[ukblewis]

Disgusting that dehumanising Israelis has become a past time of people on this website. Having stared down Hezbollah flags in Israel’s north and having friends living on the border under constant fire many of whom have had damage to their homes, I have no confusion of who Hezbollah is. If you have any soul, how about you speak to the families of the half a million Syrians that Hezbollah helped Assad’s regime to murder? Or the Lebanese about the enormous 2020 port explosion?

[modo_mario]

How did hezbollah come to exist in what was a christian nation not that long ago? How would it be erased and without a new one propping up right outside that exclusion zone?

[defrost]

> a christian nation not that long ago?

Gosh .. Leaving aside a history of human occupation going back to 5,000 BC or so and looking just at more recent history, Lebanon came under Ottoman rule in the early 16th century and that "proto state" became a concentration area for Lebanese Maronite Christians who (IIRC) made up only 25% or so of the population.

I think it would be better described as a nation with Christians (and other faiths) rather than as a purely Christian nation.

There's also the post WWI Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, administered by France, followed by the post WWII new Lebanese state that gained gained independence from Free France - that was a balancing act between multiple religious groups and also hardly a purely Christian nation.

As to the question asked, Hezbollah was founded in 1982 directly as a result of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

That's a very light on detail overview - it's just cans of worms all the way down.

[DanielHB]

I talked to a Lebanese born person once and apparently they have a parlament with reserved seats for each major religious group.

Apparently that was the only way they managed to keep the country stable. But it is baffling to have religion so entrenched on the constitution.

[jameshilliard]

> keep the country stable

Well, that part didn't exactly work out in practice.

[DanielHB]

More stable than outright civil war.

[modo_mario]

>who (IIRC) made up only 25% or so of the population. >I think it would be better described as a nation with Christians (and other faiths) rather than as a purely Christian nation.

The total was the majority of the population and yes it wasn't a purely christian nation. https://www.economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print-e... You can similarly describe various countries as multifaith but in practice it happens rarely. Very few people descibe israel as such for example.

At the end of the day if hezbollah is vanquished and for that the frontier is shifted why is the expectation not that a new one in kind props up outside of this new frontier?

[lyu07282]

You accuse me of dehumanizing people while Israel is considering Palestinians just existing, politically offensive. No amount of propaganda and internet censorship can overcome the first live streamed genocide in history, and everybody can see [1] a repeat now in Lebanon, Israels reputation is done.

Also criticism of the government of Israel's actions ISN'T dehumanizing Israelis, THAT is insulting, I can be critical of Trump all day every day without anybody thinking I want harm to come to American people.

[1] https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/24/middleeast/lebanon-destru...

[ukblewis]

Israel does not consider Palestinians existing as offensive. Don’t straw-man me

And yet you were not critical of Netanyahu. You chose to be critical of Israelis… Don’t hide behind lies