When Hezbollah members gathered in Beirut and the Druze Mountain the early morning of February 18, just before Najib Mikati was designated to form a government, they were not carrying arms. But they did wear black shirts, a sign of their political identity, one that strongly suggests the potential use of arms.

Many interpreted the move as a clear message to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who shifted stance immediately thereafter, abandoning his fragile alliance with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Jumblatt may have left the March 14 alliance in 2009, but his friendship with Hariri had continued. The “Black Shirts,” however made sure it ended.

Jumblatt, a leader of a minority that is surrounded geographically and politically by Hezbollah, decided to protect his leadership and vote for Mikati, Hezbollah’s candidate. In a way, he has forced the Lebanese to pay the price by protecting his shrinking leadership.

With Jumblatt aside, Hezbollah managed to topple the balance and ensure Mikati’s nomination. However, things did not end there. Hezbollah and its allies felt an orgasm of power that flew in the face of the freedom movement sweeping the region.

Their arms would govern Lebanon, whether the Lebanese liked it or not, while Mikati’s government, if it were ever formed, would become a tool with which Hezbollah would inject its Black Shirts into Lebanese institutions and destroy what is left of democratic Lebanon.

Last week, a group of us felt the need to support the Iranian opposition and organized a symbolic and peaceful demonstration in front of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. Of course, none of us was delusional enough to expect the event would pass without trouble. But, when every day in Lebanon there are demonstrations in front of the Egyptian and Tunisian embassies, we thought we’d give it a go.

As expected, some of us got phone calls from Lebanese army intelligence and Hezbollah officials clearly telling us that it wasn’t  “safe” to go ahead with our plan. The message was clear: You cannot protest against what is sacred, and, in today’s Lebanon, Iran’s regime is sacred.

Our demonstration was postponed – not cancelled – because many of us felt that we faced real danger and would not be responsible for anything that might happen, especially if it were not guaranteed that the security forces would protect us.

But, once again, here was the hand of the sacred power: The sacred arms, the sacred Nasrallah with his sacred finger, his sacred army and his sacred state, all of which could not be targeted, otherwise, hands would be cut off! The “sacred” power can launch attacks against innocent civilians (as happened on May 7, 2008), they can invade the Beirut airport with their guns to welcome and protect former head of internal security Jamil As-Sayyed (as happened on September 18, 2010), and they can deploy their Black Shirts on the streets to intimidate Lebanese anytime they feel like it. If anyone objects, they are immediately labeled Israeli agents or traitors.

Because he is a member of the “sacred” group, the murderer of Lebanese army pilot Lieutenant Samer Hanna, who died when his helicopter was shot at over Sujud hills in South Lebanon on August 28, 2008, spent a few months in detention and was then released.

The tyranny of the “sacred” group is worse than any dictatorship, because it is not questionable. If you question it, you are an easy target because you are simply the opposite of what is sacred: decadent, immoral and irreverent.
On another occasion, Lebanese military intelligence detained at least six Syrians, all members of the Jasem family, on February 23 and 24, 2011, after they distributed flyers calling for democratic change in Syria.

According to Human Rights Watch, their family is concerned that they might have been forcibly transferred to Syria. The Internal Security Forces told journalists that it had opened an investigation, but to date officials have made no information public, nor have they communicated any information to the men's family of their whereabouts.

Earlier this month, newspaper articles reported that Syrian opposition sources had accused Salah al-Hajj, a Lebanese security official tasked with protecting the Syrian Embassy, of "kidnapping" Jasem Meri Jasem and his two brothers.

“We fear that Lebanon may be once again doing Syria's dirty work of shutting up its critics,” said HRW Beirut director Nadim Houry. “Lebanon's judiciary should open an independent inquiry into why the Syrian men were detained in the first place and the murky events surrounding the disappearance of Jasem and his two brothers.” 
 
The reality is that they are back. Syrian intelligence backed by Hezbollah’s arms has returned six years after its army withdrew from Lebanon. Hezbollah’s tyranny opened the door for such obvious breaching of Lebanon’s sovereignty.

Hezbollah and the Syrian regime will not stop this kind of tyrannical behavior because this is who they are, but mainly, because they can. Nobody stopped them in the past as March 14 offered one compromise after the other. Instead of a mutual consensus, Hezbollah and Syria decided to milk March 14 of everything before spitting them out of the system.

The indictments that are expected to be handed down by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon are imminent, and Hezbollah will likely react in a similarly arrogant and tyrannical way. They are offering no alternative other than asking us to ignore justice and let the murderers go. The Black Shirts will keep on intimidating those who believe in international justice.

Today, with the delicate, and probably inadequate, reawakening of March 14, maybe it is time to launch an independent civil resistance to the tyranny of the sacred party, away from any political camp. Maybe it is time to say that nothing is sacred and that the arrogant, shameless practices of Hezbollah and the Syrian regime’s security apparatus in Lebanon must be stopped.
Resistance should be aimed toward Israel’s occupation and military attacks, but when it targets the Lebanese and their state institutions, it ceases to be a resistance and becomes straightforward tyranny.

Hanin Ghaddar is managing editor of NOW Lebanon