Lahore, Pakistan - Hezbollah's strength rests on the unqualified support of the Lebanese people. Hezbollah is unlikely to risk that support and plunge Lebanon into another civil war by trying to assert total political control once the war is over.
The civil war has already demonstrated that it is impossible for one ethnic or religious group in Lebanon to win total control of the state. And Lebanon has a long history of democracy and power sharing that Hezbollah has respected in recent years.
Hezbollah is unlikely to agree to any plan to disarm its fighters and that is going to create tensions for the Lebanese government and the international community. In addition, Hezbollah's example of standing up to Israel and emerging unbowed and undefeated is going to have a huge impact on authoritarian regimes across the Arab world who are already facing the anger and frustration of their peoples. At the same time, however, Hezbollah -- as an Islamist organization, albeit a Shia one -- will convince more Arabs that political Islam is the future in the Arab world.
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