Hezbollah Speaks To Naharnet

The choice of Naharnet as a channel for Hezbollah to make a very important announcement is significant.

Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan told Naharnet’s Daila Nehme that in the event of an Israeli-American attack on Iran or Syria, Hezbollah will only “denounce and reject” the strikes “nothing more”. In other words, Hezbollah will not attack Israel.

But why make such an important statement to a web outlet that is in English and has more readers outside of Lebanon than inside of it?

For precisely the above reasons. Naharnet, a member of the respected Annahar’s family has risen in ubiquity after the Cedar Revolution, where the entire world took interest in Lebanese affairs and enjoyed daily updated news in English from a Lebanese website with a reputable name. In other words, Naharnet has a large international and Israeli readership. 

In speaking to Naharnet, Hezbollah is sending a message (of peace?) to the outside world (including Israeli and American public opinion) while maintaining plausible deniability with its Lebanese supporting masses in case they change their minds to say the truth in Arabic.