, Ghaddar emphasized, this does not necessarily mean full and immediate normalization. More often, it simply means an end to war – a tool for achieving stability and calm. Others view peace as a path to economic development and trade.
Despite this shift, many remain afraid to express their views publicly.
“People are talking about it – this issue comes up in private discussions – but it’s not something most are willing to say in public,” she said.
Other Lebanese observers also point to a decline in Hezbollah’s public support.
“For the first time, I can see that people in the country want peace, because they believe it is the only way to stop the conflict and end Iranian dominance,” said Pierre Diab, a journalist and analyst on Lebanese affairs, who hails from a predominantly Christian village in southern Lebanon and served as an officer in the South Lebanon Army. He moved to Israel following the IDF withdrawal from the country in 2000.
The son of a slain Hezbollah fighter sits on his coffin as it is carried during a funeral ceremony last month in Lebanon. After more than two years of war with Israel, analysts believe that Hezbollah now lacks power and legitimacy. The son of a slain Hezbollah fighter sits on his coffin as it is carried during a funeral ceremony last month in Lebanon. After more than two years of war with Israel, analysts believe that Hezbollah now lacks power and legitimacy. (credit: Adri Salido/Getty Images) “The turning point was the recent war, when Hezbollah decided to join the fighting against Israel in support of Iran,” Diab said. “It was as if people woke up from a dream into a nightmare of more destruction and displacement.
“There are families that have rebuilt their homes three or four times in past rounds of war, only to see them destroyed again. So they ask: what for?” he continued. “In the past, when [Hassan] Nasrallah was alive and leading Hezbollah, people viewed him as a hero who fought for their cause and their land, so they were willing to sacrifice.”
But following Nasrallah’s assassination by Israel in September 2024, Diab said, people began asking who were they fighting, dying, and suffering for? For [Iranian supreme leader Ali] Khamenei and the ayatollahs in Tehran?
“I believe that more than half of the Lebanese people want an end to conflict with Israel, including about a third of the Shi’ite population,” he estimated.
Peace without illusion
However, Diab said he was uncertain that public sentiment would align with the political interests of Lebanon’s leadership.
Both he and Ghaddar agreed that, despite its threats, Hezbollah currently lacks the power or legitimacy to plunge Lebanon into another civil war. The organization has been unsettled by the prospect of direct negotiations with Israel, prompting it to incite against Lebanese leaders, accusing them of treason and threatening retaliation.
“As for assassinations against [the Lebanese] leadership, it’s a possibility – but Hezbollah is also very isolated today,” Ghaddar noted.
“Who would fight whom in a civil war?” said Diab. “Today, the divide is less sectarian; it’s Hezbollah on one side and the Lebanese army on the other. I believe the army can disarm Hezbollah if it receives the order.”
Diab said that Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who has called for direct negotiations with Israel – a move welcomed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reportedly encouraged by US President Donald Trump – has refrained from deploying the army on a large scale to avoid internal unrest.
Ghaddar also stressed that disarming Hezbollah is ultimately a political decision that must be implemented by the Lebanese army. She questioned, however, whether the current military chief, Rodolphe Haykal, would be willing to confront the organization.
“He doesn’t want to dismantle Hezbollah, and that’s a problem,” she said. “He can be replaced by another commander who will do the job... and if that doesn’t work, someone else will have to do it.
“Hezbollah has a lot of weapons, and it will take a long time to disarm it,” Ghaddar said, arguing that it would be a mistake to wait for full disarmament before pursuing peace.
“Both processes should take place simultaneously,” she said. “This way, Hezbollah will continue to lose support and become even more isolated. Its ability to translate military power into political gains will diminish, and it will increasingly be seen as an illegitimate militia.”■
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A signature means nothing to these monsters.
Alleluia! Lightbulb moment.
Don’t want to study war no more.
Lebanon let in some “palestinians” (i.e., a make believe folk, like Hobbits) and like any other country that did that suffers for it.
Might as well put rabid dogs in your kennel.
They need an Augusto Pinochet. Problem solved.
Pacifist/anti-war Muslims is such a wonderful development.
Wouldn’t pacifism makes a Muslim an apostate?
Is there one on Craig’s list?
Not sure on that one.
These guys do always seem ready for war though. So a pacifist would be quite welcome.
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