For Hezbollah, What is VictoryIn Syria?

A debate is under way within Hezbollah’s milieu about the objectives behind the party’s participation in the Syrian civil war. Yet, the question now has gone beyond the issue of why it chose to enter this war, as the party’s popular base and its most influential internal elites are seemingly convinced by the explanation offered by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. The latter said that instead of waiting for the extremist Islamists to come fight us on our doorsteps here in Lebanon, we decided to choose the time and place of this confrontation, which they initiated.

As a result, a different, much more complicated issue is currently being discussed inside the party, and the discussion is growing in intensity behind the closed ironclad walls that surround the party’s decision-making fortress. The issue at hand relates to the objectives of this battle, and the goals that, once attained, would allow Hezbollah to proclaim that it has in fact achieved the military objectives that drove it to participate in this war.

In other words, when will Hezbollah’s fighters return home from Syria? And when will Nasrallah announce to his popular base that the military mission in Syria has been successfully completed, its goals reached, and the victory that he promised his audience to “again deliver,” won?

For now, this question remains without official and satisfactory answers. But leaked perceptions from inside the party point to the possible nature of the answers to come. Yet, everything remains within the realm of conjecture until Nasrallah speaks his piece about the matter; for a remarkable phenomenon permeates the party, and revolves around the fact that its supporters, when faced with difficult situations, patiently wait for Nasrallah to appear on their television screens to present them with clarifications about the issue at hand. Until then, all potential answers remain fodder for their continued puzzlement and concern.