The recent election revealed a significant decline in the popularity of the Hezbollah organization. Although most of the weakening was among the organization’s supporters in the Christian and Druze camps, the turnout was also low in the Shiite camp. The explanation for the decline is the economic downturn to which the organization is leading Lebanese society in general and Shiite in particular. In addition to the economic crisis, Hezbollah is hiding a series of dark affairs that have caused injustice to the Shiite society it claims to represent.
One brave man in Shiite society in Lebanon stood up and said: No more! We are tired of Hezbollah’s dictatorship. A few years ago, Ali al-Amin founded the “Genobia” newspaper (Southern), a mouthpiece for Shiite resistance to Hezbollah.
The man is unique in that he reflects an internal opposition to Hezbollah from the Shiite community in Lebanon. Ali has been writing for several years about the oppression and terrorism in which Shiites live in the shadow of the corrupt terrorist organization Hezbollah. About three years ago, about thirty Hezbollah thugs arrived at Ali’s home in the village of Shakra in the south and beat him vigorously.
Ali has been writing for years about the oppression and terrorism in which Shiites live in the shadow of the corrupt terrorist organization Hezbollah. About 3 years ago, about 30 thugs from Hezbollah came to Ali’s house in the village of Shakra in the south and beat him vigorously.
As far as Hezbollah is concerned, anyone who opposes his control is a traitor and supporter of Saudi Arabia, Israel or the United States. Ali was rushed to the hospital and his life was saved.. The reason he was not eliminated is that he belongs to one of the most respected families in southern Lebanon – the al-Amin family.
The Shiite nobility of southern Lebanon
Al-Amin is a family from which one of the most important Shiite sages comes from Jabal Amal (the Shiite community in southern Lebanon), including Muhsin al-Amin al-Amali who lived about a century ago and authored dozens of basic books on religion and Shiite history.
Not only the near but also the distant lineage preserves Ali al-Amin and his family. Members of the al-Amin family are nicknamed “Sid,” meaning descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The elderly family member of the journalist of the same name, Sid Ali al-Amin, was accused in 2020 of meeting with the “Zionist enemy” when he attended a conference in Bahrain to bring the monotheistic religions closer together. The family has ties to the Shiite holy city of Najaf in Iraq and most of the clerics in the family studied at its important Shiite university.
The al-Amin family is part of Lebanon’s silent Shiite opposition, which opposes the Iranian takeover of the Shiite community. Journalist Ali al-Amin describes in “Genobia” the terror in which the Shiite community in Lebanon lives.
The organization’s militants and thugs intimidate members of the community and threaten anyone who dares not support the Shiite duo – Hezbollah and its affiliate Amal.
Journalist Ali al-Amin describes the terror in which the Shiite community in Lebanon lives. Armed men and thugs terrorize the community and threaten anyone who dares not support the Shiite duo – Hezbollah and its affiliate Amal
Replacement of leadership
In the past, Amal (Lebanese Resistance Companies) was the largest organization in southern Lebanon. It was established by the leader of the community, Sheikh Musa a-Sadr, to protect the security of the Shiite community in the civil war that broke out in 1975.
Musa a-Sadr, an Iranian of Lebanese descent, was undoubtedly a great leader of the Shiite community in modern times. Thanks to his charisma and political influence he has significantly improved the lives of the Shiites, the most backward and poorest community in Lebanon. He arranged for them to connect their villages to roads, electricity and water and established the “Supreme Shiite Council” to represent them.
Al-Sadr even sought to integrate Shiites into the modern Lebanese state while maintaining tradition. He believed in a non-violent popular struggle and opposed the war. But al-Sadr gained power and became the undisputed leader of the community.
His agenda did not suit the perpetrators of the Iranian revolution, led by Khomeini. Al-Sadr saw the religious leaders of Najaf in Iraq as his spiritual teachers and not the Iranian Khomeini. In 1978, when a-Sadr went out to collect donations for his community, he was abducted and disappeared (apparently murdered) in Libya.
The reasonable suspicion is that the then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi assassinated him, apparently in the service of Khomeini and the Iranian revolutionaries, in order to evacuate the Lebanese arena to an active and violent Shiite leadership. To fit the ideology of the revolution in Iran.
