During his speech on June 8, Hezbollah’s Secretary-General, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, wanted to express his “deep hearted gratitude to all my brothers in Hezbollah and to Hezbollah supporters.” He said that during the June 7 election “there was no competition is south Lebanon and Baalbek-Hermel districts as well as Beirut’s southern suburb, but we have called on voters to have a strong presence to express their political choices and convictions, particularly with regards to the resistance issue.”

Therefore, the turnout in districts with Shiite seats and in districts where Hezbollah candidates were running was massive. Hezbollah won all 11 districts in which it fielded its 11 candidates, and along with its allies won 21 seats in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah and its allies also won 10 seats in the eastern Baalbek region.

In the South, the opposition’s victory was the hugest. In Tyr, for instance, 68,558 voted for the opposition. In contrast, the loyalty could not get more than 1,686 votes. In Nabatieh, the loyalty bloc only got 3,000 votes compared to 58,985 for the opposition. In Hasbayya, 48,648 voted cast their ballot in favor of the opposition. However, only 12,056 voted for the loyalty.

In the eastern district of Baalbeck-Hermel the opposition alliance ticket got 105,756 votes. The others only got 14,283 votes. On the whole, the alliance between Hezbollah and AMAL got 92% of the Shiite vote. This proves the existence of an almost complete identification between the resistance organizations and the Shiite community in Lebanon.

This reality belies Israeli claims linking the achievement of a parliamentary majority by the loyalty bloc with the July 2006 war. For example, Likud MK in Israeli Knesset and former Israeli occupation army Spokeswoman Miri Regev said that “Hezbollah’s loss” in the Lebanese parliamentary elections should be considered a direct result of the conflict. Clearly, Regev and other Israeli political and military officials have tried to find a new argument to cover their complete defeat and humiliation in that war.

If such claims were true, Hezbollah would have suffered a severe defeat in the Shiite areas in the South, Baalbeck-Hermel and Beirut’s southern suburb which were the most attacked during the conflict. However, the reality is just the opposite. People in these areas voted massively for the resistance and in a referendum on Hezbollah’s arms. With their turnout and vote, they told the world that these arms are there to protect them and make them feel safe and that their support for the Resistance is unshakable.
Residents in the south remember how the Resistance defeated the Israeli army and liberated this part of the country in 2000 -when Ehud Barak was the Israeli primer minister- following a 22-year occupation. In July 2006, Hezbollah’s fighters once again curbed another Israeli large offensive in the South. At that time, many residents joined the ranks of the Resistance and fought Zionist troops in their own areas.

They also know that Israel has neither forgiven nor forgotten these defeats. For Israelis, the war against Lebanon and Hezbollah did not end in 2000 or in 2006 but it continues today, although in different form. And this explains why Israel has been busy setting up numerous espionage cells in Lebanon as Mossad networks are being dismantled in coordination between Lebanese security forces and the Resistance.

Hezbollah has never been a sectarian organization. It has promoted dialogue and understanding among the different communities in Lebanon (Christians, Sunnis, Shiites and Druze). However, it was created by members of the Shiite community and mainly represents members of this religious group.
Together with the protection that it receives from Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite community has also many other reasons to feel identified with the organization, which has helped Shiites, currently 41% of the Lebanese population, recover their political rights, pride and dignity since its foundation in 1982.

Shiites had been traditionally marginalized in the country’s political and economic life. Maha, a Shiite resident of southern Lebanon, told the Jarafiya News site that her community had found pride thanks to Hezbollah: “Before we were nothing, but now we can walk with our heads held high.” “Of course I will vote for Hezbollah,” Maha said in her shoe shop in the southern town of Naqura near the border with occupied Palestine. “It has made us proud as Shiites, as residents of the south, and as Lebanese.”

On the other hand, Hezbollah has proved that it is a viable alternative to the state’s social services. It runs a large network of schools, charity organizations, clinics and hospitals. Hezbollah has helped many thousands of people who lost their homes in the July 2006 war build new houses.

Some foreign powers feel deeply disturbed by the strong link between Hezbollah and the Shiite community and have tried to weaken it. Saudi Arabia, one of the main supporters of the current government majority, has created and funded the so-called Lebanese Option Movement -led by Ahmad Al Asaad, the son of a prominent feudal southern family- in order to undermine Hezbollah’s position. However, this Saudi operation has proved unsuccessful and Shiite residents have maintained their loyalty to the resistance party.