HEZBOLLAH'S DEFEAT?

Hezbollah's Defeat? (NYSun)
"Why did Nasrallah decide to change his unqualified claim of victory into an indirect admission of defeat? Two reasons," Amir Taheri writes in the New York Post.

The first consists of facts on the ground: Hezbollah lost some 500 of its fighters, almost a quarter of its elite fighting force. Their families are now hounding Nasrallah to provide an explanation for "miscalculations" that led to their death ...

The "new Saladin" has also lost most of his medium-range missiles without inflicting any serious damage on Israel. Almost all of Hezbollah's missile launching pads (often placed in mosques, schools and residential buildings) south of the Litani River have been dismantled.

Worse still, the Israelis captured an unknown number of Hezbollah fighters and political officers, including several local leaders in the Bekaa Valley, Khyam and Tyre.

The second reason why Nasrallah has had to backtrack on his victory claims is the failure of his propaganda machine to hoodwink the Lebanese. He is coming under growing criticism from every part of the political spectrum, including the Hezbollah itself.

Last week he hurriedly cancelled a series of victory marches planned for Beirut's Shiite suburbs after leading Shiite figures attacked the move as "unmerited and indecent." Instead, every village and every town is holding typical Shiite mourning ceremonies, known as tarhym (seeking mercy), for the dead.

Perhaps why Hezbollah has been withdrawing (not because they suddenly want to live in peace with Israel, but because for the moment they can't stomach more fighting and need to recharge).

SEE ALSO: Saudis: Nasrallah Should Be Charged (NY Sun)
The bad news for Hezbollah doesn't stop. Saudi Arabia's Arab News (via imra) reports:

JEDDAH, 29 August 2006 -- With the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah expressing regret Sunday on Lebanese TV for the month-long war in Lebanon in which more than a thousand people died, many people in the Kingdom accused the Hezbollah militia of "adventurism" and being "irresponsible."

According to Homoud Al-Bader, a Shoura Council member, Hezbollah's kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers has taken Lebanon back to "square one." Describing the actions as "miscalculated" and "provocative" Al Bader said that Lebanon had lost hundreds of lives, its infrastructure had been demolished, and now other governments were helping the country to rebuild.

Jeddah resident Abu Sami said Saudi Arabia was correct when they described the Hezbollah war against Israel as an adventure. "If we look at the situation now, the only thing that Nasrullah gained was scaring Israeli citizens and forcing them to live in bunkers for a month. But let's be realistic, what did the Lebanese people win? Nothing."

Abu Sami believes that the war was not worth the hassle of having roads bombed, houses demolished and people made homeless. "The Lebanese government should charge Nasrullah for having pursued an ill-conceived adventure against the Lebanese people. All the people that have suffered from this war should file lawsuits against him," he added.