‘Christian role in Lebanon has ended,’ says Hezbollah-affectionate commentator

Pro-Hezbollah commentator Reda Saad stirred up a virtual storm in Lebanon following a sharp attack against his Christian compatriots, when he claimed that the Christians’ role in the country is over and American battleships are coming to the region to take them away.

In his controversial rant during an interview with Lebanon On News, Saad addressed his “Christian brethren in Lebanon,” as he named them, warning them to pay attention carefully to his words.

“I fear that the Christians in Lebanon will face a similar destiny to that of the Afghans, when they clung to the wheels of the American helicopters and are thrown from the sky,” he said provocatively. “I fear that you won’t have an airport or a port [to flee from]. And perhaps the foreign warships are coming to take you, to the last of you.”

Reda Saad, a political analyst affiliated with Hezbollah, says that Christians might be forced to flee Lebanon like the Afghans who tried to hold on to airplanes leaving Kabul Airport when the Taliban took the city.He says:“We are the majority now” pic.twitter.com/bHxq8RGA1o

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 18, 2024

Saad lashed out against the Christian population in his country. “Unfortunately, did you see where you ended up? You can’t even appoint a president!” he said, adding that the Christian Lebanon “became synonymous with the American and Israeli ones” and accusing them of collaborating with the French mandate and favoring French over Arabic.

Saad lashed out against the Christian population in his country. “Unfortunately, did you see where you ended up? You can’t even appoint a president!” he said, adding that a Christian Lebanon “became synonymous with the American and Israeli ones,” accusing them of collaborating with the French mandate and favoring French over Arabic.

Captagon?

“So let everyone know that the role of Christians in Lebanon has ended!” he declared. “You have become a minority in this country, and yet you still hold high positions... Nobody would accept this issue. The coming generations will not accept it. They will not accept that the president must be Christian; he must be a Sunni Muslim or Shi’ite.

“We represent the majority in this country, and we want our share in this sectarian regime,” Saad stressed, referring to the ‘sectarian method’ secured in Lebanon following the 1989 Ta’if agreement which ended the civil war, and in which Christian Lebanese were allocated a majority of seats in parliament in addition to the office of president.

Reactions to Saad’s provocative words varied. On the supporter side, one commenter wrote: “The man’s words are clear and frank. Whoever chooses America has no one to blame but himself,” while another one added: “that’s what they deserve, bravo.” A third one from the south wrote: “We are the people of the South, we are learned and intellectuals, and he is right.”

A fourth supporter attempted to differentiate good and bad Christians, adding: “Well said. It’s true, but Lebanon is for all people, not just for Shi’ites and Sunnis. I am a Shi’ite and I refuse to live without the original, honorable Christian – not the American and French tools. I see in them and the Marjayoun barracks, a Zionist state, we all know it. The time has come for a state to hold accountable the racism that Shi’ite youth have been subjected to through injustice by the state.”

THE OFFENSIVE INTERVIEW predictably provoked the anger of the Christian population.

One commenter pledged that the Christian community will remain proud, adding: “We will remain here, like a thorn in your eye. You and those who resemble you do not represent Lebanon.”

Some users denounced Hezbollah’s affiliation with Iran. “Welcome to the Islamic Republic of Lebanon,” wrote one ironically. Another added: “You have destroyed every regime in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. You are specialists in smuggling to the whole world. You get all your technology from the Christian West. American ships are here to make sure that scoundrels like you are expelled from Lebanon.”

Several users replied cynically. “Can you let us remain here at least until the end of the month? I’m downloading something from the internet and it would be a shame that it goes to waste,” said one ironic user, while another referred to Saad’s conscious state with a single word: “Captagon” (an amphetamine known as the poor man’s cocaine).

Some commentators added that they had barely heard of Saad’s name before this interview and laughed at his ambition to present himself as a commentator. One user wrote “May God have mercy on such people, you don’t know how they will emerge from underground, and no one has heard of them in the first place, and their existence is neither here nor there.” Finally, one user replied with the pivotal and classic: “He is an Israeli Zionist.”