By Andrew L. Jaffee

Just last week, Lebanon’s UN ambassador said, “Lebanon will be, I think, the last state to sign a peace treaty with Israel.” Lebanon’s own Defense Minister Murr stated, “The army won’t be deployed to south Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah, something which Israel wasn’t able to do itself. Its role is to ensure the security of the resistance and citizens, to protect the victory of the resistance.” Today, Murr is singing a different tune. What happened? From the BBC:

Lebanon’s defence minister says anyone firing rockets at Israel from the south will be considered a traitor and be firmly dealt with by the army.

Elias Murr’s remarks are being seen as a warning to militias, but he also expressed confidence Hezbollah was committed to the UN-brokered truce.

Mr Murr was speaking a day after an Israeli raid raised new concerns about the stability of the truce.

But he did not repeat a warning about halting army deployments to the south.

Maybe this has something to do with Murr’s change of heart:

Mr Murr told a Beirut news conference that any ceasefire violation that would give Israel the justification to strike Lebanon would be “treated harshly”.

“It will be considered as direct collaboration with the Israeli enemy,” Mr Murr said, adding that those responsible “will be tried and referred to a military tribunal”.

In other words, Israel’s ability to land a special commando unit into southern Lebanon at a time of its choosing — yesterday — reminded Murr of the Jewish state’s vastly superior armed forces. Israel could again resume operations in Lebanon at any time.

Let’s hope Murr is man of his word, and will follow up his words with actions. He needs to worry a lot less about flattering Hezbollah, and concentrate on building a Lebanon that can control its own sovereignty.

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Related: Israel, Lebanon, Terrorist Groups

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