Gaddafi maintained good relations with Iran after the 1979 revolution and was also the only one to support Khomeini in the Arab world, along with Hafez al-Assad in Syria. Suspiciously, Iran did not demand to investigate his disappearance a-Sadr and did not call the street after him, as it did to other Shiite “heroes”.
Al-Sadr saw the religious leaders of Najaf in Iraq as his spiritual teachers and not the Iranian Khomeini. In 1978, when a-Sadr went out to collect donations for his community, he was abducted and disappeared (apparently murdered) in Libya.
The skeleton closet
In 1982, there was no charismatic leader in Lebanon to replace Musa a-Sadr, the “disappearing Imam.” The arena was completely vacant for Iran and it established Hezbollah in Lebanon as an offshoot of the revolution.
Towards the end of the 1980s, Hezbollah and Amal (a-Sadr’s organization) fought for control of Shiite Street in Lebanon, bloody battles that lasted more than two years in which no less than 2,500 Shiites died.
The struggle embarrassed the patrons of the two organizations, Iran and Syria, who were allies and were forced to intervene. After reconciliation talks, both sides reached a ceasefire and compromise. Amal disarmed and became a party, Hezbollah became a kind of military arm of the Shiite community. This agreement paved the way for Hezbollah to take over the entire community. In the 1990s, Hezbollah also introduced representatives to parliament.
A-Sadr’s disappearance joins Hezbollah’s skeleton list, crimes committed by order of the Iranian leadership in Lebanon: abduction of Israeli soldiers that led to destruction of southern Lebanon in 2006, entanglement in Syria in civil war since 2012, explosion of Beirut port (apparently with ammonia Shager ) In 2020 and more.
The International Court of Justice also proved Hezbollah’s involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005. For Iran, it was a brilliant move.The suspicion first fell on President Bashar al-Assad and Syria was forced under international pressure to withdraw its thousands of troops from Lebanon, after thirty years of rule.
A-Sadr’s disappearance joins a list of Hezbollah crimes committed by the Iranian leadership in Lebanon: the abduction of Israeli soldiers that destroyed southern Lebanon, the involvement of Syria in the civil war, the explosion of the port of Beirut and more
The Lebanese arena was completely free of Iranian takeover and Hezbollah has only strengthened its grip since.
the bitter truth
In the 2022 elections, the Hezbollah and Amal duo retained all 27 seats in parliament. No one from the Shiite community dared to oppose, but the internal Shiite protest was expressed in the low turnout.
The Shiites, after decades of Hezbollah rule, are still the poorest community in Lebanon. Many in her community ask: What has Hezbollah achieved for us? Thousands of families in the previous decade got their young people back in closets after returning from Syria from a war that is not theirs. Most Shiites remain poor and survive only thanks to Iranian alms.
No free gifts, The condition is that their sons will serve for Iran soldiers against the Syrian opposition or against the “Zionist enemy” or for the imposition of internal terrorism in Lebanon.
But in recent years, sanctions on Iran have greatly aggravated Hezbollah’s economic situation. The patron in Tehran is also suffering from a loss of popularity and bankruptcy and will not be able to fund the terrorist organization for many years to come. The salaries of the warriors are falling and there is no money to pay to the widows of the “martyrs.”
Hezbollah still looks stable now, however Quite a few Shiites are waiting for the fall of the Iranian card tower, which will begin in Tehran and continue in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Many in the Shiite community ask: What has Hezbollah achieved for us? Thousands of families have received their young people in closets from a war that is not theirs in Syria. Most Shiites remain poor and survive only thanks to Iranian alms
Today’s Shiites are not deprived by the state as in the days of Musa a-Sadr, who founded the “deprived movement” in 1974. Today they are deprived and oppressed by Hezbollah, which controls the country’s armed forces and claims to represent them.
Ali al-Amin is one of the brave Shiites who dares to openly tell the bitter truth: Shiites in Lebanon live in poverty and misery under the oppression of one of the largest terrorist organizations in the world. The “muqauma” – the axis of resistance – is a lie. Hezbollah is allegedly arming itself to defend Lebanon, but in practice uses weapons to oppress the Lebanese, led by the Shiite community.