'We're being held hostage': Lebanese TV host Dima Sadek criticizes Hezbollah amid rising threat

Dima Sadek, a Lebanese journalist and TV host, claimed on her MTV Lebanon show last month that there is nothing left in Lebanon aside from Hezbollah and its weaponry.

Sadek stated that there is no electricity infrastructure in Lebanon and denounced Hezbollah for recently threatening Cyprus, saying it cannot withstand fighting against the European Union.

“Do you know who we resemble? The passengers on the 9/11 airplanes,” Sadek said of the Lebanese public. “We are like airplane passengers who do not see what is happening around them. We are being led by one person [referring to Hezbollah], and we have no idea where we are heading… The only thing that we know for sure is that this person is taking us to a catastrophe and certain death.” 

Support for Hezbollah in Lebanon remains sharply split across sectarian lines, a 2024 poll conducted by The Washington Institute found. 

According to the survey, 34% of Sunnis and 29% of Christians hold a “somewhat positive view of Hezbollah,” and 89% of Shia said they have a “very positive” opinion of the group. 

Sadek has previously publicly criticized Hezbollah and partially blamed the group for Lebanon’s economic crisis in 2019.

Tensions rising

As tensions escalate on the Northern front, the threat of a war between Israel and the Iranian proxy terrorist group looms heavy. 

"We are in danger of a hellish, existential war. We are being held hostage. We have been hijacked,” Sadek said. 

On Thursday, Hezbollah launched over 200 rockets and 20 drones in Israel’s Galilee and Golan regions in response to the IDF's elimination of senior Hezbollah commander Muhammad Neamah Nasser. 

Additionally, on Sunday morning, between 20 and 40 rockets were launched from Lebanon in northern Israel.