less conventional tourism in the Lebanon

Well, perhaps all of the tourists who come here visit Hezbollah's Museum of the Resistance, but just don't write about it because, well, this Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group are classified as international terrorists by much of the West including the US, UK and EU (and due to this, I'm not including the photo I want to of one of their campaign posters with their flag in it ... who knows which surveillance systems might see and recognise it).

First, a bit of background - for myself as much as for anyone else reading this.  Under a 1943 agreement, political power is divided among Lebanon’s predominant religious groups - a Sunni Muslim serves as Prime Minister, a Maronite Christian as President, and a Shiite Muslim as the speaker of parliament.

Tensions between these groups evolved into civil war, however, as several factors upset the balance, especially the arrival of the Sunni Muslim Palestinian refugees in 1982, when they were expelled from Jordan. Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon in 1982 to attack the PLO that was now using the region as their base to attack Israel.  The Shiites took up arms against the Israelis. Seeing an opportunity to expand its influence, Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard provided funds and training to the budding militia, which adopted the name Hezbollah, meaning “The Party of God.” It calls itself a Shiite resistance movement, and its manifesto vows to expel Western powers from Lebanon, calls for the destruction of the Israeli state, and pledges allegiance to Iran’s supreme leader (although a 2009 update was less Islamist). It earned a reputation for extremist militancy due to its frequent clashes with rival Shiite militias and attacks on foreign targets, including suicide bombings of a number of embassies around the world.

A visit to their museum at Mleeta begins with a 15-minute propaganda film.  Whilst it doesn't mention attacks on foreign embassies, it is very strongly anti-Israeli, and includes a short clip where its followers appear to be giving Nazi salutes.  Another tourist asked the museum guide about this and he was very defensive, arguing that they were merely saluting their flag - but all of us watching saw it as a Nazi salute.  The tour then took us around a display of downed enemy (Israeli) weapons - including a few tanks - and some sample Hezbollah weapons.  It was a fascinating place.

They manage a vast network of social services that include infrastructure, health-care facilities, schools, and youth programmes, which has been instrumental in garnering support from both Shiite and non-Shiite Lebanese.  A 2014 report found that 31% of Christians and 9% of Sunni Muslims held positive views of the group.  However, in 2019 they became a target of mass protests, as Government mismanagement and years of slow growth had saddled Lebanon with one of the world’s highest public debt burdens, at 150 percent of its GDP.  Unemployment, poverty, and debt continued to rise and demonstrations persisted for months despite COVID lockdowns. The protest movement spanned religious backgrounds, and even Lebanese Shiites openly criticized Hezbollah. However, when it comes to election time, no-one would vote outside of their own 'group', and the most recent national elections (earlier this year), saw Hezbollah maintain its 13 seats in the 128-member Parliament, though the party and its allies lost their majority.

I had reasonably in-depth conversations with two Christians (a Lebanese Catholic and a Palestinian Protestant), as well as a Sunni Muslim, and all had strong political views (sadly I didn't find a Shiite in the time available who spoke good enough English to hold such a conversation with me - but as I wandered around their area of Beirut they were all very polite and welcoming).  The Lebanese Christian hated the Palestinians, referring to all of them as terrorists, and to my surprise he saw the Israelis as liberators when they invaded and expelled them in 1982. The Sunni Muslim agreed that some 30% of the country (the Christians) saw the Israelis as liberators, although of course he did not feel the same; he quite liked the Shiites, and explained that the Hezbollah economic policies were very left-wing, fighting for the dispossessed (which he clearly supported).  The Palestinian Christian hated the Israelis, loved the Shiites, and disliked the Sunnis.  The hatreds are deep.  However there is one thing that everyone seems to agree on: that all of the politicians are horribly corrupt.

Many Lebanese distrust Hezbollah for its alleged involvement in the 2020 Beirut port explosions, which killed over two hundred people and damaged 40,000 buildings including this home on the left and 178 schools. A judicial probe into the blasts is investigating several Hezbollah-backed politicians for suspected negligence and has sparked a wave of violence and bloodshed between Hezbollah’s supporters and rival Christian militants.  Some experts say Hezbollah is losing its hold on Lebanon given the anger spreading even in traditional strongholds. The surge in independent and anti-establishment candidates elected to Parliament in 2022 signalled that many in Lebanon are dissatisfied with Hezbollah and other longtime power holders.

However, when I asked the Palestinian Christian lady whether the whole country might be able to get behind one charismatic person, whatever their religion, she said that they would certainly be assassinated as they would be a threat to the livelihoods of all of those involved in the corruption.