Hezbollah supporters stormed the streets of Beirut on Friday night, riding motorcycles through central neighbourhoods near Parliament and along the road leading to Beirut's international airport, in a furious reaction to the framework agreement signed in Washington between Lebanon, Israel and the United States.
Iranian flags were visible in amateur footage of the demonstration, a telling detail that underscores exactly whose interests the protesters were defending © Mena Today
Hezbollah supporters stormed the streets of Beirut on Friday night, riding motorcycles through central neighbourhoods near Parliament and along the road leading to Beirut's international airport, in a furious reaction to the framework agreement signed in Washington between Lebanon, Israel and the United States.
Iranian flags were visible in amateur footage of the demonstration, a telling detail that underscores exactly whose interests the protesters were defending.
The Lebanese army deployed along the airport road and dispersed protesters who had blocked traffic, firing tear gas to clear the crowds.
The militia's rage is easy to understand. The Washington agreement, a landmark moment for Lebanese sovereignty, was concluded directly between Beirut and Jerusalem, under American auspices, without Iran and without Hezbollah.
It is precisely the outcome Tehran spent months trying to prevent by insisting that Lebanon's fate be decided in the Iran-US Switzerland talks rather than in direct Lebanese-Israeli negotiations.
Hezbollah has consistently rejected the direct talks. Its supporters on the streets of Beirut Friday night were making clear that the organisation views the agreement as a threat, not to Lebanon, but to its own armed existence and to the Iranian project it serves.
Hezbollah has received $200 million from Iran to help Lebanese displaced by this year’s war with Israel, two people with direct knowledge of the transfer said, the first significant aid from the group to supporters who bore the brunt of the conflict.
Saudi Arabia has launched an air accident probe following last week's cockpit stabbing on a flydubai jet, as experts examine any fallout for aviation safety alongside a separate UAE-led criminal investigation, three people close to the matter said.
Seven months into this war, the Islamic Republic is in the tightest corner of its forty-seven years. That is not cheerleading; it is arithmetic.
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