Hezbollah had just started celebrating its victory in the strategic town of Yabrud when a bombing targeted the village of al-Nabi Othman in the Bekaa Valley on the night of March 16. Not only did this bombing steal the joy of victory and mask the resistance members’ important achievement, but it has also raised several questions about the recently spread theory to justify Hezbollah’s military involvement in Syria. The theory states that most explosives-laden cars that targeted the Lebanese residential areas with Shiite-majority — which provide a welcoming environment for Hezbollah — came from Yabrud specifically. As soon as the grip was tightened on Yabrud, which is the so-called “pathway” for explosives-laden cars, the al-Nabi Othman operation was carried out.
It seemed as if this was a message indicating that the terrorist attacks will persist in Lebanon. Even if the military battle on the ground has been resolved, its goals have not been achieved. It is too soon to assess the results of the fall of Yabrud into the hands of the regime and its allies and to evaluate whether it has achieved its declared goals, as only time can show the real results of the Yabrud battle. However, it is also true that employing this victory in any project to unite the Lebanese will be a hard task. On the contrary, this victory has widened the rift among the Lebanese and embittered them, especially at the sectarian level.
